Baseball is the American pastime, a game that infuses the history of our country and the passion of unity and togetherness, as one. While that may sound corny, baseball has been a mainstay in America and will be until the end of time.
So shouldn't opening day, the one day a year when all teams believe they can be champions, be celebrated as a National Holiday?
Baseball Hall of Famer and known “Wizard” Ozzie Smith believes Opening Day should be a national holiday and plans to do something about it.
"Coming from St. Louis, of course being such a baseball town, it's sort of an unofficial holiday, Opening Day,” said Smith. So they thought it would be a good idea for Mr. Smith to just take a trip to Washington."
The “they” to whom Smith was inferring is the beer company, Anheuser-Busch.
Anheuser-Busch, along with Smith, is trying to procure 100,000 signatures within a 30-day period through the “We the People” petition. Through the program, anyone who gathers 100,000 signatures within a 30-day period will have their petition reviewed by the acting President's administration. In this case, President Obama and his administration would be required to review and petition and give it a “yay or nay.”
"I don't know exactly what the odds of success are," said Smith. "With the Budweiser machine behind it, I'm sure that we'll get the 100,000 signatures."
The odds are that even if the petition reaches 100,000 signatures, the Obama administration will view this as a publicity stunt and turn it down. However, this petition raises a potentate question; should Opening Day be considered a National Holiday?
I believe for many it already is a National Holiday. Baseball fans across the country are known to skip work to attend Opening Day games, or even to just watch the games at home. Some companies will hold “relaxing days” and allow their employees to attend the games. Baseball is the American pastime, a sport celebrated as one that embodies the American ideals of hard work, fair play and sportsmanship.
In high school, I would watch Opening Day games on the computer. Students had to carry laptops around all day and I refused to let “academic policies” get in the way of watching baseball. In fact as a Freshman, I convinced by Science teacher that watching Spring Training baseball would help us learn about Physics. She thought it was a wonderful idea and had me put a Yankee game from MLB.com up on the monitor. I remember it clearly; it was a Yankees and Pirates match up. CC Sabathia was pitching. I believe he gave up two runs in two innings of work, though I may be wrong.
Maybe watching baseball in class sounds childish and irresponsible. It probably is, but I didn't care. I still don't care because baseball is the American pastime. Opening Day is a National Holiday, as far as many are concerned. The government doesn't need to tell us it's one for it to be one. I would never leave work to attend opening day, primarily because I work in baseball and watching Opening Day is part of the job description. Is it right for those to leave a desk job and attend Opening Day? Practically speaking, it isn't right.
But life isn't always practical. Sometimes you follow your heart instead of your head. My heart tells me Opening Day is a National Holiday. My head believes the same sentiment.
“To each their own.” Opening Day will never be an “official” national day. However in the hearts and minds of fans everywhere it already is. Shouldn't that be enough?
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