Turning the Big Dance into a National Holiday

Dear Mr. Obama,

I know you have a lot on your plate and all, but I have a modest proposal for you. After watching the amazing Kentucky-Michigan Elite Eight matchup, I was somewhat relieved, not because of the outcome of the game, but because I knew I could finally get back to my homework. There were only two games on this particular day of the tournament, I can't begin to describe how little I got done during the first round of the tournament.

So I must humbly suggest to you that you make the first Thursday and Friday of the NCAA March Madness Tournament national holidays. I'm aware there is currently a movement for similar action to be taken on baseball's opening day. I fully support this as well, but regard this as a completely separate request.

I'll admit that I haven't made it to all of my classes during the first two days of the tournament since I was 14. I, however, know i'm not the only one whose lost productivity during March Madness. According to Sebastian Posey of CBS, over 8 million hours are spent watching the tournament by people at their places of work. This equates to roughly $175 million lost during the tournament each year.

Not only do basketball enthusiasts and gambling addicts cost their companies money by watching March Madness at their offices, they also hurt their coworkers who actually strive to get work done. According to Posey, over one in three office computer systems completely shut down at some point during the first two days of the tournament, due to the strain places on them by the amount of streaming done for the games.

So I ask, does anyone get work done during the tournament? It appears that the answer is no. So what would two days off do except allow people to watch the games from their homes instead of their place of work. Plus, think of all the money the national and state governments could save by not having to pay the salaries of their employees for these two days.

People living in the eastern time-zone may not understand this work-basketball predicament, but put yourself in the shoes of someone on the west coast. Games out there start at 9am. About 2/3 games start before the average west coast 9-5er leaves the office, this doesn't account for any commute they may have. So of this year's games left coasters would have had to miss our include: OSU vs. Dayton, NC State vs. St. Louis, NDSU vs. Oklahoma, Mercer vs. Duke, SFA vs. VCU, and UNC vs. Providence.

At the end of the day, I really don't see a scenario in which my passion for basketball ever subsides enough for me to do anything productive during March Madness. Declaring the first Thursday and Friday national holidays would allow me and the millions of similarly unproductive people to better justify our viewing habits. I hope you consider my proposal.