How is it possible to watch four different football games in one day? Believe me, it can be done with careful preparation and timing.

We were in Nashville for Thanksgiving and had a wonderful time with family and friends. Our son-in-law is a University of Wisconsin alum, and Wisconsin was scheduled to play Minnesota for a spot in the Big 10 finals, or whatever they call that.

So we knew going in we’d be watching that game, and we knew who to pull for.

Also, Clemson played South Carolina. Our daughter is a dyed-in-the-wool, bread-and-buttered Clemson fan, and of course we all knew we’d be watching that game. We engage in a somewhat friendly rivalry with a hardcore USC fan in Rock Hill who always calls when they beat us and greets us on the phone with a “friendly” cock-a-doodle-do. And there’s a good deal of trash talk surrounding this particular game before, during and after the game itself.

Then there was the Georgia versus Georgia Tech game.

I can’t remember why it was important to watch that, but we did and it was fun to see Georgia Tech pull a surprising victory out of their hats, although it was a little sad to see grown men on the Georgia side crying in their little Georgia Bulldog outfits.

That’s when we all sit around and say superior-sounding stuff like, “What’s the matter with those people? It’s just a game.”

The fact that that isn’t how we react when our team, Clemson, loses has nothing to do with anything.

It is very unwise to attempt a philosophical conversation with a Clemson fan after a loss about the importance of how you play the game as opposed to whether you win or lose.

This approach has split friendships and even families asunder.

We also watched the Auburn versus Alabama game. It came very close to being an upset, but in the end the expected outcome became reality. Now I’m not sure why we had to watch this one, and I missed major portions of this game while in the kitchen with Katherine but was aware there was a lot of whooping and hollering going on.

I don’t know how it works in other regions, but here’s how it works at our house. We pull for Clemson against South Carolina. We pull for South Carolina over Georgia. We pull for Georgia over Mississippi, Auburn, Alabama and any Yankee team.

We pull for any southern team over any northern team.

And so on and so forth.

If it’s pro ball, we pull for northeast over midwest or Pacific Coast teams.

Southern or southeastern teams take precedence over all others. After all, we think regional loyalty is important.

Now fortunately for some and unfortunately for others, with the introduction of taping to television watching it is possible to never miss a game you want to see. And for some of us, that means never missing a game, whether you really want to see it or not.

We never were without food during this marathon. And all food prep continued throughout the day, because we were expecting 18 people for a bonfire and hot dog roast in the evening. Somehow it all got done. And we made s’mores at the end.

It is OK with me not to watch football this week.

Perfectly OK.