This Wednesday, July 16 is the one day of the year when not a single game, round, period, or match of professional sports is contested. The Sports Illustrated readers, Sportscenter (or re) viewers, sports talk radio listeners and of course STB fans of the world get the day to themselves.

Some fans will take the day to surprise their wife or husband by doing that chore they are always nagging about and hope to God he or she doesn’t realize why it was done this particular Wednesday. Others will take the time to play with their kids or maybe just sit back and relax with a book. The point is our North American culture has emerged in a way that sports which used to just be a distraction from life know make up a significant portion of our lives. How many people count the days until the next Patriots game, the hours until the Yankees take the field again, or sit at a desk wondering when the heck Mats Sundin will make a decision? I’m not passing judgement on anyone who lives and dies with their sports team I’m just encouraging everyone to do something different with their evening.

You’ll be glad you took the time off, the British Open starts in the early morning on Thursday, and with baseball returning Friday, pennant races will begin to heat up, and with that trade talks will too. The CFL season is just beginning to take off, as NFL players are about to head to camp. Of course come August the 2008 Summer Olympics will be held in Beijing and then before you can say, “Free Tibet” NHL and NBA players will be coming back to camp, as the Baseball playoffs heat up.

It’s your day to take a breath and you just get one every 365 days, 366 in Summer Olympic years (commonly called leap years). Sports fans used to get Christmas off too, but the NBA and NCAA bowls decided catering to the small segment of the sports population that are practicing Christians didn’t make a whole lot of sense. But I digress the point is tomorrow is your only day off because the MLS and CFL, two leagues who must always contend for fan support for some reason choose to not steal the spotlight. Are you telling me not a single game in one league could be shown on ESPN or TSN? Its an exclusive opportunity to market their leagues and they choose not too, it’s almost like Gary Bettman makes their marketing decisions too.

Enjoy your day off fans, the BCS will have matched up Ohio State and an SEC team in the championship before you know what hit you.

What are you going to do with your day off?

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Last post (s) by Nich Hall

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Tags: Day off, Gary Bettman, Major League Baseball, NFL, Nich Hall