8502180506 DETROIT FREE PRESS 851128 Thursday, November 28, 1985 METRO FINAL

SPT

5F MITCH ALBOM the picks Copyright (c) 1985, Detroit Free Press MANY REASONS TO GIVE THANKS It's Thanksgiving. Time to count your blessings. Assuming you are a Lions fan, you may be thinking you have no blessings to count after last Sunday's embarrassing loss to Tampa Bay. Not true. There are still many things you can be thankful for. For instance: 1. The Lions do not play Tampa Bay today. 2. The Lions are at home. 3. The football season is almost over. 4. You were born without a tail. Any of these should give you reason to smile, and say, "Oh, thank you." If not, how about an abbreviated version of our regular Sunday picks column? Today's games will go like this. . . . LIONS 23, JETS 16: I'm going to go out on a limb here. I'm going to risk that the Jets are emotionally down. I'm going to risk that Ken O'Brien and Freeman McNeil are too hurt to be effective. I'm going to risk that the Lions get all sorts of breaks, like they did against the 49ers and Dallas. I'm going to risk all this, because it's Thanksgiving and we're drinking eggnog, and I cannot be held responsible for my actions. COWBOYS 28, CARDINALS 9: This game, on the other hand, will see no surprise. Why? Because Dallas is as hungry as my 10-year- old cousin with the stuffing piled up to his chin, and St. Louis is deader than the turkey. (Be back on Sunday with the rest of the picks. Happy Holiday.)