If 40 is the new 30, then Thursday can be the new Saturday

I'm jumping on the Thursday Nights at the Pitch topic a litte late, but I figure that's OK, since my local newspaper just put that article in the paper yesterday, at what I imagine was the expense of the MLS All*Star game results. Better late than never, I suppose, especially since I'm not exactly running with the general opinion.

I, for one, am pretty damn happy about the change, and I foresee a lot of beer, pizza and watch parties on my future Thursday nights. Why? Because, like a goodly portion of the world, I work the weekends, and I work nights. I haven't had a day job since 1996, and while I do get Sundays off now, it took me seven years to get that. This isn't a 9-to-5, Monday through Friday kind of world, and it's been tough for me to watch my futbol on ESPN2 every Saturday. Even with the MLSLive.tv subscription, I had a hard time juggling game watching and my Saturday work, and many times the game had to go by the wayside while I actually earned my paycheck. I know I can watch the archived game later, but I just can't get into that. I've got this little mental block that says if I don't see it live, just catch the highlight reel.

Most of the criticism of the Thursday night deal has had to do with expectations that stadium attendance will be lower on a weeknight than on a Saturday afternoon. That criticism has been answered right back with some pointing out that this is an actual TV deal, which means money, money, money, so promotion, promotion, promotion.

Here's my thinking -- obviously MLS and ESPN are trying to turn Thursday night into what it already is for almost every college student in the country -- party night No. 1. You know how it is. You're in college and you either go home on the weekends or your friends go home on the weekends. You've go to party, got to hang out. So what do you do? You head over to the bar on a Thursday night and live it up until the wee hours of the morning, then show up for class on Friday morning hung over, if you show up at all. If you stay in town, you party it up on Friday/Saturday and recover on Sunday. That, friends, is how I spent my sophomore year and why I nearly failed Algebra. In any case, putting MLS on Thursday nights starts gives futbol its own night to live it up, and people who are fans of other sports, too -- I've heard such creatures exist, who love other sports than futbol, but have never actually met one in person -- don't have to choose between which ball they want to follow on Saturday or Sunday. MLS on Thursday night just gets your weekend started early. Bring on the pizza and beer and ThunderStix.

If you already live in an area that's got its own MLS team -- you lucky bastards, you -- will it be such a hardship to go over and watch your favorite equipo on the pitch, and maybe get on TV, too? And for schmoes like me who have to travel 180 to 300 miles to see a game live and who have Thursday nights off, this deal makes it more likely that I'll get down to Dallas or Houston or up to KC.

I'm lovin' the idea and I'm going to do what I can as a fanatica to get it goin'. And no more TV drought in August and September, that's what I'm lookin' forward to. And I can get into the futbol frame of mind two days earlier than normal and still enjoy the pleasures of the Saturday and Sunday games, too, just stretches out the futbol goodness to most of the week. I'm all for it, man. Can't wait for it to start.