Giving thanks

What am I thankful for? Gee, let me think.

I'm thankful for the 6-4-3 double play. For the fastball. The curveball. For the triple. The steal sign. And the fact that baseball begins in five months.

I'm thankful for the DVD player. For the fact I can watch movies in my house without getting out of the recliner. For Netflix. For Amazon.com.

I'm thankful for good writers. For Pat Conroy and Ernest Hemingway. For Larry McMurtry and Thomas Boswell. For George F. Will and Thomas Sowell. For Frank DeFord and W.P. Kinsella and Leigh Montvale. For David Hunter and Marvin West.

I'm thankful for the newspaper for which I work. For Sandra Clark and for the staff and co-workers and readers. For getting to do what I always dreamed of doing.

I'm thankful for UT men's basketball. For the fact they've gotten my mind off of football and that terrible loss to Vanderbilt. (It still doesn't seem real.) For ESPN and around-the-clock coverage.

I'm thankful for my DVR and the fact I can watch anything when I want to. For the fact I can pause live TV.

I'm thankful for Sports Illustrated and Time Magazine. For the fact I can read most anything online. Even the Washington newspapers.

I'm thankful for Ted Hatfield at Regal Cinema. He gives me movie passes. And for Danny Wallace, who brought movies to Halls when I was a kid.

I'm thankful for the joy that children bring. For good friends who are there in the good and bad. For the fact there's been a hell of a lot of good and only a little bad.

I'm thankful for the perfume a favorite female wears. For the fact I can catch a scent of it every now and then when the wind is just right.

I'm thankful for music. For the fact that Thomas Edison invented a machine that allows me to listen to it. For Frank Sinatra, who taught me how to swing. And for George Jones, who taught me how a country song should sound.

I'm thankful for the sun. For the moon and the stars. For the fact that's still the best sight money can't buy.

I'm thankful for the turkey I'll eat tomorrow. And for the fact I have something to eat and a place to sleep at night.

Most of all I'm thankful for my family. For the love they've given me. For the fact they have put up with a crazy wordsmith for a few years now.

And I'm thankful for God, for Apple Pie, for the good ol' USA and for all of our troops overseas. For the fact we live in freedom.

And for those who made that possible.

Happy Thanksgiving!