Editorial: Crossing the line
Should MLB Opening Day be recognized as a national holiday?
“MLB Opening Day is more than just the beginning of the season. It’s a symbol of rebirth. The coming of spring. The return of America’s national pastime. It’s a state of mind where anything is possible.”
So reads part of the petition that was led by Budweiser and Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith and submitted to the Obama administration on the White House website. The petition to make MLB Opening Day a national holiday reached almost 103,000 signings March 26 — just over the threshold to require a response from the White House.
Seriously? A federal holiday for baseball? This is a whole new level of ridiculous. This idea belongs in an April Fools’ Day prank.
Play ball — MLB Hall-of-Famer Ozzie Smith started a petition to make Opening Day a holiday. Google Images
There is absolutely no solid reasoning to support the idea that MLB Opening Day should be a federal holiday. The proponents of this idea — which are a staggering minority of American sports fans — just want an excuse to skip work for their favorite source of entertainment.
MLB fans may have dubbed the sport “America’s pastime,” but it is far from being the most popular sport in America. The Harris Poll, which has been conducted by Harris Interactive since 1985, clearly shows that the NFL is America’s chosen form of sports entertainment.
An overwhelming 35 percent of Americans say the NFL is their favorite sport. While only 14 percent of Americans claim it as their favorite — hardly a larger group than college football lovers at 11 percent.
According to Gallup polls, baseball has not been the most popular sport in America since professional football took over in 1972. Baseball viewership and ratings have steadily declined ever since.
Even more substantial than the opening day of baseball’s lack of popularity is how marginal its importance is to other significant days in the year that are not federal holidays.
Halloween is not a federal holiday. Neither is Father’s or Mother’s Day. Good Friday is not a federal holiday. Valentine’s Day is not a federal holiday. Even Election Day, which is arguably one of the most important days of election years, is not a holiday.
A minority of the American people think they should get a federal holiday to spend time watching their favorite sport, when the day that every American citizen gets to exercise his or her right to vote does not have that distinction?
That is insane.
Baseball fans need to realize a simple thing: just because you want to go to a season-opening baseball game instead of going to work does not mean that your behavior should be validated or encouraged.
When Halo 4 came out in 2012, I skipped classes and took off work the next day so that I could stay up all night playing. I did it because it was a hobby that I enjoyed with friends and millions of players online.
That might sound like a stupid use of time to a lot of people, but it is uncomfortably similar to playing hooky from work to go to an MLB game.
I never had the audacity to claim that my hobby should warrant a day off, even though millions of Americans shared my particular interest. I chose to sacrifice going to class and work to instead be a part of something that I considered special.
It is the same thing that more than one million baseball fans do every year on opening day.
No sport is worthy of a national holiday, especially not baseball. Recognize hobbies for what they are: a pleasurable way to pass time. Federal holidays should signify more than just people’s pastimes.
Please, fight and petition for something worthwhile instead of this nonsense.