Rant #2,526: Love the One You're With

Happy Friday, and this year, that means happy Valentine's Day.

I hope everyone out there got at least a card for their loved one(s), and maybe even a little extra too, like some flowers or a gift card or something to show their love.

Sure, this "holiday" is pretty much over-stated and overrated. It is a holiday for the greeting card companies to make a real killing, an occasion where seemingly everybody goes out and buys at least one card related to the day.

Restaurants also do well today, and being that this year's holiday is on a Friday, you can bet that many restaurants will do gangbusters on not just Friday, but on Saturday and Sunday too.

And what makes this year's Valentine's Day extra special is that it welcomes in the President's Day weekend, holiday and week, so this confluence of two holidays makes it extra special for everyone.

President's Day used to be a big thing, or at least the birthday's of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln were. But then, some years ago, the two birthdays were combined into one, and kind of lessened and diminished on their own, as we now celebrate a single President's Day, and it honors all of our commenders in chief, from Washington and Lincoln to Obama and Trump, and even McKinley and Pope and Grant.

And then it was expanded by the school systems to not just President's Day, but to the winter recess, so many of us have a full week off of work and school to think about Carter, Clinton, the Bushes and Eisenhower, which I am sure is not in anyone's list of things to do during their week off.

And the holiday has been further diminished by the fact that it just isn't what it used to be. One example is that there is one bank out there--which shall remain nameless--that is actually open on President's Day but closed on Martin Luther King Day. Please, someone explain that to me.

But whatever the case, starting today, we have the confluence of two holidays--one of the heart and one of our history--and while some might think it makes for strange bedfellows, I guess it really doesn't in the grand scheme of things.

It is kind of important for retailers, as they can now have dual holiday sales days, one beginning with Valentine's Day and stretching through to President's Day.

Heck, Washington had Martha and Abraham Lincoln had Mary, so they were loved too,

We really shouldn't need special days or holidays to honor those we love and to honor those who have led us for the past nearly 250 years. But we have these holidays to really put an exclamation point on these things, so we have Valentine's Day and President's Day to remind us about them.

That kind of makes sense, I guess.

What makes no sense is the Houston Astros complete lack of contrition about their part in the Major League Baseball sign-stealing saga.

Yesterday, when speaking to reporters, both Astros players and owners tried to lessen the blow of any cheating, and the team's owner basically said he thought it had a minimal effect, if any, on the outcome of the 2017 season, the season in question, when the team won the World Series.

And he and his players insist that some type of electronic devices were not used during last year's playoffs, particularly against the New York Yankees, among the victims both in 2017 and 2019.

Their explanations are as hollow as can be, and for continuing to toe the company line, they should all be fined and suspended.

Only one Astros player, shortstop Carlos Correa, has come forward and admitted guilt.

Heck, if the Astros so minimized what happened, what was proven to happen, then explain to me exactly why they fired their manager and their general manager through this charade?

No, the Houston Astros will not get any love this Valentine's Day, and they are going against President's Day too, because George Washington's "I shall never tell a lie" credo is not being put in practice by that entire organization, which has yet to really come clean about what it did to win.

So have a great Valentine's Day and President's Day, and I say that even to the Astros. When 100-mile-an-hour fastballs come whizzing by your head, maybe your will make peace with yourselves.

And going by tradition, I am going to take the day off, like I always have, on Monday to celebrate President's Day, so I will speak to you next on Tuesday of next week.

Have a great weekend, have great holidays, and I will speak to you again on the second day of the workweek.