It's the most dreaded sound in the month of February — an alarm clocking buzzing the Monday morning after the Super Bowl. Weighed down by hot wings, pizza and beer, Americans across the country are forced to pull themselves out of bed and into work. Some will succeed while others will wave the white flag, calling out sick for the day.
A new White House petition looks to end this inner turmoil once and for all — by declaring the Monday after the big game a national holiday.
Fantasy football website 4for4.com created a petition on Thursday via the White House petition site "We the People," asking the Obama administration to consider declaring each Monday after the Super Bowl an official day off.
Nielsen ratings suggest that quite a few people across the country could benefit from the potential holiday: An estimated 111.3 million people watched the Super Bowl in 2012. That means more than one third of the country tuned in for the game (or the commercials) last year, cementing its place in history as the most-watched television program of all time in the U.S. The program that held the record before then: the 2011 broadcast of the Super Bowl.
No one can deny that a huge number of people watch the game, but should it warrant a national holiday? 4for4.com's petition states that a post Super Bowl day off would "promote camaraderie among the American people, keep the streets safer for our children on Sunday night, and Monday morning, promote a productive workplace when work resumes on Tuesday, and honor the most popular event in modern American culture."
But football fans may have to wait a while for a response: The White House website states a petition must reach 100,000 digital signatures to merit an official answer. As of Friday morning the petition had just over 2,600 signatures.
The 100,000 minimum was increased on January 15th from what had been a 25,000-signature threshold, in what the White House called an effort "to ensure we’re able to continue to give the most popular ideas the time they deserve."
The increase came just days after a series of similar campaigns went viral on the web earlier this month. Among those petitions were campaigns from Texas secede from the union, another to remove Piers Morgan from CNN, and the best of all — a petition for the White House to build a Death Star.
If the petition for the new national holiday reaches the goal of 100,000 votes by February 23rd, "We the People" states that "it will be reviewed by the Administration and (the Administration) will issue a response."