On Sunday I mentioned the Atlantic Monthly article which declared the apple core to be a myth. The picture is two-thirds of the way through my test apple, which confirmed there is no core to an apple. For years I have been wasting 30% of every apple… but more amazingly I never questioned the mistaken knowledge of an apple core.

This week I also stumbled onto an an article about NFL television broadcasts (quoting a Wall Street Journal study). The article broke down an average football game into what we were seeing, from half-time to commercials to replays. And it found, on average, a football broadcast lasts just over three hours. Not surprisingly about third is devoted to commercials – we see about 100. But what caught me off guard is that the ball is in play an average of just 11 minutes. Fifty percent more time, 17 minutes, is devoted to replays. Most of the time, 75 minutes, is spent watching players huddling, lining up, etc.

We could watch the ball in play from every game (32 teams playing 16 games) in less time than it takes to watch the average broadcast… Minus missing commercials, that does not sound like fun. I like watching the plays set-up and analyzing replays. But I am still amazed there is only eleven minutes of action. Barely enough time to bake cookies… which, after seeing the Chargers beat the Chiefs on Sunday, cookies are what I really needed.

Tomorrow we pause for Thanksgiving. Often our life looks like an NFL game. Time is taken up by work and sleep and chores – things that must happen – but it leaves only a little time for relationships. We imagine there will be more time in the future, but this is a myth. Life is always filling up. Which makes this holiday a gift. A moment to seize – to play and talk and eat. A moment to celebrate family and friends. A moment we can declare our thankfulness for husbands and wives, parents and children, cousins and grandparents, friends and mentors… Happy Thanksgiving.