The Falcons making a Super Bowl appearance is cause for celebration in The A. Atlanta's "Dirty Birds" have only been to the big game once before in their franchise history, and this year's battle with the New England Patriots is the first time since 1998 they've had a chance to take the Lombardi Trophy back to Georgia. Falcons fans are justifiably getting swept up in Super Bowl fever.
But a question that haunts football fans all over America hangs over Super Bowl Sunday—how will they be able to get up and get on with their lives the next day? Whether you're an adult who has to hustle at the nine-to-five, or a kid who has to wake up at the crack of dawn and get on a school bus, the day after the Super Bowl is a rough one.
Falcons owner Arthur Blank is sympathetic to the kids (and teachers!) out there who want to stay up and watch the game. His daughter is a student at Pace Academy in Atlanta, and she turned to her father to help her get an extra day to deal with Super Bowl festivities. As you can see in the video above, he obliged, and all her fellow students at Pace will get a long weekend as a result. We applaud her resourcefulness, but whether we needed the hokey "Welcome to Atlanta" remix at the end of the video is another discussion entirely.
This is just one small step, but it couldn't hurt to make this part of a broader movement to turn the Super Bowl into a long weekend. Some companies have recognized the hangover effect on their employees and have acted accordingly. Food giant Kraft Heinz is offering their entire U.S. workforce the day off after this year's Super Bowl, and even started a petition aimed at the U.S. House of Representatives to make the Monday after the Super Bowl a national holiday.
We could all use more three-day weekends, so respect to Blank for helping to put together some school-sanctioned hooky.
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