Mom's tumble into the pool among Arizona State AD's Thanksgiving memories

Arizona State athletic director Graham Rossini has no idea where he’ll be spending Thanksgiving this year.

The holiday falls on Nov. 27, but “we’ve got the Maui Invitational (basketball tournament), and then we’re back here the day after for the Territorial Cup,” Rossini said in the press box at Mountain America Stadium as ASU was defeating a scrappy West Virginia squad on Nov. 16.

The ASU men’s basketball team will be in Hawaii from Nov. 24-26, Monday through Wednesday of Thanksgiving week.

Then ASU football will host Arizona on Black Friday (Nov. 28), in the annual rivalry game that splits the state.

Chances are, Rossini will be spending most of the holiday on an airplane.

“I don’t know where we’re going to be or when, but hopefully there’s some tortellini,” he said.

Rossini was talking about his favorite holiday dish.

“It’s our family tradition,” he said. “it’s an Italian tortellini that my mom does. Bone broth. Al dente pasta. It’s a big holiday tradition that we break out the tortellini on Thanksgiving.”

His mom’s soup isn’t the only holiday memory she’s responsible for.

“My mom fell in the pool,” Rossini said.

This was just a couple of years ago at his family home in Arizona.

“She was looking at her iPad, and she slipped down, and Mom and iPad went into the pool,” he said.

That didn’t stop dinner, however.

“The soup was great,” he said. “Mom was prepped and ready.”

So, after they got her dried off, they all had a good laugh and an even better meal.

“It wasn’t a terrible moment,” Rossini said. “It was a funny moment.”

No chance for a repeat this year. Rossini’s holiday celebrations typically involve his wife, their kids and six to 10 extended family members.

But this year, because of all the athletics travel chaos, “Mom is gonna be back home in Nashville.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Mom's tumble into the pool among ASU AD's Thanksgiving memories