Over 200 million people watched Super Bowl LVIII last year, making it the most-watched telecast in history. Wildkits stay up late enjoying the game with family and friends on what many argue is the most important Sunday of the year. After a long night of appreciating one of the greatest annual live events of all time, there is no doubt that classrooms will be full of weary and fatigued students the next day. However, after all of that partying and celebration, we are nonetheless expected to be in our seats as the clock strikes 8:30 the following Monday. To force us to go to school with our heads full of the most recent Super Bowl moments? That’s about as evil as a school can get. There is one appropriate solution to this issue—schools must begin recognizing a new national holiday: Super Bowl Monday.
The Super Bowl goes on very late; there is no denying that fact. For example, for Super Bowl LVI, the game itself ended around 9:00 pm CST, and freshman Nicholas Arend shared that his Super Bowl gatherings commonly end around midnight. Freshman Ben Ojala added that for him, “they end around 12:30-1:00.” This comprehensive celebration of the game is critical to fans, but it creates a huge problem. As junior Ben Novak pointed out, “After one watches the Super Bowl, they might have homework or other tasks to do.” This forces Wildkits to stay awake far into the night, killing energy and productivity the following Monday. Novak continued, “Having a day off would ease your mind and give you time to do whatever you need.” In addition, as the finale of the NFL season, the Super Bowl is an exciting and emotional social affair for many Wildkits, so people want to spend the time they can celebrating the game and the season with it. Arend expressed that “we should garner excitement for the Super Bowl before, and after the Super Bowl, we should discuss it.” Each second of the matchup is important for us to reflect upon, remembering each player’s highs, lows, unrecognized achievements, and exacerbated mistakes. A day off of school would be perfect for that.
Chances are you have felt that the second semester, especially quarter 3, is a drag. Freshman Ben Ojala agreed, stating, “The second semester is longer than the first semester,” both literally and figuratively. Not only does semester two have more school days than semester one, but it also lacks two half days and two late start days! On top of that, most wildkits get seasonal depression from the pain of January and February. The Super Bowl slots perfectly between this time frame, giving schools the opportunity for an extra day off.
However, let’s rethink for a second. It may be irrational to have the day off strictly because we need the break or stay up too late honoring the game the night prior. When asked why we should have the day off, senior Nathan Kane responded, “At the end of the day, in the divided nation we are in today, there are very few things that bring us together as well as football does. This acts as a holiday for me and many of my fellow Americans, very akin to a religious event.” For us 200 million Americans, whether we are rooting for the same team or not, all share the same love for the game, and that love unites us despite our differences.
What is a holiday? What makes a holiday worthwhile to take away a day of school? Is the only criteria strictly that the federal government recognizes it? Maybe the school thinks so, but deep down, we know that the best holidays are the ones that bring the community together in joy, where we celebrate our love for something, which, in this case, is football. The Super Bowl is not just an event, but it is a holiday in all of our hearts — a unifier. Kane added, “For [the school] to not celebrate that unifier is disrespectful to our nation, and I think schools across America have some serious rethinking to do.”
