Four hours of watching random men exercise should not constitute a holiday.
By Kendra Martinez, Staff Writer
The Super Bowl lasts about four hours. That’s four hours of sitting on the couch eating and drinking beverages (non-alcoholic of course) with friends while watching TV. Hardcore fans will get the grill going in the backyard and throw a party. It sounds like a typical Sunday afternoon full of fun and relaxation. After all, what could be more relaxing than watching other people exercise for four hours? Even so, according to “The Washington Times”, 52 percent of Americans think Super Bowl Monday should be considered a holiday. Ridiculous.
There is no valid reason that Super Bowl Monday should be any different from any other Monday. Yet, one in 10 Americans have been reported to miss work on the Monday following the game. Why? Maybe because they partied too hard and needed a day to catch their breath. Well, if college students can take midterms after partying the night before, then a couple of football fans can surely function after having watched TV all day. Even if your team loses and you shed a tear or two, you are still in perfect condition to attend work and school. Thousands of people cried during the weekend premier of “Avengers: Endgame”, and they still went to school the following Monday. Do you think they should have gotten the day off to grieve the loss of Tony Stark?
Pro-Super-Bowl-Monday-should-be-a-holiday activists aren’t only vouching for the losers of the Super Bowl, but for the winners too. They claim fans on the winning side should be given the day off to celebrate and revel in the work done by 40 random people they’ve never met. Claiming this Monday should be a holiday because both sides will be emotional afterwards is the same as saying Election Day should be a holiday, since we all know how riled up Democrats and Republicans get during that week. If anything, Election Day should way be more of a priority to turn into a holiday rather than the day after a football game. There is a real problem when it comes to the number of Americans who are unable to vote because they simply do not have the time to wait in line. If Election Day was recognized as a national holiday, there would be millions of more people voting in important elections, allowing for more accurate representation in our democracy. That sounds a lot more important than a couple of football fans needing a day to rejoice.
There are plenty of other important days that should be recognized as a national holiday before Super Bowl Monday. There are 7.5 million Jewish Americans. That’s 7.5 million people who celebrate Yom Kippur. Unfortunately, not all 7.5 million of them can celebrate properly because they still have to go to work or school, since Yom Kippur is not recognized as a national holiday. Luckily, SMMUSD recognizes the importance of this holiday and gives students the day off to properly celebrate with their families. However, the same can not be said for all Jewish students across the country. Let's prioritize getting days like Yom Kippur to be recognized as national holidays before we start granting this important title to a sporting event.
If anything, students should marvel at the fact that they can go to school the Monday after the big game. The winners can rub their big win in the faces of the losers. Maybe the losers would be less thrilled about that, but at least they can mourn their loss with fellow losing classmates. Besides, chances are that most students won’t even care about who won or lost because the Super Bowl only consists of two teams! That’s only two cities out of the entire country. Giving everyone the day off just to please those two groups of people is an absolutely ridiculous idea! Take the words of Principal Antonio Shelton.
“L.A. is not even in it! What are we celebrating?!” Shelton said.