NFL is league of choice

Thanksgiving may be an American tradition, but a group of Canadians are getting into the spirit -- at least the football part.

The NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs will be in a private box at Texas Stadium today to watch the Dallas Cowboys play the New York Jets.

Maple Leafs players said they are “pumped” for it and “really looking forward” to it. Even more so than they are anticipating the Grey Cup -- the Canadian Football League championship between Winnipeg and Saskatchewan that will be played Sunday in Toronto.

“It’s definitely an NFL room in here,” goalie Andrew Raycroft said. “I think [Matt] Stajan is the only one whose got tickets for the Grey Cup. He’s all fired up about that, but he’s really the only one.”

That includes Wade Belak, who hails from Saskatoon, about 150 miles from the Regina home of the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

“I’m NFL, too,” Belak said.

Trivia time

Today is the 57th anniversary of the lowest scoring game in NBA history. Who were the teams and what was the score?

Getting his

Washington Wizards forward Andray Blatche helped make up for the absence of injured star Gilbert Arenas by scoring a career-high 26 points in a 116-101 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.

Then, when he was finished channeling Arenas on the court, he said he would do the same in cyberspace, where Arenas has a popular blog.

“I’m getting me a blog,” Blatche said. “Y’all stay tuned. Coming to a town near y’all, I’m getting my blog. It’s going to be: ‘When keeping it real goes wrong.’ ”

Defining ‘catastrophic’

Alabama football Coach Nick Saban has come under fire for insinuating that the Crimson Tide’s loss to Louisiana Monroe was “a catastrophic event” and that his team must rebound the way America did after 9-11 and Pearl Harbor.

Perhaps Saban found the loss “catastrophic” based on the financial hierarchy of coaches.

Saban, who makes $4 million a season, is the nation’s highest-paid college football coach. According to the website CoachesHotSeat.com, Charlie Weatherbie of Louisiana Monroe makes $130,000 and is the lowest paid major college coach in the nation.

So maybe that loss actually was catastrophic -- if you happened to be responsible for hiring Saban.

Player protection

The Washington Times reported that Redskins owner Dan Snyder showed up at last week’s game against the Cowboys with five bodyguards.

ESPN’s Chris Mortensen offered some insight as to why. Apparently, Mortensen said, Snyder took 300 sponsors to the game. To fulfill all the ticket requests, he took away tickets from . . . his players.

Yep, that would explain it.

News flash

A University of Texas study funded by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, reported “college students drink larger amounts of alcohol on football game days.”

Said psychologist Kim Fromme, an author of the paper: “The weekly football schedule presents students with more regular opportunities to drink.”

The study also revealed that the sun sets in the West, rush hour traffic is worse than at other times of the day, and toast is made from bread.

Trivia answer

The Fort Wayne Pistons defeated the Minneapolis Lakers, 19-18. George Mikan had 15 of the Lakers’ points.

And finally

Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis told the Minneapolis Star Tribune on Sunday that he would not retire until the Raiders win two more Super Bowls.

Davis, 78, has been in charge of the Raiders for 44 years and won three Super Bowl rings.

At that rate, he can look forward to retirement somewhere around his 106th birthday.

peter.yoon@latimes.com