I’m not sure how we’ve made it to the middle of November but here I am planning Thanksgiving menus and banking conversation topics for holiday gatherings.

You know you’re going to need more than one or two things to talk about. And you know you’re going to get tired of telling the same stories and answering the same questions from family over and over. That’s why this is the week to bank a few conversations and get ahead in small talk.

These sports topics are relevant this week but they’re still interesting next week and could help you springboard into bigger (and different) conversations with family and friends.

So get ready for the holiday season and get ready to talk sporty this week.

Did you see that Allianz Arena was sold out for Sunday’s NFL game?

That’s the stadium in Munich Germany, BTW.

Did you also hear the NFL will play 8 international games next season? Playing overseas and internationally isn’t a new development. Every major professional sport has games or matches scheduled outside the US.

This is just a reminder that if you’re looking for a topic people are talking about worldwide, sports can fit the bill.

Here are a few sports topics making news this week.

You’re probably not lacking for obvious conversation topics this week, but you might need a respite from the ones that will dominate the news cycle for the next several days.

That’s where sports comes in. A non-partisan topic that can help you steer the conversation toward something a little less serious than other storylines at hand.

Usually, I’m reminding you that you don’t have to stick to sports when using these sports conversation starters, but this week you might just want to focus on sports and these topics making news this week.

“Would you just make a decision already?”

I’ve said those words out loud plenty of times, but this time I was posing the question to myself, while staring at a 60-pound crate of apples. The decision at hand: Does this apple look good enough to keep?

I frequently encounter questions like this during volunteer shifts at my local food bank where there are a surprising number of decisions to make. Most of the time the answer is obvious, but getting stuck on one apple bottlenecks the entire process of sorting through 60 pounds of apples.

My fellow volunteers run into the similar situations every week. One week it’s apples the next its onions, but the decisions and the questions never stop. How do you want to organize this? Where do the crates of past go? How should we label the snack items? It’s one decision after the other and it’s the biggest roadblock to productivity.

The reason we get stuck is because we all want the best possible outcomes. We home...

I like to have a recipe that works. It’s why my favorite cookbooks have so many dogeared corners marking my go-to meals.

It’s also why I turn to sports as my go-to conversation starter. It works every time because sports opens the door to a number of additional talking points. Did you see the note about how many Uncrustables are consumed by NFL teams? (For the record it’s my go-to snack at halftime too.) The ability to branch out and incorporate other topics is one of the reason sports small talk is a winning recipe every time. Here are a few sports headlines you can use this week:

There’s always more to sports than the game itself. Sports fans often feel a personal connection to their favorite team or player and the way they talk about their favorite team is part of their personal brand. Just a reminder to listen for more than details about the game. There is lots of personal information that comes through in sports conversations that can be useful in building business relationships.

And with that here are a few sports topics you can use to strike up conversations this week:

When it comes to small talk you don’t have to chase the conversation. Just let it come to you. If you want to initiate the interaction go ahead, but you can just as easily be in the passenger seat. Either way it’s helpful if you’re prepared with something to say.

Sports fits the bill for me and it works for a LOT of people you’ll encounter too. It’s why this list of sports conversation starters can be helpful and keep you in the loop with big storylines this week.

In sports you often hear about the dangers of “trying to do too much.” In theory working harder trying harder sounds like a good thing, but it rarely leads to the intended results.

I think you could say the same thing about small talk. Don’t try to do too much. Keep it simple, and come prepared with sports topics like these.

In business and sports we spend a lot of time talking about results and outcomes. There’s nothing wrong with that, but there’s so much more we could incorporate into the conversation. For example, if you’re talking about the games you watched this weekend you could mention who you watched the game with or which friends you were texting with during the game.

If you’re talking about the end of the baseball season and how your team fared you could include how long you’ve been a fan of the team.

In both of those examples, one additional detail opens an entirely new conversation path and makes it easier to engage in small talk.

These sports topics can get the ball rolling.

It was only after we started taping this episode of I Cook, You Measure that Mariners closer Andres Munoz revealed he can’t actually cook. A somewhat surprising revelation considering he’s the one who recommended this recipe and jumped at the chance to share a dish that’s common in his home town in Mexico.

Turns out he didn’t need to know how to cook because this Aguachiles recipe requires no cooking and very little measuring. It’s the fastest and easiest recipe we’ve ever made on I Cook, You Measure. My only word of warning is that it packs a spicy punch. I find it delicious, but if you’re uncertain you might want to leave out the serrano pepper. You can watch the Andres Munoz episode of I Cook, You Measure presented by Safeway here.

Here is the ingredients list if you want to cook along

And if you want even more from Andres Munoz you'll enjoy this ride to the ballpark, at least I did. It's a show called Can I Drive Your Car? and the truck...