I’ve long proposed that today be a national holiday. If today can be National Something on a Stick Day, National Black Forest Cake Day, Eat an Eskimo Pie Day, Weed Appreciation Day (I’m not sure if this is the kind you smoke or the kind you pull out of the garden, and to some it may not matter and they may be the same thing), and Children’s Picture Book Day; then how is it possible that Opening Day of Baseball is not a holiday.

We hold elections what seems like every year for some elected official or another. You would think that at least one of them would have proposed to make the first day of baseball a national holiday. I mean really, we have a holiday for Columbus and all he did was get on a boat, get lost, find a continent, and tell everyone he meant to do that. Baseball is a lot more important than that.

I think it may be time to make it mandatory for all political candidates who are running for public office to be held accountable for righting this wrong and giving baseball season the proper respect it deserves.

Think of the children. Leading up to this day we could have history lessons that talked about integrating baseball and the historical importance of Jackie Robinson. We could talk about the migration west when the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants moved to California and made baseball a truly national sport.

There could be math units where we teach the children that 4 + 6 + 3 = 2 and why that is substantially more important to understand than the new math that just confuses everyone anyways. We could introduce geometry using launch angles and describe physics by teaching kids spin rates and why a 6-12 curveball does what it does. Advanced coursework could try to explain how a knuckleball actually works or have someone explain the nuances of the Rule 5 draft or the rules of waiver wire claims.

There are so many educational reasons, and all of these could be experienced when the kids are out of school and parents are home from work celebrating Opening Day with a local parade, and a trip to the ballpark.

The Diamondbacks are trying to do their part. They held a sale at the Chase Field Team Shop (what’s a holiday without a sales event?). I did my part taking my wife and grandchildren down to the ballpark. Teigan was especially eager after our game on Tuesday. Of course she was extremely disappointed to find out that there was no game and doesn’t quite understand the concept of home and away games yet.

She did enjoy looking at all the Diamondbacks merchandise and was thrilled that the team had popcorn and water for those in attendance. Then when D. Baxter showed up it was the equivalent of Santa arriving to town signifying another holiday.

We are so close to making this a reality. All it will take is a few visionaries with some political pull and we could make this happen. Maybe we can start a #SedonaRedForOpeningDay campaign, stage a walkout and get the governor’s attention. Hey, it seemed to work for the teachers. And they already have the right colored shirts to get in on the action.