There are the givens: turkey, pumpkin pie, bickering relatives, Uncle Elmer and his lousy jokes. And then there's what you really want this Thanksgiving Weekend -- a menu filled with sports (and a lock on the TV-room door to keep Uncle Elmer out). Aside from the food and in-laws, here's our roadmap through the weekend sporting gridlock (we've left out the ISU Global Club Short Track Speedskating Competition in Mannheim, Germany, but you can watch if you want). Enjoy! Miami (7-4) at Dallas (8-3) 4:05 p.m. ET - Thu. - CBS   Who says the NFL doesn't have a sense of humor? It's the 10th anniversary of Leon Lett's gaffe on Thanksgiving against Miami when he tried to fall on the ball near the Dallas goal line after the Cowboys had blocked Pete Stoyanovich's 41-yard field-goal attempt. Given a second chance, Stoyanovich made a 19-yarder for a 16-14 win. And Miami's back in Big D. Packers play Lions at 12:30 p.m. ET (FOX), but be forewarned: The action might ruin your dinner.      Knicks at Pacers Nets at Clippers 7:30 p.m. ET - Thu. - TNT   Talk about your turkeys. The NBA tries to showcase some of its marketable teams on a holiday evening, and only one of 'em has a winning record a month into the season. The Knicks are dreadful, the Nets are about to cost Byron Scott his job, and the Clippers still stink. That leaves the Pacers as the blue-plate special here. Thanks for nothing.           Ole Miss (8-3) at Miss. St. (2-9) 7:30 p.m. ET - Thu. - ESPN   Last time to see Eli Manning in a regular-season game. Last time to see Jackie Sherrill in any game. But why the Egg Bowl? In 1926, Ole Miss fans stormed the field in Starkville and, "A few chairs had to be sacrificed over the heads … to persuade them that was entirely the wrong attitude," according to a school yearbook. To calm things, the schools decided on a trophy. Thus, the Golden Egg -- a mounted regulation-size gold-plated football.        No. 23 Nebraska at Colorado No. 6 Texas at Texas A&M Noon ET, 3:30 p.m. ET - Friday - ABC   Don't worry if the tryptophan is still kicking in; this twinbill doesn't have the national championship appeal it sometimes does. But two things to watch: if Nebraska coach Frank Solich is squirming (he's on the hot seat) and if BCS-hopeful Texas tries to run it up on dreadful A&M. Think Oklahoma.     Arkansas Razorbacks (8-3) at No. 3 LSU (10-1) 2:30 p.m. ET - Friday - CBS   LSU still has BCS title-game aspirations (see Florida State vs. Florida below), but needs a win over the Hogs, who have won nine straight games in November dating back to the 2001 game against LSU at Baton Rouge. Arkansas won last year in the final minute to get to the SEC title game.     Nashville Predators vs. Boston Bruins Milwaukee Bucks vs. Boston Celtics Noon ET, 7:30 p.m. ET - Friday   Somebody craving a day to shop in Boston? Let 'em -- and sneak away for a Beantown Twinbill at the FleetCenter. First, it's the Northeast-leading B's against bitter rival Nashville (OK, maybe not so bitter). After a quick switcheroo to put the parquet over the ice, it's the struggling Celtics against the struggling Bucks. Simmer down -- we didn't promise a Rose Garden (that's in Portland, and they don't have a hockey team).     Preseason NIT Finals Mass Mutual Classic: No. 8 Florida vs. No. 3 Arizona 7 p.m. ET, 9 p.m. ET - Friday - ESPN2   Bob Knight has earned a place in the NIT title game, followed by Billy Donovan and Florida vs. Lute Olson and Arizona at the Birthplace of Basketball (that's Springfield, Mass., in case it comes up in the family Trivial Pursuit battle).     St. Louis at Tampa Bay 7 p.m. ET - Friday   We get division leaders (St. Louis in the Central; Tampa Bay tied atop the Southeast) going head-to-head, and as a bonus, Tampa Bay's co-scoring leader is named Martin St. Louis. Just something cool in that.     Cleveland vs. Detroit San Antonio vs. L.A. Lakers 8 p.m. ET - Friday - ESPN   LeBron vs. Darko in the first game ... sort of. James is averaging 17 points in 41 minutes a game. Milicic, as of Wednesday, had yet to score in an NBA game and was averaging 2.4 minutes. In the nightcap, the Lakers face the Spurs for the second time this season; in Game 1, L.A. won 120-117, but Tim Duncan didn't play.     No. 9 Florida State (9-2) vs. No. 11 Florida (8-3) 3:30 p.m. ET - Saturday - CBS   Stick with us here; there's a test later. First, the easy part: Florida State is in the BCS, win or lose. Now, it gets sticky. A Florida win, coupled with a Kentucky win over Tennessee (12:30 p.m. ET), would put the Gators into the SEC title game (where a win guarantees a BCS berth). It could also help LSU (assuming it beats Arkansas on Friday), since the Tigers wouldn't face Georgia in the SEC finale and would thus keep their "quality win" points over the Bulldogs (unless Georgia loses to Georgia Tech, 1 p.m. ET on ABC). But if Florida, Tennessee and Georgia all win, the Bulldogs will go the SEC title game, since they'll be the highest-ranked BCS team. But if LSU were to beat Florida in the SEC title game, those "quality win" points might be the margin LSU needs to overtake USC and get to the BCS title game. Who said there's no homework over Thanksgiving break?     Miami at Pittsburgh 8 p.m. ET - Saturday - ABC   Two solid reasons to watch this one: If you love Miami, it's a chance to see the 'Canes get a BCS berth for the fourth straight time with a win. If you hate the 'Canes, it's a chance to see somebody else get there if they lose -- and electrifying Larry Fitzgerald of Pittsburgh is better than grandma's pumpkin pie. Warning: If you've made your local TV programmer mad over the last 12 months, you get Notre Dame vs. Stanford in this time slot. Sorry. New England (8-2) at Indianapolis (8-2) 1 p.m. ET - Sun. - CBS   Peyton Manning's ugly helmet aside, this is the prettiest game on the NFL schedule. The winner stays close to Kansas City in the battle for home field in the AFC playoffs. Also at 1 ET: Philly at Carolina (FOX) in a battle of 8-3 NFC teams.      The Skins Game 3:30 p.m. ET - Sun. - ABC   Sure, they played for $300,000 on Saturday. But there's $700,000 -- at least -- on the line for Mark O'Meara, Phil Mickelson, Fred Couples and newcomer Annika Sorenstam. How will she do? A couple of weeks ago, she played Retief Goosen, Jesper Parnevik and a local pro in the Tiger Skins tournament in Singapore. She won five skins and $35,000. Indiana at L.A. Lakers 9:30 p.m. ET - Sun   Save room for a sweet bit of dessert -- with a double-O'Neal twist. Jermaine battles Shaq (assuming he's healthy) to highlight a showdown of the NBA's two hottest teams. And Reggie Miller likes nothing better than shooting daggers into his hometown team.
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