The holiday season is approaching.

Just think about it. One more week and many of you will be watching football on Thanksgiving, eating turkey and all those life-prolonging side dishes with your friends and families.

Now in the spirit of this wonderful season, I'd like to give my thanks to all those people who have made my year so special so far.

1) Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League.

I give my whole-hearted thanks to both sets of players and owners for giving me material to write about.

Opportunities like these come once in a lifetime. Scratch that-with the track records these sports have, the opportunity seems to come every other year.

Furthermore, what would I have done had there been real games on television to take away my time?

This year I was able to do more work for school and The Crimson and spend more time on other activities I may have sacrificed had there been games to watch. And you know what, I saved a lot of money as well.

Those fools who don't want to pay the players so much money and those fools who want so much money from the owners are getting nothing from me and other fans. If the issue is about money, don't you think they're being screwed a lot more by not getting gate receipts, concessions and the sale of team merchandise?

Anyway, thanks for your support.

2)The NCAA for its efforts at increasing attendance.

Both the Harvard men's and women's soccer teams qualified for the NCAA Tournament this year for only the second time in the school's history.

And how better to get the students to attend the game than by charging them to see the game? The women's game at UMass billed students two bucks and adults five, and the men's game this coming Sunday at Ohiri Field has a cover charge of three dollars for students and six for adults.

Isn't it so nice that they can put a monetary value on a college game after the entire regular season was free of charge? Does the NCAA really think that people who were uncertain about coming will attend the game now that they have to pay to see it?

Attendance was on the small side until the final two home games here, and now the NCAA is trying to ensure people won't come.