What Blog Dudes Is Thankful For…

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you reading this! And because you are reading this, we are very thankful for you! Thank you for the support. Below, the Blog Dudes team share a paragraph (or two or three; both serious and not) as to what they’re thankful for. Get to know us, spread the word about Blog Dudes to all those sharing your Thanksgiving table, and fully enjoy your time with friends and family.

Crawford Hart: I’m thankful that our country still exists, though I despair for its future.
I’m thankful that the aliens haven’t landed, though perhaps if they did, I’d be even more thankful.
I’m thankful for Beethoven, Bach, Brahms and Mozart.
I’m thankful for my wife and daughter who provide purpose and direction.
I’m thankful that I still have a voice in my head that is able to say to me, “Don’t do that, idiot. You wanna look like an ass?”

Ken Gayton: Thanksgiving holds more meaning for me because my father passed away eight years ago at this time. So it is a time where I reflect a lot and honestly give thanks for all that I have in life. Already I am wonderfully thankful that my mom’s angiogram went well on Tuesday and that she has a fast speedy recovery. I am thankful for the health of my family, friends and those with whom they are close. For having a wonderful girlfriend whom loves and supports me, helps get me through tough times, though the fact that I have her in my life makes the tough times few and far between. While I don’t have my dream job and make very little money, I am thankful that I have a roof over my head, am in good health, and am at least able to pursue my dreams, even if they never come to fruition.

Doug Templeton: This Thanksgiving I’m thankful for all my friends and family. I appreciate where I am now in my life, those who stands beside me, and everyone who I’ve gotten to know over the past year. I wouldn’t be where I am today, or who I am, without all the support of my family and close friends. Thanks to all of you who make my life fun an enjoyable each day. What’s the point if you’re not havin’ some fun once n a while? Or trying to eat an entire DiGiorno pizza and 8 cheesy bread sticks in under 30 minutes? Let alone under 15? Or trying to be the next one to eat a half-gallon of ice cream in one sitting? Healthy? Not exactly, but it’s a blast and a half, and I’m glad I got some awesome people in my life to appreciate it all with.

Rob Pollak: I am thankful for Safari private browsing mode. In case I ever run for office, I am thankful for the troops. I am thankful that I will never run for office. I am thankful that my wife watches the real housewife shows so that I don’t have to admit to watching them. Wow, it felt good to get that off my chest. I am thankful that Regis outlasted Oprah. I am thankful for the way Giada de Laurentiis pronounces Italian words. I am thankful that I won’t have to find something else on TV when the Lions plan on Thanksgiving this year. I am thankful for the cut of Bonobos pants. I am thankful for the moment before an HBO show when I find out there will be BN. I am thankful for meatballs when I’m drunk and for Lo mein when I’m hungover. I am thankful for Louis CK and every thing he has ever done.

Greg Dybec: I am thankful for Radiohead.

Natalie Saar: This Thanksgiving I’m thankful for the late, great Al Davis. As a Raiders fan I owe a ton to this man, and as a football fan, you do too. He helped shape the game and make it the way it is today. I’m also thankful for Hockey, because without it my weekdays would suck (thanks a lot NBA). Finally, I’m thankful to live in a country where I can freely write about the things I’m thankful for!

Matthew Webster: Anyone who has been following my blog for the past three weeks (so about four of you and my mom) knows that I usually write my stories based around food. So, naturally, you all must assume that Thanksgiving was my favorite, fat-childhood holiday. Well my friends, are you ready for some irony?

Every year around the fourth Thursday in November, when the leaves had all turned orange, the pumpkins were beginning to rot from Halloween, and the apple pies were being baked, a little boy named Matt was puking his guts out. I can’t remember a Thanksgiving as a child when I wasn’t sick . We’re not talking a cold; we’re talking Taco Bell the night before and waking up to 14 rounds of target practice at the old porcelain playground. It was like clockwork. Every Thanksgiving, there I was, laying on the couch sipping ginger ale, trying not to gag from the smell of turkey in the kitchen. Now I have, in my day, faked an illness or four, so I didn’t have to mow the lawn or rake the leaves. Our front yard was hilly, and we had a big tree – that’s intimidating to a chubby 10-year-old with asthma. But my Thanksgiving flu was not planned.

This habitual sickness lasted most of my adolescent years – just recently have I been 100% healthy for the holidays. So that’s what I’m thankful for. My health. I’m thankful that I can now eat as much as humanly possible on that day and not spend it dead on a couch, with an empty stomach, watching that stupid dog show that came on after the parade because I was too physically exhausted from puking my brains out for 6 hours straight to get up and change the channel to Miracle on 34th St. that just started on ABC.

Justin MacGregor: Honestly, I’m a bad person. I laugh at awful things, poke fun where fun shouldn’t be poked, ooze narcissism from my pores, and trip elderly people in the subway. OK, I don’t really do that last one. But I’ve thought about it. That’s the thing – I’VE THOUGHT ABOUT IT! Here’s my angle on being thankful: if you’re thankful for material things, you’re an asshole. If you’re thankful for your family and friends, that’s cool, but it’s still superficial on a certain level. When considering what to be thankful for, you should look inside yourself (mentally, not with a hand mirror and a flashlight) and determine what you’re mind possesses. For example, I’m thankful for my sense of humor and my ability to examine myself from an out-of-body perspective. I’m thankful that I understand that I’m a bad person, that I’m not delusional, and that I can laugh at these things and use them to pursue my goals. Who gives a shit about anything else? Cars and houses and friends and families are great, but you might wakeup tomorrow and all of those things will be gone and won’t ever come back. Then what do you have? You have yourself. So if you can’t find anything to be thankful for within yourself, then you’re pretty much fucked. Anyway, this turned into something way too long and preachy. I’ll just end it with Happy Thanksgiving!

Oh, and whiskey. I’m thankful for whiskey.

Steve Totah: This years Thanksgiving is extra special for me. This is the year my girlfriend and I finally got married. It was such an awesome experience and I am loving my life with my soul-mate. This year we also found out that we will be having a beautiful little baby girl. I am extra thankful that God will be giving us this little princess in our life (I am sure in about 13 years I will regret that but for now I am thankful). I am looking forward to being the best husband I can be to my wife and the best daddy to my little princess. Happy Thanksgiving!!

D.K. Turner: As the holidays get closer and closer, I’m thankful that I’m not David Stern. I’m thankful that I’m not Billy Hunter, or Derek Fisher, or Henry Kessler, or anyone else involved in the mess that the NBA has created.

With the holiday season approaching, there are going to be a lot of upset players out there. Beyond that though, are going to be a lot of hurt kids who don’t understand terms like basketball related income, litigation, or why because of their words this years festivities are a little less cheery. There are the families who struggle to put food on the table because the money they were depending on from selling drinks at the arena isn’t coming. And what about the players who actually need the game checks their missing? The one’s with the diabetic mother who depends on them so she can continue to receive her life-saving medicine. What about them?

So far, with games cancelled through the middle of the December, folks missing checks as a result – the guy who sells t-shirts outside of games – are the forgotten people in the midst of a fight between millionaires.

So with the holidays fast approaching, I’m glad I don’t have the cries of children on Christmas morning or the bareness of empty Thanksgiving tables hanging over my head like they do.

But most importantly, I’m thankful for the family and friends that I get to share my holidays with.

Dennis Velasco: I’m thankful for my wife, my son, parents, brothers and sisters. Also, my friends turned brothers. And, of course, my friends and all those that have come into my life. With no relevance to prior sentences, I’m thankful for sarcasm.

And, naturally, the best blog team around – all of the writers at Blog Dudes!