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Budweiser and Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith are campaigning to make baseball’s Opening Day a national holiday. FTW’s Ted Berg hits the nail on the head in his post about the topic — this is a great idea, if baseball actually still had an opening day. But the whole “sporting events as national holidays” concept got us thinking: Which other events would be deserving of holiday status?
But rather than making every great sports day a national holiday, we have a proposal. Since Opening Day isn’t for everyone, it seems unfair to make a football fan take off for a day of baseball (though no one would complain about a three-day weekend at the start of April). That’s why, in our plan, Americans would get two sports holidays per year of their choice, free to be taken during any of the following events, including Opening Day. Think of it as flexible vacationing.
1. First two days of the NCAA tournament
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Workplace productivity shuts down on these Thursdays and Fridays anyway. Why not make it official and save on the electricity/bandwith bills?
2. First two days of The Masters
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The problem here is that ESPN’s coverage on Thursday and Friday doesn’t start until 3 p.m. ET. No problem. Take the days off, play 18 in the morning, enjoy lunch on the 19th hole and then get back in front of the TV just in time to hear the soothing piano intro.
3. American World Cup games
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Give workers the option of taking weekdays off when the United States is playing in the World Cup. But, beware, if you want to root for Spain, France or England, you’ve got to do it on your time, Benedict Arnold.
4. Any day of the Olympics
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Our faux-liday is all about options, which is why any of the 10 biennial Olympic weekdays are potential holidays for fans of swimming, track, gymnastics, figure skating, etc. or the fan of modern pentathlon.
5. National Signing Day
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If seeing 18-year-olds pick hats is your thing, you’ve probably been taking a sick day on signing day anyway.
6. Wimbledon’s Second Monday
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The best day of the tennis year comes on the second Monday of Wimbledon, when all 16 matches in the men’s and women’s fourth-round are played on the same afternoon. All you’d need to enjoy the festivities are some strawberries, creams and four different screens.
7. Super Bowl Monday
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Oh, woe is you. “Watching a football game is so hard that I can’t go to work the next day!” “Let’s move a day honoring presidents so it can coincide with my hangover recovery!” Wah, wah, wah. Stop it. Why do you want Super Bowl Monday off anyway? Wouldn’t you rather go to work on a day when everyone is sluggish and get a day off sometime when you can enjoy an afternoon outside, ie not at the beginning of February? Man up, America.
7. Random baseball day game in your home city
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You know those random get-away Thursdays in the summer when your favorite team has a random home game at 1 p.m. and you look at all the empty seats and vow that you’ll go to this game next year? With FTW’s sports holiday plan, you don’t have to make that promise an empty one.
