How about some Thanksgiving leftovers?

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Let’s hope we’ve all emerged from the annual post-Thanksgiving Day, tryptophan-induced coma by now.

Whatever you do today, you don’t want to sleep through The Game.

With any luck, the annual grudge match will be over by the middle of the second quarter and Ohio State will be on its way to a Big Ten Conference title game against Oregon.

The Buckeyes figure to have three years worth of frustration to take out on the Michigan Wolverines today — four if you count 2020, when Jim Harbaugh decided he wanted no part of Ohio State and blamed it on COVID.

It would be best if Ryan Day doesn’t need the Buckeyes to score a last-minute touchdown to win in the best rivalry in sports. But let’s also hope Ohio State does it anyway and then goes for two.

Legend has it that when Woody Hayes’ Buckeyes beat the Wolverines 50-14 in 1968 and capped the win with a two-point conversion, a reporter asked him why he went for two.

“Because I couldn’t go for three,” Hayes was said to have responded.

It’s such a great story, except that — much to my chagrin — it may not have happened. But as often as it has been repeated over the decades since, you’d have a hard time convincing most Ohioans that it didn’t.

So you know what I’ll be doing from noon to 3:30 p.m. today. And with any luck, I’ll have some Thanksgiving leftovers to finish off while I watch The Game.

Since we’re talking leftovers, here are a few from my notebook and elsewhere:

• What’s the one Thanksgiving dish you absolutely have to have on the table? For me, there are two: Stuffing and green-bean casserole. I could even do without the turkey if those two are available. There also must be pumpkin pie and an industrial-size container of Cool Whip or something similar.

• Speaking of meals, I have to admit that I enjoy venison, even if I seldom have any these days. I know the sworn protectors of the Mill Creek Park deer won’t like that, but let’s be honest: Deer done right is tasty.

So, about the culling of the deer at MCP … this seems to be the Mahoning Valley story that just won’t go away. I’ve been here since the end of July and I’ve had several email and telephone conversations with people involved in the effort to protect the deer from the “dastardly MCP overlords and their evil archers and sharpshooters.” I’ve also read more than my share of letters to the editor about the subject.

A little background: Back when I was young, skinny and had no gray hair, I once cost my then-employer a few subscribers with what I thought was a funny little column about deer hunting. In hindsight, perhaps I shouldn’t have mentioned Bambi’s mother. But in reality, my biggest mistake was not having an understanding about conservation and the need to manage the deer population.

I’ve done my part — albeit unwillingly — in culling the herd over the years. In five Ed-deer collisions, I permanently took out three of them, including a 2-for-1. It’s no fun hitting a deer, be it at 45, 55 or 65 mph. I’ve experienced all three such collisions. I used to work with a woman who had hit eight deer.

These kinds of incidents and accidents are one reason the Ohio Department of Natural Resources allows some cities and entities — like Mill Creek Park — to thin the herd. Others include the need to preserve trees and plant life and to make sure the herd as a whole stays healthy.

Please hold your calls and emails, deer lovers. I love animals, too. Anyone who knows me can vouch for my feelings about cats, dogs, raccoons, foxes and otters, among others. I once was able to watch a deer from about 20 feet away in the Cleveland Metroparks for a few minutes. They’re majestic creatures. But the need to manage the herd doesn’t make MCP Executive Director Aaron Young a villain, as some who oppose the culling efforts there keep saying. Nor should the ODNR be criticized for permitting it.

• And speaking of thinning the herd, Republican voters effectively did that to Trumbull County Democrats earlier this month. The only Democrat elected to office in the county was Prosecutor Dennis Watkins, who ran unopposed. Most surprising to me were the defeats of Democrat Chris Becker — longtime assistant prosecutor — by Sarah Thomas Kovoor in the race for Common Pleas Court judge. Democrat incumbents like Sheriff Paul Monroe, Commissioner Mauro Cantalamessa and Recorder Tod Latell also lost their races.

Mahoning County also saw the Trump Effect, with incumbents like Commissioner David Ditzler and Gina DeGenova losing their bids for reelection.

There is already speculation about the political futures of state and national Democrats like Sen. Sherrod Brown and Vice President Kamala Harris and I expect the same thing with many of the locals who were swept out of office. Will this be it for Cantalamessa, Monroe, Ditzler and others? Or can they regroup and show up again in two or four years in other positions or will they make bids for their old jobs?

Congratulations to all who were successful in their campaigns in 2024.

• I used to make fun of AARP commercials. Then one day, I woke up and found myself in my 50s and they weren’t so funny anymore. Sort of like the “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” commercial.

Since I’m now old and have both broken my foot and taken an accidental fall within the last year or so (that’s a column for another day), I decided I might as well give up and join AARP.

Next thing you know, I’ll be driving around the Mahoning Valley — very slowly and with my turn signal on the whole time — looking for 4 p.m. dinner specials.

I swear I went to sleep in the early 1990s at 25 and — like Rip Van Winkle — woke up a member of the geriatric set 25 years later.

Ed Puskas is editor of the Tribune Chronicle and The Vindicator. Reach him at epuskas@tribtoday.com or at 330-841-1786.