Duxbury/Marshfield Thanksgiving Leftovers

Duxbury and Marshfield square off in the 2018 Thanksgiving game. Better late than never, we have some pictures and videos.

"It's so cold in the D..."

As you can see, our photographers bundle up like half-assed Eskimos, including this big turkey taking a Siberian Selfie.

We're cheating a bit here, she's at the Plymouth game.

Back to Duxbury....

The end zones got a lot of use in a game where you could have cashed in taking the Over on a 63 point betting line.

Throw it up high...

Attendance was lowered some by the Finland-like frostiness.

We tried to get action photos, but they kept running plays towards the leeward side of the field. We were on the windward side.

The Duxbury Dog was representing hard.

The low turnout was a bit disappointing, as many folks use the Thanksgiving game as a de facto class reunion.

"Kickin' like Cato"

If you're still in the stands when you can't feel your feet/you're forever a part of the Hardcore Elite.

Duxbury ran a lot, but we patiently waited for them to chuck one.

Vegas went for two the only time we had a camera aimed at them, so we'll pay ST respect by showing the punter some love.

Green Dragon Gathering

A second gathering, near the Heat Howitzer

"Good morning or good night/you will not hear me say/but I look at the scoreboard/smile to myself/because I know we had a Good Day"

Plymouth's Thanksgiving Game Should Be Nationally Televised

Plymouth is the very real base of Thanksgiving. Ignore anyone claiming that the first Thanksgiving was in Virginia, which is what they call inconvenient truth

They were the first. We were the first that mattered.

Plymouth is as/more important to Thanksgiving than turkey, pumpkin pie or even football. Football is where we're headed, after this video.

Thanksgiving football has her roots in Massachusetts, with some rivalries going back to the 1800s. We have rivalries that were three decades old by the time someone said, "Arizona should be a state."

A lot has happened since that fateful day in Arizona, such as the development of TV and especially ESPN. ESPN does 24/7/365 sports coverage, and one of those 365 is Thanksgiving.

We have an all-sports TV network which broadcasts on Thanksgiving, a state with the oldest rivalries in the biggest TV sport and the town where Thanksgiving truly began. That town even has two high schools, and they play each other on Thanksgiving.

I should add that there seem to be several ESPNs, as well as a gang of other networks (FOX, NBC, etc...) with all-sports broadcasting.

There is definitely room for the national broadcast of the Plymouth Thanksgiving game.

There are better quality high school football games played in Texas and Florida. Plymouth doesn't produce NFL stars, their stadiums have a cookie-cutter look to them and the best teams in the area are from Duxbury, Scituate and Cohasset.

All of these problems can be solved, and some come pre-solved. There isn't a person alive who would free-associate "Thanksgiving" and "Denton, Texas." Aside from some stubborn Chamber of Commerce people in Virginia, there most likely isn't a person alive who wouldn't free-associate Plymouth with Thanksgiving.

The lower quality football problem would be offset by the parity between Plymouth North and Plymouth South. If the game is compelling, a viewer could ignore the fact that a Florida team would beat both Plymouth teams combined by 75 points.

Shoot, I've been covering sports for 20 years, and have been a fan since I was a toddler. Once you remove the high stakes aspect of a Super Bowl or a World Cup final, the most compelling game that I ever saw- in terms of drama, excitement, near misses and effort- was a 2 OT Duxbury High School girls soccer game in 1986.

Ok, maybe Hagler/Hearns has it beat, but you can see where I'm headed.

Mix all of this together, and it makes sense to televise the Plymouth Thanksgiving game nationally.

Thanksgiving doesn't really have TV power, other than the Macy's parade (which is really a Christmas parade, with the Object being the transport of Santa to Macy's) and that Charlie Brown special where Snoopy serves everyone toast and popcorn. There is no Rudolph or Easter Bunny dominating the telly, especially at 10 in the morning.

If they televise the Plymouth game, and if it became a traditional broadcast event over time, they'd knock off at least some of that problem.

You'd have several traditions mashed into one event. Small town football on Thanksgiving morning, waged in the town that started it all.

There are flaws, but they could be corrected with a bit of imagination. 

The stadium would need to be upgraded, perhaps to resemble the Mayflower. That would be a fine way to spend the ESPN money. I would argue for building a new stadium on the Plimoth Plantation grounds.

The bands would need to up their game, although I would stop short of performing Alice's Restaurant. 

The schools would need mascot rebranding, with one being the Pilgrims and the other being the most PC version of "Indians" they could come up with.

The cheerleaders should be dressed like this.

Every time they cut to or back from a commercial, the viewer could be treated to a quick video of the local autumnal visuals, like Plymouth Rock, the Mayflower, a cranberry bog, fall foliage, Plimoth Plantation, wild turkeys, Clark's Island, a local farm harvest, the Plymouth Thanksgiving parade or a Wampanoag sunrise celebration.

Boom! We have us a 10 AM Turkey day party, and a new American tradition. If the right people were running Plymouth and ESPN, we'd already be 20 years into this.

Frosty Football, AKA Cold Turkey

Cranberry County Magazine went to not one but two Thanksgiving football games, in Plymouth and Duxbury. We went during record cold, and, as you can see with the young lady here, bundling up was a necessity. It was 17 degrees with a strong wind when I got to Duxbury.

"It's so cold in the D..."

What makes this photo worse is that everyone at the Plymouth game was sitting in the same bleachers.. This was just about everyone.

In case you think I'm lying, this is the other side of the field. Yes, it was windward 

Siberian Selfie by your faithful reporter.

About halfway through the first quarter, I snuck onto the field, pretended to be a coach (I'm a big guy, and have the booming voice of the schoolteacher), shouted encouragement at the kids and stood right in front of the heat cannon. I eventually had to yield to the cheerleaders.

I was hoping for a pic of a shirtless drunk with team color body paint... but like Hall and/or Oates said, "no can do."

Even the ref was cold. You can tell if the ref is cold when A) he's bundled up, and B) he doesn't slow the game down by calling penalties. I mentioned that to him as he walked by, and he said "I call a fast game, Coach." This is when I was still faux-coaching so I could stand near the heater.

North's cheerleaders muscled in on my space heater. I was gonna hang around anyhow, as there is Comic Currency to "Mr. Bowden was arrested as he hung around with 8 cheerleaders who were half one-third his age."

In case you think that only girls and journalists use the heater, here's the Duxbury heat cannon. Duxbury was 12-1 on the year, and beat everyone in SE Massachusetts who stepped up to them. 17 degrees is 17 degrees, though...

Phil Esposito, after a tough Summit Series loss to the USSR, once said, "If you give the Russians a football, they'd win the Super Bowl in a generation." That may or may not be true, but let the record show that Russia has probably seen football, and still chose not to bother with it.

Massachusetts Thanksgiving Football Schedule, Picks

Last week, 2-2... Season, 215-109

These will be cold games, people. Ice cold. Siberian cold. Colder than the kiss of an ex-wife.

Be sure to double check your plans, as some schools are switching their games to Wednesday night to avoid the below-zero wind chills that we'll get on Thusday morning.

On to the games!

Archbishop Williams @ Cardinal Spellman 6:00 PM (Weds)

Playing the Thanksgiving game on Wednesday is like trick-or-treating on October 30th.

Spellman, 18-15

Tri County at Old Colony 6pm Wednesday

Three counties beat a colony, especially an old one.

TC, 21-7

Bishop Stang at Bishop Feehan 5 pm Wednesday

Pick a bishop, any bishop...

Feehan, 14-10

Blue Hills @ Bristol-Plymouth 10:00 AM

As cold as this game will be, it would be colder atop Blue Hills.

BH, 17-6

Bourne @ Wareham, rescheduled to Wednesday at 6 PM

Bourne won't let the cheerleading career of Molliepop end on an L.

Bourne, 20-17

Bridgewater-Raynham @ Brockton 10:00 AM

Brockton doesn't care how many towns they play at once. "Throw in Halifax,"" says Hagler. "Whitman-Hanson too," adds Marciano.

Brockton, 24-23

Cape Cod Tech at Upper Cape Tech 10:00 AM

I'd hate to get technical...

UCT, 24-16

Case at Somerset Berkley 10:00 AM

Gotta take a home dog now and then...

SB, 12-9

Coyle & Cassidy at Taunton 10:00 AM

This is a fun game to bet, especially if you don't really know the players and want to bet instead on partially irrelevant tangents. Can a school with 500 kids beat one with 3000 (Taunton is the 4th largest high school in Massachusetts, trailing only Brockton, Lowell and New Bedford) kids? How about if they are in the same town, and can maybe bleed some of Taunton's talent away? Can a small school with a 7-3 record beat a huge one who is 5-5? On the road?

C&C, 28-27

Dennis-Yarmouth at Nauset 5 PM Wwdnesday

You generally want to bet on teams with two towns in their name, but Nauset serves Eastham, Brewster, Truro, Orleans and Provincetown. The schools are about the same size, Nauset is hosting, but DY was over .500 while Nauset wasn't.

DY, 13-12

Durfee @ New Bedford 10:15 AM

I'm not digging it out of the laundry pile, but I own a Durfee Hilltoppers t-shirt. I also think that Beige will whip them.

NB, 24-9

East Bridgewater @ Rockland 10:00 AM

Rocky started out rough before ending well. EB should prevail, however.

EB, 15-14

Fairhaven at Dartmouth 10:00 AM

The teams look pretty even, but Fairhaven is 4-6 while the D is 3-7. Keeping with the even theme, both teams end up 4-7 after a nail-biter.

Dartmouth, 21-20

Falmouth at Barnstable 10:00 AM

Falmouth and Barnstable both advanced in the playoffs before running into Canton and Mansfield-sized roadblocks.

Barnstable, 21-18

Foxborough at Mansfield 10:00 AM

Foxy Bro's best chance of winning this game involved a) Mansfield looking ahead to the Super Bowl and b) Mansfield playing their JV. A didn't happen, and B doesn't seem likely either.

Mansfield, 31-14

Greater New Bedford at Diman 10:00 AM

I'm taking Beige in the other Fall River/New Bedford gobbler, so I'll take Fawl Rivuh here.

Diman, 18-9

Hanover at Norwell 10:00 AM

Hanover will be very calm and quiet before Black Friday. "Black Friday" sounds very ominous for something that means "the store opens at a funny time so shopaholics can bargain hunt."

Hanover, 21-10

Holbrook/Avon at West Bridgewater 10:00 AM

Holbrook's last game saw them lose to a winless, 100 kid charter school. Can they beat the Westie JV?

The WB, 7-6

Hull. @ Cohasset 10:00 AM

Hull also looked to be playing against the JV before Cohasset crossed the wrong Catholic school.

Cohasset, 41-7

Marshfield at Duxbury 10:00 AM

Duxbury was also going to be sending out the JV, before getting eliminated by Tewksbury. Marshfield beat the JV by 50 points in 2016, humbled the Green Dragon varsity for a departing Coach Silva in 2017, and looks to keep it going in 2018 against a demoralized Duxbury squad.

Duxbury, 24-21

Middleborough at Carver/Sacred Heart, 10:00 AM

"Carver" is an odd word to put in front of "Sacred Heart."

Carver/Sacred Heart, 14-13

Milton at Braintree 10:00 AM

Much like Fairhaven/Dartmouth, I call a close game where each team finishes the season at 7-4.

Braintree, 17-16

North Attleboro @ Attleboro 10:00 AM

Battle Bro is bigger, but North was a Duxbury away from the EMASS final.

North, 20-14

Old Rochester @ Apponequet 5 pm Wednesday

OR will most likely send out the JV, but that's just me guessing.

Apponequet, 38-7

Pembroke @ Silver Lake 10:00 AM

Pembroke was part of Silver Lake before the divorce, making this game sort of like the War Of The Roses... not the English war, but the divorce movie where Kathleen Turner scissors Michael Douglas.

Silver Lake, 20-10

Plymouth North at Plymouth South 10:00 AM

Prepare yourself now for our "The Plymouth Thanksgiving game should be nationally televised" article.

North, 28-27

Quincy at North Quincy 10:00 AM

I'm not sure if I would have gone to Quincy or North Quincy high school if my parents didn't White Flight out of Quincy during the 1970s busing troubles. I'll bet North, because they haven't lost 10 games this year.

NQ, 14-12

Saint John Paul I at Monomoy

Not sure of the time for this one. An unreliable source tells me 10 AM.

SJPI, 20-14

Sandwich at Mashpee 10:00 am

After winning almost 30 straight games, I don't see the Mash losing two straight.

Mash, 41-14

Scituate at Hingham 10:00 AM

This looks like a JV game for Scituate. The JV playing for Super Bowl teams on Thanksgiving is a downside of the present tournament format.

Hingham, 34-21

Seekonk at Dighton-Rehoboth 10:00 AM

Here's another JV game. I was at the Duxbury JV Thanksgiving game in 2016, and the locals treated it as a chilly class reunion.

Seekonk, 21-6

Sharon at Oliver Ames 10:00 AM

Said it before, saying it again... it must be tough when you root for a school with a male name which loses a power-based game to a school with a female name.

OA, 7-6

Southeastern at South Shore Voc-Tech 10:00 AM

I pasted this list of games from FUN 107's website. Maxpreps has SSVTHS playing Holbrook/Avon. Max is often wrong about these things.

SE, 15-14

Walpole at Weymouth 10:00 AM

Have a great Thanksgiving, everyone!

Walpole, 24-13