James Franklin Initiates New Reporter With Thanksgiving Food Debate Before Asking Question At First News Conference

Pittsburgh-based sportswriter Brandon Walker of Nittany Sports Now asked James Franklin a question for the first time Saturday. Before he did, though, the 51-year-old head football coach at Penn State had a question of his own, and it was highly-controversial.

In November, on the Tuesday before last Thanksgiving, Franklin asked every reporter in Beaver Stadium's media room a food-based question. It led to a passionate debate amongst those in attendance at the news conference that lasted for quite some time.

Cranberry sauce may have been the most contentious topic. Do you make it from scratch, or let it wobble out of a can?

Apparently, the food-forward holiday is something that Franklin thinks about often. Even in April.

Even though November 23, 2023 is more than 220 days away, Franklin and Walker discussed Thanksgiving meals. The latter went to ask the former about his team's performance in the spring game, but the former hit the latter with an Uno Reverse card.

James Franklin flipped the script.

Before Walker could ask Franklin a question, Franklin interrupted and asked him about his preferred protein— turkey or ham. From there, it went to sides and then... cranberry sauce, which led to the return of Franklin's hilarious hand gesture for the kind that comes out of a can.

Walker divulged that his cranberry sauce is always fresh, and joked that he wished he was married, which led the entire room to laughter. It was a tremendous, completely unexpected exchange.

Franklin completely derailed the conversation, but cracked that it was an intentional distraction from Walker's actual question about the spring game. Things eventually got back on track and Walker's initiation was over!

Welcome to State College, Brandon Walker! Let this be a warning to all other sports reporters out there who might one day cover the Nittany Lions. Have your Thanksgiving takes loaded and ready for fire!