Friends: 25 Greatest Episodes

8. The One With The Football (S3E9)

Friends The One With The Football
NBC

The Episode

It's Thanksgiving, so the gang decide to go out and play a game of football, igniting the old sibling rivalry between Monica and Ross.

Why It's Great

This is one of the very best Thanksgiving episodes, and one of the best episodes period. It expertly encapsulates the holiday - football, turkey, and family feuds - and does so in an episode that gives all the friends a moment to shine.

Almost all of the episode takes place at the game, which manages to be entertaining to watch anyway, but it builds up a number of great subplots within that.

Rachel sucks and no one will pass her the ball, the girls find increasingly inventive ways to stop the boys, and Chandler and Joey hilariously argue over who gets to ask out the Dutch girl watching them play.

Best of all is the personal feud between Ross and Monica, which reignites the battle for the Geller Cup, and is one of the show's best examples of their sibling rivalry.

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Contributor
Contributor

NCTJ-qualified journalist. Most definitely not a racing driver. Drink too much tea; eat too much peanut butter; watch too much TV. Sadly only the latter paying off so far. A mix of wise-old man in a young man's body with a child-like wonder about him and a great otherworldly sensibility.