I love Saturday football.

As football fans, we all do, sure. But I love it in a different way. I love it the way they love Thanksgiving in Dallas and Detroit. Because, in my family anyway, Saturday football carries with it that same sense of tradition.

On the first Saturday of NFL football each season, we put up our family Christmas tree. Mind you, the tradition wasn't structured around the football games. It was just that, on pretty much every year since I was a little kid, the second or third Saturday in December was the most convenient time for everyone in our family to come together and decorate this tree. This coincided with the Saturday football. And the day took on a whole new meaning.

See, in most years (pretty much every year that I can remember), my beloved Football Giants play on this day. So, for me and my father anyway, decorating the tree took a back seat to watching every play of the game. Cursing (being a child in front of his parents, I cursed silently, of course) a bad play call, screaming at the players (who probably didn't hear us), questioning the referee's eyesight. These were the priorities for us, and it was left to my poor mother to actually do all of the work.

At halftime, we'd throw on a couple of token ornaments, just to let her know we were there. But once the second half came around, she was pretty much on her own. As a sign of frustration, she would often put on Bing Crosby's famous White Christmas album, and turn the volume up so high that we couldn't hear the commentary on the game. After the game, my father always examined the tree, nodded his head, and proclaimed;

"We did a good job this year."

And this, of course, made my mother furious.

This year, the tradition continues in our house, as the Giants battle the Kansas City Chiefs in a Saturday night interconference showdown. Part of the greatness of this little tradition of ours is that the games often turn out to be fantastic. The one I'll always remember took place in December of 1998, when the 13-0 Denver Broncos invaded Giants Stadium to take on the 5-8 Giants. The immortal Kent Graham led the Giants down the field, capping of####ame winning touchdown drive with a pass to Amani Toomer in the back of the end zone, to end Denver's quest for history.

This year, thankfully for us Giants fans, the stakes are high for both teams in this year's game. Unfortunately, I'm not at all thrilled with the match-up. I think Kansas City can play, people might be underrating them a tad. Their offense, specifically their running game, has been flat-out dominant over the past few weeks. And they get to face a Giants defense that, this week, will be without their heart and soul, middle linebacker Antonio Pierce. The Chiefs will score lots of points in this game, I think that's a given going into this one.

What is not a given is that the Giants offense will score the kind of points they'll need to in order to win this game. That is a huge question mark. It will not help any that both offensive tackles for the Giants are likely to be sidelined along with Pierce. The Chiefs sport a solid run defense, so the yards will not come all that easily for Tiki Barber. So that leaves Eli Manning and the Giants passing attack. Eli will have to be much better than he's been over the past few games, if the Giants are to have a chance. Fortunately, he gets to face a fairly soft Chiefs secondary, that, a week ago, made Drew Bledsoe look like Dan Marino.

The Chiefs come in desperate, as they probably need to win their final three games to make the playoffs. The Giants need the game just as badly, as they're still two wins away from clinching the NFC East, and their final two games are on the road. Giants Stadium has been very kind to the home team this year, and this is a huge factor in the game. It's hard to pick a team to cover a three point number, and them pick them to lose the game, but that is exactly what I'm going to do here. Figure something like, 35-34 Giants, as Eli Manning delivers some more of the 4th quarter magic he's had for most of the season (or maybe that's just a hopeful Giants fan talking).

Now, on to some other picks. I was a miserable 0-2-2 last week, bringing my aggregate record in this space to 3-3-2. Truly pathetic. Let's see if I can get back on track this week with the other big week 15 games.

Pittsburgh at Minnesota

For the life of me, I haven't been able to figure out the Steelers. I just can't get a beat on this team. I suspect, though, that against a Viking team that still has to answer some questions against a decent opponent, the Steelers will take care of business. They have to operate under the assumption that three wins is what it will take to get into the AFC playoffs, so they understand their margin for error is nonexistent. The Vikings big win in this winning streak they've been on came against the Giants, and, I promise you, that game was a complete fluke. In a game where they got a kickoff return, an interception return, and a punt return for touchdowns, they needed a 40 yard drive in the last minute (which was almost half of their total offense for the day) to kick the game winning field goal. The Vikings are just not ready for this kind of step up in class. No reluctance here in giving up the three points, even though the Steelers are on the road. I like Pittsburgh.

Dallas at Washington

Amazingly enough, Washington is still very much in the mix for the NFC East title. Destiny is pretty much in their hands, in fact, with the only caveat being that the Giants need to lose one game in addition to a loss against the Redskins. The 'Skins, though, haven't played well enough lately to inspire much confidence in this game. The Cowboys got a little lucky last week, but still played very well in the win against Kansas City. They know that their playoff chances ride on this game, and I think that, even on the road, they will come through. Mark Brunell must revert back to his early-season form in order for the 'Skins to emerge victorious, but I don't see it. The Cowboys will do enough on offense to win an ugly, 14-10 type of game. I'll gladly take the three points, and back the 'Boys in this one.

Atlanta at Chicago

Always risky picking a Falcons game, because they are just so damn schizophrenic. But I think they will lay an egg in this spot. The Bears, at home and on national television on Sunday night, will be fired up to play in front of the home folks in a big game. The one scary thing about last week's loss to the Steelers, from a Bears standpoint, was the prevailing comment from the Steelers players, claiming that they saw something in their film study of the Bears defense, and exploited it. Whatever that something is, I don't expect a ####ed up Michael Vick to find it. Kyle Orton will do enough to save his job for one more week, and the Bears, as usual, will scratch out an ugly win. Not thrilled giving up a field goal, but I'll live with it. The Bears, less a field goal, are my choice in this one.

Even though I do plan on blogging several times between now and December 25th, I think this is an appropriate time to wish those who celebrate a very Merry Christmas, and a very Happy Holiday season, in general, to you all. And I sincerely hope you all are fortunate enough to take part in a tradtion like the one I'll be enjoying this Saturday, because that's what this time of year is all about.