Former St. Louis Cardinals and Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith is working with Budweiser to help make MLB Opening Day a national holiday. The 2014 MLB regular season officially begins with Opening Day on Monday, March 31, meaning Smith and St. Louis-based partner Budweiser have just over a month to execute their initiative.
In order to get started, the petition will need at least 100,000 signatures from fans 21 years of age and older within 30 days to ensure that the petition receives an administration review and response. To sign that petition, click here.
In some ways, I like the idea. If baseball truly is still America’s national pastime, then it makes sense to declare Opening Day a national holiday. Of course, some things would need to be altered first.
First, it is great that Opening Day includes nine afternoon games. Daytime baseball is great, especially on Opening Day and early on in the season, where temperatures have not caught up to the sport in many parts of the country. Unless games are being played indoors or in warm-weather cities, all March and April games should be played during the daylight hours.
But the biggest change necessary is that if Opening Day is to become a national holiday, then all 30 teams must be a part. How can you have a baseball-centric holiday without the New York Yankees or Los Angeles Dodgers? That is not American.
Finally, while I feel that this could be a good idea, if executed properly, we should not stop with MLB Opening Day. What about the day after the Super Bowl? After all, it has been voted as one of the least productive work days anyway, so why not keep people home? Plus, if we are going to start declaring national holidays that are sports-related, what about my two favorite days of the year – the first two days of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament? These games begin at noon and go right through midnight. Between people skipping work and calling in sick – like I have done successfully multiple times – as well as those who watch the games streaming online, these two days are extremely unproductive. Why not just declare them holidays?
What other sports deserve consideration as national holidays? Feel free to weigh in below with your choices.
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