• There were several football games, the loss of one I acknowledged with the video of my, ahem, old friend Brutus. The final home game, though, was the really odd one — Penn State with no Paterno was easily the weirdest game of the weirdest season I’ve ever experienced.
• And then Ohio State hired a new coach. I’m happy that Urban is already making Michigan fans twitchy, but I’m not totally sold yet.
• We had a lovely Thanksgiving, thank you. Dinner was with Mrs. Crappy’s family in Washington; we then traveled to Columbus to prepare for the Beat Michigan weekend, the results of which you already know. But my favorite part might have been my Thanksgiving night snack of White Castles and Mad Elf at my parents’ kitchen table.
• And if that wasn’t the best part, it would have been listening to my niece on the phone that evening telling me that her hair had been crumpled.
• I hadn’t made the family spaghetti in years; in the last month, I’ve made it twice, once for the annual Beat Michigan dinner in Columbus and once for friends just a couple days ago. The good news: I still remember how.
• Football travel is over. I love going to Columbus for games but the endless driving back and forth gets really old by the end of the season.
• I saw Yonder Mountain String Band at the beginning of November because I was twitchy for a show; we saw the String Cheese Incident last night because that’s what Mrs. Crappy wanted to do for her birthday. Good stuff, too, although SCI can be a little too noodle-y, even for me.
• I got to miracle Boo and Butter for last night’s show, thanks to Pam, who won tickets through WYEP but couldn’t go. Teresa gets bonus points for the assist.
• Remember the nice English lady who helped me through Couch to 5K? We broke up. It wasn’t her; it was me. I finished C25K last weekend, just in time to be ready for my first 5K on Saturday morning. I’ll tell you more about that later today.
• HOW COME IT’S NOT SNOWING YET?
• I totally changed our outdoor Christmas lights, and they’re still not quite right.
• I’m still not really feeling Christmas yet. But that’ll come.
• And I apparently need to add a picture to the banner; if I don’t you can’t really see the snow that WordPress gives us every December.

So. How’ve you guys been?

• Had a beer
• Watched hockey
• Attended a tailgate party
• Cooked for each other
• Jumped in the Mon
• Gotten sloppy over sangria
• Gone out for dinner
• Raved about music
• Choked down a 649
• Traded soup
• Met for lunch
• Sat around a campfire
• Seen a concert
• Talked on Twitter, by text or even on the damn telephone
• Played softball
• Gone running
• Traded blog comments
• Cheered each other’s successes
• Helped each other up when things weren’t so good
• Smiled, laughed or cried
• Been there for each other, even in seemingly insignificant ways

in the last year, I so am thankful to have you in my life.

Happy Thanksgiving, y’all.

But this one will be hard to top. My sister sent me this on Thursday; it’s from the Veterans Day program they had at the school that Drew and Mollie attend.

That’s me in that list, just above my father, and alongside a lot of other men and women who truly deserve the recognition. As I said, I always appreciate the thoughts, but this one was especially touching.

If you know a veteran, an active, a reservist or a National Guard member, take a second and say thanks today. Trust me — they’ll be thrilled to hear it.

We’re a day away from another home football game, and I have my regular football partner with me tomorrow. That wasn’t the case a week ago, but it worked out pretty well anyway.

I’m always a little out of sorts when Mrs. Crappy can’t come to a game. She’s been my partner in Ohio Stadium for even longer than we’ve been married, and when she can’t come for some reason, I miss her terribly.

That was the case a week ago, when Mrs. Crappy was recovering from the nasty cold and didn’t come out to Columbus. It was the case for my dad too, as my Mom, who had been sick all week, came to the tailgate party but didn’t stick around for the game that night.

And that’s how I got to watch a game — that game — with my Dad.

Mrs. Crappy’s been my official football partner for more than a decade now, but my Dad and I go back even further. My first Ohio State game was with him — a Wisconsin game, no less, in 1974. Long before I was in high school, he made a point of taking me to what would be the last game between Upper Arlington — for whom I would play several years later — and Bishop Watterson, the local Catholic high school; that rivalry was ending as UA moved to a new conference, but I mostly remember the pre-game meal we shared at White Castle. There were Browns games in the old Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, including one bitterly cold game in which Cleveland secured a playoff berth.

And there were Ohio State games. Too many to count in the stadium — I was the default choice when mom decided it was too cold or rainy to go — and even more on TV in our house or elsewhere.

I am the way I am, in terms of football, because of him. He’s a little more understated these days, but the stuff I remember:

• TP-ing the house of a Michigan fan after the 1975 comeback win.
• Standing by the outerbelt waiving an enormous Ohio State flag — which I still have — at passing traffic after we watched the 1979 win against Michigan.
• Dangling my buddy Carolina Boy over the edge of our deck because he wore his Michigan gear to one of my folks’ Beat Michigan parties.

Has this rubbed off? As I gave what can only be described as a totally over-the-top pep talk at the end of our tailgate toast on Saturday, I heard someone say to my father: “Yeah, he’s your son.”

Father and son got to watch a remarkable game on Saturday night. Ohio State’s first late touchdown — the long Braxton Miller run — had both of us jumping up and down — something that’s not easy for Dad these days. We reacted differently to Miller’s long TD pass, though — as the stadium erupted around us, we could only look at each other in disbelief.

He’s got a few more games on me — to the tune of 20 seasons or so — but neither of us could come up with one that compared to last week’s win against Wisconsin. We saw an all-timer. And I got to share it with the guy who is the reason for me being the fan I am.

I get to watch this week’s game with Mrs. Crappy, and I’m happy she’s back. But I will always be grateful for — and I will never forget — last weekend.

Thanks, Dad.

The woman in the middle, squished in between my mom and Mrs. Crappy, is my sister. She’s a great sister — to me and to Mrs. Crappy — and a great mom.

It’s also her birthday. She’s, uh, not quite as old as me.

Wish her a happy birthday, would you? Thanks.

• Ohio State finally killed the SEC curse. The rest of the conference? Not so much.
• With a win against a suddenly hot Penn State team on Saturday, Ohio State’s basketball team will likely take over the No. 1 spot in the polls. That’s not a huge deal in basketball, but it’s still pretty cool.
• I have worked. A bunch.
• I have a new blogging home. Don’t worry — I’m not leaving Uncle Crappy behind, but I’m pretty excited about the opportunity. And I’ll tell you about it in a day or two.
• Because we’re hosting my parents this weekend, and I’m not spending a whole lot of time with the internets. We celebrated Christmas Eve Thursday — crabcakes and filets — Christmas this morning — presents and a pancake breakfast — and Mom’s birthday tonight.
• Which meant we had dinner at Point Brugge. Two words:  Carbonnade Flamande. Two more words: Holy shit.
• While we were putzing around Walnut Street this afternoon, Mrs. Crappy snuck in Prantl’s and picked up some birthday dessert — a bunch of little cupcake things that we stuck candles in and served in the place of cake.
• The candles meant Mom just turned 14.
• And then we thumped Mom and Dad playing Trivial Pursuit.
• OK, maybe “thumped” isn’t the right word, but we’re on a two-game win streak here.
• Miles is not happy about having visitors.
• I’m waiting on the Grandhog to send me the proclamation so we can get this Groundhog thing rolling.
• Keeping up with my folks is hard. I think I am going to bed.

The shenanigans that took place  last weekend started a few weeks ago, when I got a text from my sister. I called her back and found that she and my BIL were planning a surprise weekend trip to Columbus. The goals: Get the kids to their first tailgate party and their first Ohio State game, and surprise the crap out of Mom.

And oh yes, we did both.

The Floridians initially wondered about surprising all of the northerners, but that would have been a little tough — we needed five extra tickets for the game, and we needed to make sure we had some kid-friendly food available for the party.

When Mrs. Crappy and I arrived in Columbus on Friday, Mom still had no idea that the Floridians were on the way. There was one close call — a friend who left a phone message about Dad’s requests for tickets — but my quick-thinking father was able to brush that off without a problem.

We had to think quickly again after we brought the Floridians home from the airport Friday afternoon; mom was out running errands, but Dad called her back to the house so he could check out a “chair” he had “purchased” for my former bedroom. Erin, Chris and the kids were waiting in the room when she opened the door — and the fun began.

We ate a ton of Donatos Friday night — four larges and a small, to be specific. The younger nephew actually got up before I did Saturday morning so he could help me load the truck for the tailgate. The party was spectacular, the kids all loved the game, and we had taco night back at home that evening.

The Floridians had a 6 a.m. flight back home Sunday morning, to get them in home in time for a week-long visit by our parents. And Mrs. Crappy and I had a one of those drives back to Pittsburgh where we had to switch off driving duties a couple times because we didn’t get a whole lot of rest.

The tired was worth it, for the surprise, for getting the kids to the game and for a great weekend with our entire family.

I, uh, nearly forgot to post something. So here: we ate a crapload of pizza Friday night.

Good lord, I am exhausted.

I’ll go into detail later, but today’s big deal — one that we’ve been waiting on for a while — was a surprise visit by the Floridians. The one who was surprised was my mom, who had no idea they were coming, for Donatos tonight and for the game tomorrow.