As long as I can remember, it has always been a tradition — in my family at least — to sit down in front of the TV after Thanksgiving dinner and turn on any and all games that were being played that day.
Whether we cheered on the team that happened to be playing, like when the Green Bay Packers played the Detroit Lions in 2009 and the Packers won, 34-12, or fell into a food coma, there was always a game on in every room and on every TV in my house, and it has been that way in my family for a very long time.
I understand that sometimes it is difficult for players and their families when they don’t get the chance to spend the holidays with each other because of scheduled games. Don’t get me wrong, I hope that someday players get the chance to not have a game scheduled on a big or special holiday, and they get to spend the day with their families. But it’s not like every team plays on holidays every year, so why break tradition?
For college football, Thanksgiving weekend usually marks the end of regular football season and it is the weekend that school teams find out who they will be playing against in conference championships. Holding a historic tradition since the 1890s, it would be a crying shame to not have something to watch on Thanksgiving.
Same goes for the NFL. Professional teams and leagues have played on Thanksgiving Day since the beginning and will continue until the end — hopefully.
Going into the month of December, college teams usually play their bowl games before and after Christmas, sometimes falling on New Year’s Eve and Day. While the NFL makes a point to avoid playing on Christmas Day, many great games have been played on Christmas and Christmas Eve, like when the Packers defeated the Bears 35-21 in 2011. (Side note: is it just me or do the Packers seem to play better on holidays?)
While there have only been 17 games played on Christmas, it would be noticeable if the NFL decided to stop having games scheduled on those days. But football isn’t the only sport to have a spot on TV during the holidays. For example, the NBA has secured its spot on Christmas Day for almost 60 years and it is when regular season games are being played. And college basketball also takes part in this tradition with the Runnin’ Utes playing in Hawaii on Christmas Day.
Again, is it just me, or does it seem like every big event in the sports world is played on major holidays? Father’s Day marks the beginning of the U.S. Open men’s golf tournament — if your dad is like mine, watching a golf tournament is exactly what he wants to do on Father’s Day — and Halloween has the potential of having a World Series game played on that day.
It’s just tradition. Whether it’s a baseball game, hockey game, a college bowl game, preseason, midseason or postseason, there is always a sport to be played on holidays.
How can you not turn on the TV after Thanksgiving dinner and watch your favorite team defeat whoever they are playing that day? Or grab a beer with your dad and watch the beginning of the U.S Open men’s golf tournament on Father’s Day — which, quite frankly, is not a sport I would watch.
I don’t like change and I don’t like breaking tradition. Every year, I always eat my mom’s pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving and Christmas; it’s the best, so why change it up? Just like with my pie, why would sports stop playing on holidays?
I don’t think there is one family out there that doesn’t watch some sort of sporting event on the holidays, so that is why I think playing games on holidays should continue on — maybe even become a tradition for another family, if not already.
@emileewhiteee