Making a list, checking it twice

It’s hard to say what will give local fans a bigger case of indigestion this afternoon: piles and piles of gravy-soaked turkey, or another day of having to watch the Seattle Seahawks.

The 2008 season has been like no other in the Mike Holmgren era, and so the final few weeks will be mostly about trying to get the big guy out of Seattle without any self-inflicted damage.

Local fans of professional football are more likely to spend the next few weeks poring over fantasy rosters and the prospects for the 2009 NFL draft than they are the prospects for the 2008 season.

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But when it comes to the present, this week will mark the first chance to buy that special NFL player, coach or team the gift of their dreams. And for that, The Herald is here again.

For the eighth consecutive year, The Herald commemorates Friday s official start of the holiday shopping season with our annual gift-buying guide:

— For Holmgren: Another chance, in another city.

— For the Detroit Lions: One of Clay Bennett’s checks. So he can take the team away and give the Motor City a fresh start through an expansion team.

— For Chad Ocho Cinco: His old name back. What’s wrong with Johnson anyway?

— For Tom Cable: Another chance at a head coaching position … without the head-case owner.

— For the New York Giants: A five-game losing streak. The way this team travels, the last thing it needs is homefield advantage in the playoffs.

— For Jerry Jones: Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and Amy Winehouse. The Cowboys just don’t have enough drama, so maybe this will put them back on the front pages.

— For the Arizona Cardinals: Less than 33 years before their next division title.

— For the NFC West: A second-place team that can finish above .500. It’s only happened once since the 2002 realignment.

— For Hank Baskett: A long and fulfilling marriage. After his Space Needle proposal to a spacey Playboy Bunny, the Eagles receiver will need all the luck he can get.

— For Ted Thompson: A day, just one day, when someone doesn’t ask him why the heck he ran Brett Favre out of Green Bay.

— For the Vikings, Bears, Bills and Patriots: A quarterback good enough to help them in the postseason.

— For Drew Brees, Carson Palmer, Peyton Manning and Donovan McNabb: A team good enough to get them to the postseason.

— For Mike Singletary: A muzzle. And one of those adult undergarments.

— For the Patriots and Dolphins. A free iPod download. We’re thinking War’s “Why Can’t We Be Friends?”

— For Shaun Alexander: A carry. Just one carry.

— For Michael Vick: Freedom. Just don’t abuse it this time. And, please, stay out of Seattle.

— For the Broncos and Bills: A GPS system. So they can find their way after getting lost.

— For Donovan McNabb and Andy Reid: A new city with more forgiving fans.

— For Seahawks fans: A fresh start in 2009. And if that doesn’t work, you’ve always got the Sounders.

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