Tradition. Same teams play each other on Thanksgiving since the Dawn of Man no matter where they rank.

MIAA got jealous of local Athletic Departments ability to make money on thanksgiving. They set up a new playoff system to collect their own cash. The rent in Franklin is high.

Every high school has a team they play annually on Thanksgiving.

They don't relate to playoffs. They're rivalries. Many are really, really old - like Medford and Malden, I believe; probably the oldest in the state and maybe country. Old enough that one doesn't even really consider if the teams should go against each other. Some are new because it's just tradition to have a rival, and instead of having it built on something real, they just play it up. And in years to come, it'll get to the same place.

They used to be a part of the playoff system that decided who would move on to the playoffs. The MIAA changed the playoff system a while back so now brackets are decided well in advance of Thanksgiving. The Thanksgiving games continue as a traditional rivalry game.

wellesley/needham is actually the oldest hs football rivalry in the US!

Out of all the words and grammar you've used in your post, have you ever considered sharing the actual duration of this rivalry?

Weird to mention words and grammar, but it's well over a hundred years. It dates back to the late 19th century.

It's not weird when you're making a claim that can be measured. Especially when writing a whole paragraph about it.

"This person was the oldest person who over lived."

That's a statement missing a vital component. How old were they?!

Lastly, they aren't the oldest rivalries in the the state or the nation.

It is weird when grammar or word count doesn't matter. It's weirder that you think the whole paragraph was dedicated to those two teams.

Lastly, they aren't the oldest rivalries in the the state or the nation.

Oldest? Wouldn't know. Now you're not saying which team has it, which is, at best, thoroughly ironic. Thankfully I didn't say they were the oldest in a definitive way. It was very clear to anyone who speaks English that I'm banking on it but not too dedicated, nor invested. I could be wrong, but I'm not down anything for it. They probably are the oldest in the country. You should spend your time looking it up for me.

Nice.

Enjoy Thanksgiving.

Who's the oldest person who ever lived and what's the oldest rivalry? You haven't answered these questions, but you have made this into a thing for yourself. Let's see you see it to the end.

>Lastly, they aren't the oldest rivalries in the the state or the nation.

It is absolutely the oldest rivalry between two public high schools in the United States, ya rude ding dong.

I work with a high school marching band. I would give almost anything to have my Thanksgiving mornings back. I don’t know if anyone really likes playing a Thanksgiving morning game. I mean, everyone shows up because it’s tradition, but why not have the game the Friday before Thanksgiving against your rival? At least with Covid I got to sleep in on Thanksgiving. It was glorious.

It's actually not, you silly goose.

In the old days like when I was in high school in the '60s, the Thanksgiving Day game against your school's traditional rival was the final game of the season. For example, West Bridgewater versus East Bridgewater. Then the playoffs came along and seem to be getting longer but the T-Day games remain.

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They're "rivalry games" between the same two schools. You never picked up on that?

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Oldest in US is Norwich Free Academy and New London High dating back to 1875. Oldest between two Massachusetts schools is indeed Wellesley and Needham since 1882. There is a rivalry between Phillips Academy Andover (MA) and Phillips Exeter Academy (NH) from 1878

Because a lot more people are off work and back in town on Thanksgiving