Viva Murillo!

Whether your fantasy team is 10-1 or 1-10, you have plenty of reasons to be thankful this football season. So while you pile your plate with turkey and watch the pigskin with friends and family, consider this...

• If you have Arian Foster in a redraft league, you should be thankful. Don't pat yourself on the back too much just because you drafted him. He's playing like a No. 1 overall pick, but you didn't take him there. In fact, you passed him up a few times, giving your entire league a chance to select him. They didn't, so you benefit. But if you look at the guys you took before him, you should offer up some thanks that nobody scooped him up a round before you did.

• If you're a Vikings fan, be thankful that Brad Childress is no longer your head coach. It might be a while before the team is ready to contend for a championship again, but this move puts the team in the right direction. The first step in solving a problem is admitting you have one, and Minnesota did that. Even though the Vikings are going nowhere and got throttled by the rival Packers last Sunday, things already look better for the team than last week.

• If you're a Buccaneers fan, be thankful for the early preview. The youngest team in the league has a lot of talent and it wouldn't be surprising if they were contenders in the future. What is a little surprising is that they're contenders today with a 7-3 record. Tampa Bay isn't lucking into wins, either; they're getting solid quarterback play from Josh Freeman, hard running from Legarrette Blount and reliable receiving from Mike Williams. Not counting this season, those three have a combined one year of league experience. The future looks good in Tampa and the present ain't too shabby, either.

• Be thankful for the waiver wire in your league. If you were diligent, you could have bona fide starters (like Mike Vick, Steve Johnson or Jacob Tamme) on your roster that you didn't draft. Depending on league and roster sizes, you could field a competitive team made up strictly of guys who you found on the waiver wire. Be thankful if you got a starter or two after the draft.

• If your favorite team is in the NFC West, be very thankful. You're still in the playoff hunt even though your team is either mediocre, bad or terrible. But one of those teams is going to the playoffs, so maybe it will be yours. Not many 3-7 teams can still go to work with a division title in their sights, but it's a valid thought for those clubs. Enjoy it while it lasts.

• If your fantasy team is playoff bound or on the bubble, be thankful for your good fortune. I'm not saying you don't deserve your victories or didn't have a great draft or auction, but luck always plays a role in a fantasy team's success. Maybe your schedule allowed you to play the right teams at the right time. Maybe you wanted Randy Moss but had to "settle" for Roddy White. Maybe you've just avoided injuries. Whatever happened, give thanks for the good luck that hopefully balances out all the bad luck we encounter in this game.

• Speaking of bad luck, even if you're already out of the playoff hunt you should still be thankful. If you're in a good league with friends that runs smoothly and keeps going year after year, you have reason to give thanks. Many people have bad experiences with fantasy football because they play in leagues with apathetic strangers, or shady commissioners, or rules lawyers who make a separate game out of finding loopholes, or crybabies who quit when things don't go their way. Having a bad year in a great league is much better than having a great year in a bad league.

Finally, be thankful for having football to watch this year. Right now we have no idea if there will be a season in 2011. We've been lulled into a false sense of security by decades of labor peace, so it doesn't seem like a major concern. But next year could be altered or lost altogether. It's not necessarily a probability, but it's definitely a possibility. So enjoy the games we have and Happy Thanksgiving.

If you have other football-related reasons to be thankful this year, share them below.

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