Each Thanksgiving, in honor of the late Charlotte Observer sports columnist Ron Green Sr., I compile a list of what I’m thankful for.
Ron did this every year for decades, and people read it aloud sometimes at the kitchen table. Before he died in 2024, at age 95, Ron had given me permission to follow in his footsteps each year with a Thanksgiving column. Ron was the original. Think of me as the tribute band, playing one of his greatest hits today with my own list.
What I’m thankful for in 2025:
Kon Knueppel. He’s only a rookie, and yet the new Charlotte Hornet and former Duke standout is teaching a class every night about how to make the right play, time after time. Entering Wednesday night’s game, he has led the Hornets in scoring four games in a row. A lot of other things are going wrong with the Hornets (4-13) as usual. Knueppel, though, is going very right.
A real customer-service person on the phone. I don’t want an AI bot with a cute name. I don’t want to “chat online with a representative,” although I will in a pinch.
I did just that the other day trying to get a refund for a package that got lost en route, and I kid you not — they transferred me to seven different representatives, finally told me the refund was in process ... and it still didn’t work.
A week later, I found a phone number for the same company, found a knowledgeable person on the other end of the line and presto, it worked out. Here’s to the dying art of real human interaction.
Wordle. A five-letter daily gem.
That first cup of coffee. Tumble out of bed, stumble to the kitchen, pour myself a cup of ambition (shout-out to Dolly Parton).
The Dilworth Neighborhood Grille sign. Funny, objective, timely — every week during the Panthers’ season, it offers a message about the game just played. I find myself taking circuitous routes to work just to drive by it.
The way it feels outside, just before a thunderstorm. As anyone who has stood up and yelled on fourth-and-goal knows, the anticipation of something is often better than the actual something.
Those who serve others, on Thanksgiving and every other day, trying to put some light into a world where it gets dark too early.
People and things who help keep life running. A good auto mechanic. An ice scraper in the glove compartment. Duct tape.
Dean Smiths (both of them). The original Dean Smith in N.C. was a legendary basketball coach and an even better man. The new Dean Smith, who is the head coach of Charlotte FC, doesn’t have the same recognizability but he’s a lot of fun.
Of the three head coaches in the three highest-level pro sports in Charlotte — the Panthers’ Dave Canales, the Hornets’ Charles Lee and Charlotte FC’s Smith — it is Smith who provides the most honesty and the most laughs in every press conference. He’s an Englishman who knows his sport inside and out, guided Charlotte FC to a No. 4 playoff seed this year and is liable to say just about anything.
A scar with a good story behind it.
Johnson C. Smith football. The team’s season ended Saturday with a playoff loss. But the Golden Bulls had already won the CIAA title for the first time in decades.
A faded pair of jeans that still fits, even if you have to cheat a little bit.
Pumpkin pie, although I’ll really eat any kind.
NASCAR’s deep connections to our area and particularly the Charlotte Motor Speedway, one of the sport’s crown jewels.
Choosing between the second NFL game of the day or an afternoon nap on Thanksgiving Day. You can’t lose.
Rico Dowdle. He’s been the offensive MVP so far this season for the Carolina Panthers, while Jaycee Horn has been the defensive MVP. But while Horn is a known commodity and paid like one, Dowdle was supposed to be just a nice change-of-pace back for Chuba Hubbard. Instead, he’s been superb.
Pick-sixes, the most startling play in football.
Laughter, including that generated by The Onion’s satirical website and comedians Nate Bargatze, Tim Robinson and Tina Fey.
The hushed cool of a library in the summer. The warmth of an independent bookstore just before the holidays.
Teachers, especially those who get there early, stay late and don’t get paid enough. In other words, all of them.
Venus Williams. At age 45, the tennis queen is still very competitive and is coming to the Queen City on Dec. 4, for the second year of the Charlotte Invitational exhibition tennis event. Two days after that comes the ACC football championship, at Bank of America Stadium.
Questions from elementary schoolers. I go visit their classrooms occasionally, to talk about writing and this book for kids I wrote once. The Q&A is always the best part.
Recent examples: “What is the very worst chapter of this book?” and “What day is your birthday, and will you also tell us on the day you turn 67?”
“Wait, 6-7?” I asked, not understanding.
You can guess what they did next. And if you can’t guess, ask anybody under age 20.
Families, in all their chaotic glory. Here’s to mine and yours.
And to all of our Charlotte Observer readers. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!