This Thanksgiving, we celebrate the anniversary of two milestone performances

On this Thanksgiving, we want to take a minute to look back at a couple of legendary performances. . .one that took place for the Minnesota Vikings on the football field, and one that once aired on television sets everywhere.

We’ll do the football part first, as it was 20 years ago today that the Vikings rolled into the home of a traditional Thanksgiving host, the Dallas Cowboys. The entire game is now on YouTube, courtesy of the National Football League.

The Vikings’ offense was on their way to rolling up what was then the highest-scoring season in the history of the National Football League. They were led by a spritely young rookie wide receiver named Randy Moss, and he put up a performance for the ages.

To the Cowboys’ credit, they did limit Moss to three catches. Unfortunately for them, those catches were a 51-yard touchdown, a 56-yard touchdown, and another 56-yard touchdown. Moss’ stat line for the day was three receptions, 163 yards, and three touchdowns as the Vikings rolled to a 46-36 victory over the Cowboys that afternoon. He also had a two-point conversion, which means he caught four passes on the day, and all four resulted in points.

It’s hard to believe that was 20 years ago, isn’t it? Well, 20 years before that, America was given what, to this day, might still be the funniest half an hour in the history of television, thanks to a small radio station in Cincinnati.

Yes, it was 40 years ago this Thanksgiving that WKRP in Cincinnati aired “Turkeys Away,” the seventh episode of their first season on the air. Now, yours truly was only two years old when this episode aired, so I obviously don’t remember it from then. However, I have seen it enough times to know that it might be the funniest single episode of any television show ever, just because of Les Nessman’s performance at the end and the iconic line that everyone knows. . .

“As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.”

Two great moments, 20 years apart, and we can celebrate them both today while we’re eating too much, watching football, and falling asleep on the couch. Enjoy, everyone!