This fanpost was promoted to the front page by Tim Burke.

Folks, lads, gentlemen, ladies.  Enjoy your Thanksgiving.  Some incredible football on Thursday, the first time in ten years I no longer have to work a Black Friday, and awesome sports all weekend.  I'll leave you with this, from the great Drew Magary.

"I'm a dark meat man. None of this bland white meat shit.  Dark meat is moister and has more fat. It's like Kate Winslet. And who doesn't enjoy Kate Winslet?"

And That's the Way it Was: Ten Fighters after last weekend who are shining.  No fading allowed:

1. Dan Henderson
2. Mauricio Rua
3. Michael Chandler
4. Urijah Faber
5. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
6. Wanderlei Silva
7. Giorgio Petrosyan
8. Ronda Rousey
9. Lumumba Sayers
10. Hector Lombard

Friday November 25

4:00am    Francisco Sierra vs. Jesus Gonzales (ESPN 3D)
3:30pm    Best of Dream (HDNet)
7:00pm    Greg Haugen vs. Hector Camacho II (ESPN Classic)
8:00pm    Cage Fighting Manitoba 3 (GFL $9.99)
8:30pm    24/7 Cotto vs. Margarito (HBO2)
9:00pm    Shark Fights (Fuel TV)
9:00pm    School of Hard Knocks 18 (GFL $9.99)
9:30pm    Muay Thai Fighting Championship: Canada vs. China (GFL $14.99)
11:30pm    Antonio Margarito vs. Miguel Cotto I (HBO2)

Saturday November 26

12:00am    Shark Fights (Fuel TV)
12:30am    24/7 Cotto vs. Margarito (HBO)
12:30am    Inside MMA w/Urijah Faber, Tito Ortiz (HDNet)
1:30am    Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum Undercard (HDNet)
3:30am    Inside MMA w/Urijah Faber, Tito Ortiz (HDNet)
4:30am    Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum Undercard (HDNet)
9:30am    Antonio Margarito vs. Miguel Cotto I (HBO2)
10:00am    Big 8 Muay Thai: WKN World Grand Prix (GFL $14.99)
10:30am    24/7 Cotto vs. Margarito (HBO)
7:00pm    Bellator 59 Preliminaries (Spike.com)
8:00pm    John Molina Jr. vs. Rob Frankel (ESPN 3D)
9:00pm    Bellator 59 (MTV2)
9:00pm    Ultimate Warrior Fighting 1 (GFL $9.99)
9:30pm    Rumble in the Cage 45 (GFL $9.99)
10:00pm    24/7 Cotto vs. Margarito (HBO)
10:30pm    Kermit Cintron vs. Saul Alvarez/Adrien Broner vs. Vincente Martin Rodriguez (HBO)

Sunday November 27

1:00am    24/7 Cotto vs. Margarito (HBO)
1:30am    Face-Off: Cotto-Margarito (HBO)
9:15am    Kermit Cintron vs. Saul Alvarez/Adrien Broner vs. Vincente Martin Rodriguez (HB0)
11:45am    24/7 Cotto vs. Margarito (HBO)
12:15pm    Face-Off: Cotto-Margarito (HBO)
5:15pm    Kermit Cintron vs. Saul Alvarez/Adrien Broner vs. Vincente Martin Rodriguez (HB0)
8:00pm    Alejandro Lopez vs. Teon Kennedy (FSN)
10:00pm    Mark Jason Melligen vs. Sebastian Lujan (ESPN 3D)
11:00pm    24/7 Cotto vs. Margarito (HBO2)

Under the Radar: Names that aren't on American broadcasted shows this week.

Mamed Khalidov vs. Paulo Filho (November 26, KSW 17, Atlas Arena, Lodz, Poland)

James Thompson vs. Mariusz Pudzianowski (November 26, KSW 17, Atlas Arena, Lodz, Poland)

Jan Blachowicz vs. Rameau Thierry Sokodjou (November 26, KSW 17, Atlas Arena, Lodz, Poland)

Matt Horwich vs. Michal Materla (November 26, KSW 17, Atlas Arena, Lodz, Poland)

Ray Sefo vs. Jorgen Kruth (November 26, Rumble of the Kings, Hovet Arena, Stockholm, Sweden)

Marius Zaromskis vs. Bruno Carvalho  (November 26, Rumble of the Kings, Hovet Arena, Stockholm, Sweden)

Delson Heleno vs. Edgar Dayan (November 26, Campos Combat, Campos dos Goytacazes Exhibition Park, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

Donald Sanchez vs. Dave Roberts (November 26, KOTC: Triumph, Inn of the Mountain Gods Casino, Mescalero, New Mexico)

Jesse Bongfeldt vs. Brandon MacArthur (November 26, Rumble in the Cage 45, Exhibition South Pavilion, Lethbridge, Alberta)

Roger Huerta vs. War Machine (November 26, Ultimate Warrior Fighting 1, Pharr, Texas)

Dave Menne vs. Eric Davila  (November 26, Ultimate Warrior Fighting 1, Pharr, Texas)

Best Viewing Options: Everything comes secondary to the rebirth of the The Kid. #87. #typicalobnoxiouspenguinsfan

1. Bellator 59: Tidy little card to wrap up Season Five.  Heavyweight and Bantamweight finals.  Also, Pellegrino and his annoying tweets against Pitbull.

2. Kermit Cintron vs. Saul Alvarez: This fight has lost a little shine since Saul's trouble outside the ring, but it's still a chance to see Canelo on extended cable.

3. Ultimate Warrior Fighting 1: Trainwreck coming through!  Real-life superhero Huerta vs. real-life twatwaffle Jon Koppenhaver.

4. Antonio Margarito vs. Miguel Cotto I: The fight was called "The Battle".  It says enough that nobody bats an eyelash at the naming of it.  Watch ASAP.

5. Inside MMA: Celebrate your holiday with Bas Rutten.  Then go liver kick a turkey.

6. 24/7 Cotto vs. Margarito: Brookhouse recently said Mexico vs. Puerto Rico boxing was the biggest rivalry in sports.  Want to dispute him?  You'll need to watch 24/7.  BV IS SUCH A SHIT-STIRRER!

7. Big 8 Muay Thai: Saturday morning Muay Thai people!  Kick it in the ass!

8. Muay Thai Fighting Championship: FINALLY, someone has thrown down the gauntlet and put to rest the long-standing centuries old blood rivalry of Canada and China.  Had to be done, people!

9. Best of Dream: Wow, what a thin goddamned week for the fighting arts.  Meh, best of Dream is good Friday filler.

10. Rumble in the Cage 45: $10 to see Jesse Bongfeldt fight?  Anyone?  Anyone?

BV Loses You Money:  Holy living fuck!  I turned a profit!  Time to start stockpiling tomato soup and powdered water, kids.

Last Weekend's Hangover:
If you put down $100 on each of my predictions last week, you'd have today:
$883
BV WON You: $383!
On the Year: -$548

This Weekend:

Kurt Pellegrino -150 Patricky Freire
Saul Alvarez -800 Kermit Cintron

Lines courtesy of BetUS

Fight of the Week:  Most of you have seen this fight, but it bears a rewatch.  Evangelista Santos vs. Melvin Manhoef from Cage Rage.

Melvin Manhoef vs Evangelista Santos (via CHARLATAANS)

Take a Knee: Even the biggest combat sports fan needs to recharge their batteries before diving back in.  Here are five games that are nationally broadcasted this weekend that deserve your eyes as well on Friday and Saturday.

(Note: I'll be excluding my teams from this to avoid homerism and only including nationally broadcasted games.)

Philadelphia @ New York Rangers (Saturday, 2:00, NHL Network): Winter Classic preview!  As a Pens fan, I love to watch these Atlantic games (or any Atlantic vs. Washington game), and just watch them kick the shit out of each other.  I just hope it doesn't go to overtime to give either team an extra point.  Oh, and Claude Giroux is a man.  Can't even hate him.  He's fantastic.

New York Rangers @ Washington (Friday 3:00, NHL Network): See above.  Ahhh, afternoon Thanksgiving weekend hockey.  Ahhh.

Arkansas @ LSU (Friday 2:30, CBS): FUCK THIS GAME IS HUGE!  Fucking SEC West, man.  What a division.  LSU controls its destiny to the title game.  With Les Miles, world's luckiest coach, at the helm, it should be a fun ride.  Even cooler it comes on a Friday afternoon.

Alabama @ Auburn (Saturday 3:30 CBS): Iron Bowl, son!  The next step towards LSU-Bama II for the National Title.

Iowa @ Nebraska (Friday Noon, ABC): This will be a sneaky-good game.  Relevent in the B1G (that's how their logo looks, unfortunately) conference.

Your YouTube Finale: Simply put, one of the most amazing videos on teh interwebz I've ever seen.  I think I've watched this three times a week for the last ten months.  I still can't believe The Social Network housed Inception on so many awards.  I hate the Academy.  Also, Despicable Me was awesome and I'll fight anyone that disagrees.

Filmography 2010 (via genrocks)