RALEIGH -- After staying up late Sunday night to watch the Super Bowl, are you super tired, or do you have a super hangover this morning?
If so, you're not alone. That's why many people have pushed recently to make the day after the Super Bowl a national holiday.
According to a petition posted on GoPetition.com, 1.5 million Americans didn't show up for work the day after the Super Bowl last year, and an estimated 4.4 million people showed up late.
It could be worse this year. A poll conducted by Media Life predicted Sunday's Super Bowl would be the most-watched television program in history, surpassing the 111 million viewers last year.
"With all that partying and late night carousing on Sunday, Mondays after the Super Bowl become one of the least productive work days of the year," the petition states.
Though New York Giants and New England Patriots fans in Raleigh disagreed on which team would win the big game, they seemed to agree that making today a national holiday is a good idea. "We got a lot of holidays for bad reasons," Patriots fan Eric Stoddard said in front of Tobacco Road Sports Café on Glenwood Avenue. "We got silly holidays you've never heard of. Let's have a Super Bowl (holiday). That's American."
Many Internet postings warned employers to watch out for high absenteeism today because of the game.
Mike Cohen, who lives in Charlotte and came to Raleigh to watch the game with daughter Annie, said he is taking today off to recover.
Cohen, a Giants fan who works in the commercial lending business, calls the idea of a national holiday today a no-brainer. "If we have to trade another holiday off to get it like President's Day, we'll trade that in for the day after the Super Bowl," he said.
Annie Cohen, another die-hard Giants fan, agrees. "You're not going to be productive at work if you've been out," she said.
Annie Cohen, fortunate enough to work from home and make her own schedule, planned to have a late Sunday night no matter what team was victorious. "If (the Giants) win, we'll be out partying," she said. "If we lose, I'll be out drinking my sorrows away."
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