This Post Is Barely Brought To You By The Letter D

I am in the middle of a situation here.

The fact I was able to type 'middle' made me cheer. 

Here's why.

This morning, as I was writing a post for tonight's WWE Survivor Series, I notice that one of the keys wasn't working.

You might be able to work it out as you're looking at this post. I'm trying to write sentences without using that particular key because it has once again quit on me.

I'll try my best to carry my way through to the conclusion of this post. 

If you haven't worked it out, the letter that is bothering me is the letter at the beginning plus back of my first name.

I have now managed to get it working briefly. 

Okay - I'm out. Back tomorrow!

Photos Tell Today's Story

To best tell today's story, I'm going to use some photographs. 

I made the choice to watch last night's Thanksgiving Day game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Dallas Cowboys using my NFL GamePass account. This meant watching the fixture on the entire CBS feed from the US.

During each break, I'd either head off downstairs or zone out before coverage returned. On one of those focus shifts, I was at my laptop screen and looked up at the TV.

Here's how it went:

'Ah,' I thought. 'There's the guy who used to be on Yellowstone.' I continued watching to see what new programme 'the guy who used to be on Yellowstone' is starring in.

Next scene:

'Hold up! That's Kayce Dutton from Yellowstone. What is this!?'

I soon found out:

Coming next spring is a Yellowstone spinoff series titled 'Marshals'.

I've now watched the trailer properly and it looks very good. This Yellowstone fan is keen to see it.

Now all I hope for is a spinoff with Rip Wheeler as the main character. That sure would be fun.

Missing A Tradition

I am sitting at my PC after noticing I haven't kept to one of my traditions. 

Even though I'm not American, I often put Planes, Trains and Automobiles on in the hours leading up to kick off of the first NFL game of Thanksgiving Thursday.

It wasn't a decision I made actively. I had planned to catch it, but time has simply moved quite fast for me today and the odds of me watching the film are long now that dinner and the two, possibly three, kick offs are looming.

I plan to eventually watch the documentary about John Candy. It's titled I Like Me. That is a line from Planes, Trains and Automobiles. In fact, it's part  of the most poignant scene in the movie and always gives me goosebumps. 

Even back as a child, when I first watched the film, that scene had me. Now, all the years later, it still does it.

If I'm not going to watch the film this year, the least I can do is fire up Spotify - as soon as I hit 'Publish - and listen to Power to Believe by The Dream Academy.

That's a photograph I took of the video cassette I have of Planes, Trains and Automobiles for one of the Diet of Christmas Films posts even though it is a movie set during Thanksgiving.

Today's Triv Question Was About The GOAT

Today's trivia question, on my Indianapolis Colts Page-A-Day calendar, was an easy one.

It asked 'Who is the only Colts quarterback (entering 2023) to pass for six touchdowns in a game?'

The answer - the GOAT. 

To be precise, the answer is 'Peyton Manning (twice)'.

I have no recollection of one of those six touchdown-passing games. 

The one I do remember celebrated its twenty-first anniversary last night. It was the 41-9 Thanksgiving game against the Detroit Lions.

I remember it well because it was the first time I ever watched a Thanksgiving game live on TV. There I was, my younger self, sat on the armchair in the dining room - with Sky Sports on - celebrating the American holiday tradition. 

I've been doing it every year since.

Albeit in different rooms of my home!

Interestingly, there's potential for a bunch of British NFL fans to experience a Thanksgiving game for the first time tomorrow evening.

That's because Channel 5 is covering the Dallas Cowboys versus Kansas City Chiefs Thanksgiving Day fixture. This will be the first time a Thanksgiving Day game will air on free-to-air TV here in the UK.

Even though I dislike Channel 5's 'NFL Big Game Night' coverage of the sport, I acknowledge the fact that this might be the only way people on these shores can get their NFL fix, so I am happy for those able to watch such a traditional game for the first time.

People stateside believe the game has potential to break US TV records for a regular season fixture, so   it will serve as a perfect introduction to new viewers of Thanksgiving Day football.

Channel 5's coverage of the Dallas versus Kansas City game begins at 9pm GMT tomorrow.

I wrote about the 2004 Colts versus Lions game a little over a year ago. You can read this post by following THIS LINK.

The White Whale Is In Sight, But I Might Have Trouble Reeling It In

Do you remember at the start of this month, when I mentioned having set myself a goal to find and watch Hallmark's movie which has a Buffalo Bills theme? Well, Holiday Touchdown: A Bills Love Story aired in the USA last weekend. Since then, I have been trying to uncover its availability over here in the UK. 

My 'white whale', as I call it, is now in sight. The film will premiere on the Christmas 24 channel at 3pm GMT on Sunday 7th December. 

After finally coming across it on my Virgin Media box's TV guide, I scheduled it to record. I did so feeling like I had scored a touchdown of my own.

The reason why I have had a Ahab-esque obsession with finding this particular movie is because my friend, Vicki, pointed the film out to me a few weeks before she passed away over the summer. I told Vick I hoped it would make it to the TVs on these shores so I could watch it. 

It has been a goal of mine to have the film as the main event of this year's Diet of Christmas Films. It would be fitting for this year's post - which will be the eighteenth edition, by the way! - to close with me watching the movie set in Vick's home and with the Bills - her favourite team - being part of the plot.

I went to bed last night chuffed that I have the chance of doing that.

But. 

A plot twist has appeared.

When I opened the Virgin Media app this morning, to delete the Monday Night Football game from last night because I've already watched it, a message popped up informing me that my cable box and app will no longer be compatible from the next time the app updates. 

In the same message, my service provider offered me a free upgrade to a newer box. I had no choice but to take the free opportunity. I did so knowing a few things.

My current box will lose all of its content. That means everything I've recorded, or plan to record, will no longer be available to me.

That means, even if I do manage to snare the white whale, I might have a problem keeping it until Christmas Eve.

Or does it?

You'll find out what happens, or doesn't happen, in thirty days from now.

Still Legit (To Quit)

I ALMOST did it.

After finding out that the Indianapolis Colts' visit to the Kansas City Chiefs was set to air on Channel 5 last night, I thought to myself 'should I give them another go?'

Ultimately, the rational part of my brain concluded I had subscribed to GamePass. Therefore, GamePass it was.

For the past few months, those critiquing the great start the Colts had in the 2025 pointed to the week twelve game to decide whether they were legit or not. This despite the Chiefs starting their campaign 0-2 (giving them a longshot chance of making the playoffs). 

Well, the Colts came to play. They were in the lead for most of the game, but then let it slip away in the latter part of the fourth quarter.

Tied at 20-20, the two sides duked it out in overtime with the home side getting the W from a field goal.

Despite the result, and maybe this is rose-tinted glasses on my part, I consider the Colts as LEGIT. All facets of the team are working. It felt that the Chiefs needed the result more.

I shall continue to fly the flag.

Roald Dahl Passed Away 35 Years Ago

Today is the thirty-fifth anniversary of Roald Dahl's passing.

I wrote about the Cardiff-born author a few weeks ago, and thought I'd revisit the topic today to commemorate the day.

Back in October, I mentioned that I had never read one of the last books Dahl wrote. So, a few weeks ago, I finally sat down and read Esio Trot.

It was a bit funny. It's about how a man woos the lady in the apartment downstairs by pretending he knows how to make tortoises grow. Instead, he his plan involves buying a bunch various sizes of the animal and switching them.

His plot eventually wins the lady's heart. It actually ends without the neighbour marrying with the wooer.

Her actual tortoise, well - it ends up with another family because the subterfuge was not revealed to the unsuspecting lady.

A peculiar conclusion because that man has tricked his way into that woman's life and gotten rid of her real pet!

That's Roald Dahl for you.

Esio Trot wasn't the only Dahl book I've read recently.

This week, I've picked up Boy and Going Solo for the first time since my childhood. I have a few fond memories of reading Dahl's first autobiography. As for Going Solo - I was given it by my mum for Christmas in the year it was first published in paperback. I struggled with it, to be fair. But, it was mainly because it covered Dahl's participation in the Second World War. 

Don't get me wrong, I appreciated it back then. However, I am finding it more enjoyable reading Going Solo with eyes that have matured by forty-plus years since I first opened it.

I learned of Roald Dahl's passing during the News at Ten thirty-five years ago tonight. As I wrote last month, I often wonder how my infant and primary school would have dealt with such news. 

We read a lot of Dahl there. And I mean lot!

I'm glad we did.