February 4th: National Holiday

Quote of the day:
“Everyone eventually sits down.”
--Unknown

Quote of the day no. 2:
“The more you listen to the voice within you, the better you will hear what is sounding outside.”
--Dag Hammarskjold

Sports quote of the day:
“It’s not a national holiday, it’s just a game.”
--Encinitas realtor Marc Zimmerman, talking about the Super Bowl.

Kudos to Target for a great front page on their most-recent circular. It offers special prices on both a large flat-screen TV and a bag of Doritos. Is this a great country or what? No need to drive around for those Super Bowl needs.

Marc Zimmerman, while technically right, is actually wrong. Super Bowl Sunday IS a national holiday. It’s not official. It hasn’t been declared by Congress. But it is very real. Commerce slows to a crawl during the broadcast and then surges when the game concludes. It’s even hard to escape during commercial breaks because the ads are often as entertaining as the game.

We need these occasions for national and community celebrating. And we need these singular events that most of us can gather around.

I am not a huge football fan, and used to use Super Bowl Sunday to avoid crowds at all the places I needed to shop. So often, the football game is so uninteresting it seems a little silly. But I’ve tuned in regularly over the last several years.

Whether we like it or not, agree with it or not, participate in it or not, Super Bowl Sunday has transcended the football game. It is a major event, a spectacle, a national “gathering place” and a national holiday.