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You want to know the worst part about stores being open on Thanksgiving and into early morning the day after? All those people shopping. Purely for scientific purposes, I wandered into a couple of those stores on Thursday night. Instant analysis: too many folks shopping, too few of the advertised items that the early birds (more like vultures, if you ask me) swooped up.
To survive Black Friday shopping, you might have to be Wonder Woman (or Superman). Which explains this photo of Ellie Gonsalves. Credit: Ryan Astamendi
And what, if anything, does this have to do with sports (a topic generally found in this space)?
In a word: outrage.
It was interesting to see some people on social media (Twitter and Facebook, for example) railing against stores being open and people having to work on Thanksgiving. And when I read some of the rabid remarks, I wondered if those bemoaning the end of civilization as we know it (or something like that) watched any of the NFL games — there were three — on Thanksgiving. Or possibly watched Northwestern University’s basketball team lose to Missouri 78-67 Thursday night in Las Vegas.
People have to work at those events, too. But that presumably is OK because … because why?
Where is the outrage over people having to work at sporting events? Where is the outrage of high school football teams playing traditional Thanksgiving football games?
Let me know if you find any.
College basketball teams really don’t need to travel to Las Vegas or Puerto Rico or Hawaii or anywhere else during what should be Thanksgiving break as it is for other students.
So why do college basketball teams travel thousands of miles — meaning they are unable to be at home with their families (gasp!) — to play in these holiday events?
The almighty dollar (same reason stores are open, folks). Plus coaches like to play as many games they can before conference competition commences.
Once upon a time (meaning before ESPN existed), college basketball started the last weekend in November when the last regular-season football games were played. That’s no longer the case.
It’s still unclear why some of these “tournaments” are played. Game after game features an abundance of empty seats. But the concept must work for someone.
And heaven help us if the NFL would take the day off. Long ago, someone thought Thanksgiving would be a perfect day for football. I have no idea whether there was any criticism of playing Turkey Day games. And especially with the advent of television, the NFL realized it had a captive audience. A willing, captive audience.
And everyone lived happily ever after. Except for the people upset about stores being open.
Speaking of shopping, Black Friday is upon us. Or upon those who choose to join the masses in search of material good they desire. Whether they actually need them is another story. Anyway, I likely will sit on the sidelines for most — if not all — of the day.
In the words of baseball Hall of Famer Yogi Berra : “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.”
My sentiments precisely. Or imprecisely.
Whatever. Anyway, have a wonderful day after Thanksgiving and know if you go shopping, some of us will be home watching football or basketball on TV. Of course, such will be the case even if you don’t go shopping.
Happy shopping. Or not.
Here is where to go for a daily dose of non-gratuitous video (thanks to the evocative efforts of the editorial and video departments at elliottharris.com):
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