Yesterday was Thanksgiving, a day of food, family, football and trytophan-induced naps, punctuated by more football and a stomach bulge bigger than Casey Hampton's.

But it was also a day to give thanks, for many things, really.

There is no shortage of things to be thankful for in sports:

Some of the things I'm thankful for ...

• Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson for finally canning Dick Jauron.

At least the Bills won't go 7-9 this season.

• The Cleveland Indians for hiring Manny Acta, so I can use the pun, "the Indians are finally geting their Acta together." Priceless.

• My wife, Dahn, for being as big of a football fan as I am — but not for beating me twice this season in fantasy football. Thanks, honey. You're out of the will.

• My iPhone. No matter where I am, I can play Madden now. Thank you, technology.

• My two cats, Milo and Dexter, for wrestling in the middle of the living room — more entertaining than any WWE Smackdown vs. Raw cage match to be sure.

• Chad Johnson (I refuse to call him Ochocinco) for being an idiot, an entertaining idiot, but still an idiot.

• Black Friday. So I know what it feels like to run with the bulls in Pamplona.

• Allen Iverson for finally going away.

• The NFL for taking itself so seriously.

The league released a long-winded statement proclaiming the Vince Young high-five with referee Jerome Boger was an accident:

"It was not Jerome Boger's intent to exchange a high-five with the player. It began with the referee making the proper administrative signal and resulted in the appearance of an inappropriate action. ..."As Boger moved toward the line of scrimmage, he started to bring his arm down. However, before he lowered his arm, Young, moving towards the referee, raised his own arm and the two exchanged what appeared to be a quick high-five."I wonder what the league thought of Young butt slapping a ref earlier in the game? Wasn't that inappropriate? Here's what the NFL would have said:

"It was not the referee's intent to engage in butt slappage with the player. It began with the referee making the proper spot and resulted in the player's hand slapping the ref's cheek."It's so absurdly serious that it is funny.

•

Eric Mangini. No matter how bad I feel, I can always say, "At least I'm not Eric Mangini."• High school sports. These kids don't play for a big contract, but just because they love it.• Scoop, because I am unaware of any other newspaper that has a uniformed mascot who writes columns and tweets from football games.• Butler Eagle readers. Without you, I'd have to have a real job.

Mike Kilroy is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.