What Is Wrong With Bud?

For as far back as I can remember, Major League Baseball has opened its season on a Monday and this year is no different; April 6 to be exact. Each year this happens, I ask myself why. Why do the powers that be over at Major League Baseball continue to schedule one of the greatest sports days of the entire year on a Monday? Technically, "opening night" is Sunday, April 5. I say bullshit because only one regular season game is scheduled and there are still exhibition games being played. This would be like saying you're opening a new mall and then only letting customers shop at one of the stores. You wouldn't really call that an opening, would you?

For the uninitiated, on opening day, close to every team in the Majors plays. There is baseball on TV non-stop and if you subscribe to the extra innings package, it makes it that much better. I love to curl up on my couch, crack open a few beers, get a burrito, and watch baseball all day long. I consider myself a fan of the game, but to be honest, this is probably the only day of the season that I will watch multiple games in their entirety. There is an excitement that surrounds opening day. Something about the sun shining, the stark-white uniforms, the crowd buzzing in the stands, and the return of baseball that surrounds this day with an indescribable aura. This is an experience I rarely miss, but as the opening days come and go, it is getting a lot harder to play along. 

First and foremost, Major League Baseball is a product, and like any product it needs to be marketed to remain viable. I was not a marketing major in college, but it would seem to me that the first principle of marketing would be to get your product to the most amount of people possible. Based on this principle, the most effective way to get Major League Baseball to as many people as possible, would be to schedule the most anticipated day of the year for baseball on a weekend. On Monday, people are at work and children are at school. Maybe I am wrong, but people are usually home on the weekends which means they could have friends over for baseball and a BBQ, or listen to the game on the radio while working in the yard. I could be way off the mark, but kids don't have school on weekends meaning their dads can take them to games or watch them on the couch like my dad and I used to do. 

This is my gripe with Bud Selig and the folks at Major League Baseball. Stop scheduling opening days for Monday. If you must do it during the week, make it a Friday. At least then, I have a way better chance of getting off work to sit on my couch all day.