Here’s hoping “The Wizard” has a bit more magic to offer MLB fans, because Ozzie Smith is teaming up with Budweiser for a campaign petitioning the White House to make Opening Day a national holiday. 

For the Win’s Ted Berg spotted this video that should provide a sense of optimism, however small, to those fans who feign illness every single time the baseball season begins. 

Maybe, just maybe, a baseball legend and beer company can pull off the unimaginable and combine the foolish hope that comes with Opening Day with the carefree whimsy of a day off from work and school. 

The impetus behind the campaign is simple. Smith explains in the video, “Opening Day should be a holiday. Let’s make it official. All we need is 100,000 signatures on the way to the White House.”

Yes, we have yet another petition to throw onto the pile, which seems to be massive as it pertains to Barack Obama’s tenure. 

For the White House to address the petition, 100,000 signatures are needed. As of Tuesday evening, there are a little more than 14,000 at the petition’s page, which was created on Feb. 24. Fans, however, have until March 26 to get to the magical mark. 

This is a fantastic idea that does have an obvious wrinkle, as Berg points out:

Due to Major League Baseball’s recent scheduling trend, there’s no real opening day anymore.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Lisa Brown has a similar sentiment:

The league’s 2014 opening day is Monday, March 31, although several teams play regular season games prior to opening day. The New York Yankees and the Houston Astros don’t play their first games of the season until April 1.

The Dodgers and Diamondbacks, for example, open up the season in Australia on March 22, and the two teams will also engage in a couple of exhibition games against Team Australia that will take place prior to the season opener. 

Chris Vaccaro seems to think the holiday is a fine idea, though:

We agree. 

Sure, it may be our biased affection for hot dogs, beer and baseball, as well as the notion that with 162 games to be played, anything is truly possible. 

However, if the Super Bowl isn’t gaining traction as a holiday, MLB has little chance of delivering the biggest gift to its fans in the form of a day off, so pack this daydream away next to thoughts of World Series glory. 

As for all the games taking place on various days, know that MLB would instantly remedy that if the White House actually declares the sport worthy of a holiday. 

For now, we will have to settle with faking a cough sometime in late March, culminating in a coincidental call that we can’t make it into work, because the baseball flu is quite severe this year. 

 

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