SAINT PAUL, Minn. — It's as much a Thanksgiving tradition as turkey and mashed potatoes: football.
Every year you grab a meal and watch the Dallas Cowboys and the Detroit Lions take the field.
You've been able to count on Thanksgiving football since 1934 when the Detroit Spartans took on the Chicago Bears in the very first Thanksgiving day game.
But there's a football game that's been happening in St. Paul on Thanksgiving even longer.
Michael Battis has a family tradition that punts its way past the turkey.
In 1933, Battis' grandmother kicked her eight kids out of the home while she was cooking turkey. The Battis kids met up with the Bohen kids, and ever since the two families have played in the Battis-Bohen Turkey Bowl. The tradition solidified once two of the kids grew up and married one another.
"We get a chance to see the people each year," said Mike.
Jim Bohen watched two families grow up playing this game.
"I played in this game more than anybody because I started playing when I was about six, seven years old," said Bohen. " I just remembered that we've played in the snow in the mud. We played out at a high school field one time when it was probably zero degrees and with a wind chill of minus 20."
For 90 years two families had their tummies full on Thanksgiving. But better yet, their hearts were full too.
"What I really wish is that I wish they could come back and see what they envisioned. What we've done with it, and we're at that now," said Battis.
Watch more local news:
Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities and across Minnesota in our YouTube playlist: