Vote Opening Day A National Holiday!

Once a year during the baseball season, Opening Day rolls around and is celebrated all around this nation. Whether you are skipping work, playing hooky from school, throwing a party (age appropriate of course), or balancing time between your Excel document and the MLB GameDay screen, it is a special day for any fan of baseball. The first day of the baseball season is the beginning of what could be “your year” (it may be a jab at any Cubs’ fan) or a season to forget. Now, the last three years the Twins’ seasons have not turned out how we would have liked, but it does not make Opening Day any less special. It is when every one is either bundling up in winter gear and pounding hot chocolate or wearing shorts, a polo, taking in the sun and pounding beers, dependent upon where you are watching the very first game of the baseball season.

Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Now imagine this scenario. What if Opening Day was a national holiday?

Let the idea of a national holiday revolving around your favorite sport sink in. A national holiday celebrating the very beginning of the baseball season sounds like a great idea if you ask me. Oh, and you would get a paid day off of work to celebrate your favorite sport ringing in the new season? Yep. Sign me up.

It may sound like a crazy idea and super far fetched, but how likely is this idea?

Well, Ozzie Smith, a Hall of Fame Shortstop for Cardinals, teamed up with Budweiser and has started a petition to have this possibly be an actual holiday. At the time of this publication, only another 74,000+ signatures are needed to have this idea be heard by the White House. Now, that seems like ton. Since this petition was started on 2/24/2014 and needed 100,000 signatures from the start, it already has over 25,000 in less than two days.

The idea of the whole petition could not have been worded better in my opinion,

"“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. You can feel the electricity in the air. Opening Day brings with it the promise of a new beginning. Every fan is in good spirits. It’s a day of celebration. It’s a day of hope. It’s a day that, for generations, has been looked forward to by baseball fans every off-season. It’s an American tradition, and it deserves to be recognized as an American holiday. Join us in our quest to make sure every American can exercise their inalienable right to celebrate the day those two magical words are uttered for the first time: ‘PLAY BALL!'”"

As the great Joe Dimaggio was once quoted about Opening Day:

“You always get a special kick on Opening Day, no matter how many you go through. You look forward to it like a birthday party when you’re a kid. You think something wonderful is going to happen.”