Rant #2,063: Pride (In the Name of Love)

Today, January 15, 2018 is the 15th day of the year.

It is also Martin Luther King Day in this country.

Most people have the day off today.

I do not.

I have never had Martin Luther King Day off,  never in my entire working life.

New York State adopted the holiday earlier than most other states, but I have never worked for an employer who acknowledged the holiday; the belief was that if you needed to take the day off, you took the day off.

I never needed to take the day off in my memory, although I might have taken the day off maybe once when my son was a baby or a young child, because whoever was tending to him--possibly in nursery school--took the day off, so I did too.

I honestly don't remember, but I do know that if I did take the day off, it was not a "free" day, and counted against my sick and personal days off that were given to me by my respective employer.

So today, which is supposed to be a day of service anyway, is a day I toil at work.

Thus, I won't be able to participate in one of the first sales days on the yearly calendar.

And if anyone denies that this is what Martin Luther King Day has become, well, they are being delusional.

It is no different than President's Day, the Fourth of July, and pretty much any other holiday on the calendar.

It is interesting that some companies give the day off, while others do not.

Case in point is my wife's place of work.

She works in a bank, which I will not name, but she has today off.

However, her bank is open on President's Day next month.

If you can explain that, well, then you must be pretty smart.

I think it is all a political thing, so PC to be off on Martin Luther King Day and so chic to have to work on President's Day ... yes, a further knock on who occupies the Oval Office, but heck, what do I know?

Anyway, have a great day of service off while you shop 'til you drop.

And there is no nice way to segueway into the next topic of today's Rant, but I have to acknowledge the passing of legendary broadcaster Keith Jackson, a jack of all trades in sports broadcasting, and a master of all of them.

He was, of course, best known as the voice of college football for about 40 years, but even if you weren't into that game, you knew him from everything else that he did.

He did the NBA. He did MLB. He did the Olympics ... you really could go on and on with him.

He was the consummate professional network broadcaster, and one of the many MLB games that he did for ABC was one I was at, and never heard until decades later.

He did the 1976 American League Championship Series between the New York Yankees and the Kansas City Royals, one of the most thrilling playoff series in baseball history.

He manned the booth with Howard Cosell and Reggie Jackson, and somehow, he kept the booth in order with those two in attendance.

And when Chris Chambliss hit the game-winning, playoff-clinching home run in the final game of that series, it was Jackson at the mike.

I was there, and I never heard the actual broadcast until years later on the Yankees' own network, YES.

It was a real kick to hear it years later, and I must say, Jackson kept a certain level of decorum in the booth, even as the raucous proceedings were taking place on the field.

This southern boy also called a number of other major New York "moments," including the Knicks 1973 NBA championship--the final one in their history to this point in time--and the game the Yankees played after Thurman Munson died in a plane crash.

Yes, he was certainly best known for college football, but to me, Jackson will be remembered for the whole kit and kaboodle of his illustrious career.

Again, have a nice day off, and I will speak to you again tomorrow.