Monday Morning Musings: Finding things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving

If you've read my last two columns, you know I've been a big proponent of the "chill out and be patient" school of thought when it comes to this team. That said, this is beginning to wear on me. Yes, it's still very early in the season, but man, 4-10? It's not even the win-loss record, but it's the way this team has been losing that's so depressing. Completely tuning out and blowing very winnable games against the Bobcats and Pelicans. Getting blown out by the Wizards at home. It's all just so depressing and not at all what anyone had been hoping for from this team this year.

But Thanksgiving is on Thursday. This is the time of year for thankful reflection. So what am I thankful for when it comes to the Cavs this year? Let's see...

Andrew Bynum is coming along a lot quicker than expected. You guys, Bynum played both games of a back-to-back and looked really good in both of them. That's not a sentence I expected to write this year at all, yet alone in November. Sure, he's still on limited minutes, but Bynum topped 20 minutes of play on Saturday against the Spurs after playing 18 minutes the night before in New Orleans. As big of a dumpster fire as that Spurs game was, Bynum looked pretty fantastic for a guy coming off of a missed year, and went 8/15 for 16 points. Beyond the box score, Bynum seemed to be the only person in the wine and gold who's offense was clicking that night (which is bad for obvious reasons), but from a developmental standpoint, that's huge. Sure, he's not putting up the All-Star numbers that some people were expecting, but it's only a month into the season. Considering he played his first minutes of professional basketball in over a year less than a month ago, this is a pretty huge positive for the Cavs. Let's just hope that he continues to get back into his game and trend upward.

Of course, it would also be nice if Tristan Thompson could figure out how to play with him, but I'm trying to write a positive column here, so forget I even said that.

The Cavaliers are retiring Zydrunas Illgauskas' jersey. So the on-court product may be hot garbage at the moment, but the Cavs are retiring Z's jersey! Come on you guys, Big Z! You remember him, right? Big Lithuanian dude, bald, occasionally had a mountain-man beard? Come on guys, Big Z. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! Just say that, it's fun. You can't possibly be sad while yelling Z's name.

I had a pretty great pretzel at the game the other night. Everything Bagel with cream cheese spread. Solid little pretzel. Regardless of what is going on during the game, you always have access to a soft pretzel made by one of Food & Wine Magazine's best new chefs in America at your disposal. That's gotta count for something, right?

Alright, I'm not going to lie. That's really all I've got. This season has been pretty brutal thus far, and I think I've kinda tapped my Cavaliers positivity for the week. Because of that, I opened this up to Twitter to see what some other Cavs fans are thankful for this year:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/CavsFangelo">@CavsFangelo</a> I&#39;m not really a Cavs fan but haven&#39;t they at least been relatively healthy? That&#39;s something, at least. Seriously.</p>&mdash; Alex D. (@DewNO) <a href="https://twitter.com/DewNO/statuses/404763655515820033">November 25, 2013</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Dewey probably just jinxed this one, but he has a point. Neither Kyrie Irving nor Anderson Varejao are yet to miss a game this season. That's worth something.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/CavsFangelo">@CavsFangelo</a> That the 2014 NBA Draft is so amazing that Cavaliers Fans will soon be happy they are losing.</p>&mdash; Joseph Mastrantoni (@DCFJoe) <a href="https://twitter.com/DCFJoe/statuses/404763756384628736">November 25, 2013</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

At least the worst case scenario here involves the possibility of snagging Andrew Wiggins or Jabari Parker. People tell me they're pretty good.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/CavsFangelo">@CavsFangelo</a> They have their first round pick.</p>&mdash; The Greek (@demeatloaf) <a href="https://twitter.com/demeatloaf/statuses/404763969224597504">November 25, 2013</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

It's like the last tweet, only snarkier! Just kidding, I love Demetri.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/CavsFangelo">@CavsFangelo</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/WayneEmbrysKids">@WayneEmbrysKids</a> That they don&#39;t play everyday.</p>&mdash; Brendon (@BDCLE29) <a href="https://twitter.com/BDCLE29/statuses/404764406103293952">November 25, 2013</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I'm sure Great Lakes Brewing Company wished this wasn't the case, but this is probably a good thing for the health of our collective livers.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/CavsFangelo">@CavsFangelo</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/WayneEmbrysKids">@WayneEmbrysKids</a> Bynum is playing. That&#39;s about it.</p>&mdash; Lonnie Werner (@redrite_88) <a href="https://twitter.com/redrite_88/statuses/404764348272218112">November 25, 2013</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I'm not the only one!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/CavsFangelo">@CavsFangelo</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/WayneEmbrysKids">@WayneEmbrysKids</a> Thankful that Mike Brown hasn&#39;t confused the young team by making them learn any offensive plays.</p>&mdash; Rich Swerbinsky (@TheClevelandFan) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheClevelandFan/statuses/404764857750155264">November 25, 2013</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

So that's what he's doing. Ingenious!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/CavsFangelo">@CavsFangelo</a> Sergey Karasev</p>&mdash; Liv (@livkittykat) <a href="https://twitter.com/livkittykat/statuses/404766466248941568">November 25, 2013</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

His name is a lot of fun to say. Hopefully Sergery Karasev will give us a reason to yell "SERGEYYYYYYYY!" sometime soon.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/CavsFangelo">@CavsFangelo</a> Has anyone mentioned the physical presence of Mike Brown, spit-cups, pacing, hands on hips, etc. Because that.</p>&mdash; Alex D. (@DewNO) <a href="https://twitter.com/DewNO/statuses/404766632452427776">November 25, 2013</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

You forgot to mention his laugh. It's pretty infectious.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/CavsFangelo">@CavsFangelo</a> Thankful that Allie Clifton has made more plays with her head than the Cavs coaching staff.</p>&mdash; Jared (@TrizGallo) <a href="https://twitter.com/TrizGallo/statuses/404766861058772992">November 25, 2013</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/CavsFangelo">@CavsFangelo</a> the old-man usher who dances his ass off every game. true professional.</p>&mdash; Donald Slump (@slowlystrokeme1) <a href="https://twitter.com/slowlystrokeme1/statuses/404767342581653504">November 25, 2013</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I don't know who this guy is, but I want to find him, and buy him an Everything Bagel pretzel in thanks for him spreading joy to Cavs fans in this dark time.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/CavsFangelo">@CavsFangelo</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/WayneEmbrysKids">@WayneEmbrysKids</a> they are still in Cleveland. That wraps it up.</p>&mdash; Shaq Diesel (@Shaqalier) <a href="https://twitter.com/Shaqalier/statuses/404767492762894336">November 25, 2013</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

And there's the remind that, no matter how bad this season gets, it can actually get worse.

Your turn. What are you all thankful for this year?