It’s turkey time again and you know what that means – bring on the tryptophane.

There’s nothing better than kicking back after the big Thanksgiving Day feast and watching football, only to fall asleep because the games are so boring. It wouldn’t be possible without tryptophane, the sleepy drug found in turkeys.

So in the spirit of the great bird, it’s time to hand out awards I like to call, “the Trippys.” These awards are given to teams or people I’d rather just let slumber.

And the Trippy goes too…

u John Madden: it’s too bad he won’t be around to pass out the turkey (actually, it was six-legged duckett) legs this year. Thanksgiving will never be on Monday night, so as you say in the tough-acting Tinactin commercials, Boom! Go to sleep.

Someone please stuff this turkey with too much turkey.

u Tony Romo: After so many heart-stopping plays, take a rest this coming week. You’ve earned it. It doesn’t matter if you throw 31 touchdowns in a season or 32, just so long as the Panthers win. You’ve got more awards on the way. Can you say Walter Payton Award?

u Panther football team’s defense: Wait a second – they are already asleep most of the time. So we’ll pass the Trippy to someone else.

u Panther women’s basketball team: Take the time to get some rays and relaxation while in the Central Florida Tournament. It would be more productive than having the team trying to hit J’s and pull down boards.

u Ex-XFLers: Tommy Maddox or “He Hate Me” Rod Smart, which overrated (is that possible when referring to someone from the XFL?) player will have a shorter NFL career? Discuss.

u Artificial turf: Interim president Lou Hencken and Director of Athletics Rich McDuffie will sleep on the turf issue and wake up thinking the same thing… let’s do it. Eastern’s new athletic slogan: “Just turf it.”

u Dick Vitale: Can you say, tired announcing cliches baby? Someone give him a trifecta of Trippys. That should calm down the only middle-aged man still suffering from symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder.

u Apportionment Board: Don’t look now, but the athletic department might ask the University Board to ask AB for more money so it can put artificial turf down at O’Brien Stadium. The AB would be better off to just take a snooze – it’s only other people’s money, right?

u Panther women’s soccer team: Like Romo, you guys deserve a nap after all that hard work. If it’s any consolation, in addition to the Trippy, you’ve made me eat my words from a column I wrote at the beginning of the semester. You deserve kudos and sweet dreams of a three-peat in the OVC Tournament.

u Henry Domercant: Just for laughs, take a power nap just before game time Tuesday at Marquette to freak out Jan Thompson and company. If the siesta extends through the game’s first 10 minutes, call it an experiment.