DAILY DIRT: Is there anything better when it comes to board games than rolling the dice and owning Boardwalk and Park Place?

If the NFL bores you today, just get out the monopoly board … Welcome to today’s three thoughts that make up Vol. 406 of The Daily Dirt.

1. We all love them.

We all have them packed away in some closet, or maybe on a shelf in the spare bedroom. And probably once year, likely around the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday period, we get them out and play with friends and relatives.

Yes, board games. At some point, we all need that fix of rolling the dice and/or proving how much more we know than Uncle Dave when it comes to what the capital of one of those bizarre countries on a continent we will never visit might be.

So what are your favorite board games? For me, it was an easy question:

Gold medal: Monopoly. This game dates to 1935, and I have probably been playing since the mid-1960s. I don’t remember ever winning a single game, but I still love to play. As long as I can own Boardwalk and Park Place I consider it a moral victory.

Silver medal: Scrabble. The unwritten rule, of course, is to show how smart you are with your impressive vocabulary and quick wit. Or not.

Bronze medal: Trivial Pursuit.There are more than 2,000 questions covering sports and leisure, science & nature, art & culture, geography, entertainment, and history in this ultimate game of trivia. Personally, I prefer the sports version.

Honorable mention I: Sorry! If I can’t have the blue pawn, I’m not playing.

Honorable mention II: Yahtzee. Rolling dice and numbers, numbers, numbers. What could possibly be more fun?!

Honorable mention III: Password. I’ll be honest, playing this game in person is never as much fun as watching it on TV.

2. Call this a “Found on Facebook” weekly bonus.

A friend posted this a couple of days ago:

• “Reason why fall is the No. 1 season:
• Chilly weather? Nope.
• Halloween? Nope.
• Sweaters? Nope.
• Pumpkins? Nope.
• Bugs have returned to hell, where they belong.”

Nailed it!

3. Favorite car I have ever owned is the one I’ve had for about 14 years, a 2007 Kia Sorento.

I got it when it was less than a year old and I consider it my fifth child. But No. 2 might be a surprise. This goes back to the early and mid-1970s when I had a 1964 Chevrolet Impala ragtop. If that model doesn’t ring a bell, look up some pics. What an awesome ride that was …

Steve Thought O’ The Day — Deep, deep thought: Is tic-tac-toe more or less a pencil-and-paper version of checkers?