By Jacob Klinger

Like many of you, I went to bed Sunday night, set my alarm, and went to bed just as excited as I had the night before. Probably more.

I awoke the next morning, scrambled out of my bed, got my kid brother out of his, went to the kitchen, and got to work. I was on a time crunch. As with any sporting holiday, food was a must. Several servings of scrambled eggs, cinnamon rolls, and OJ later my brother and I were ready to glue ourselves to the couch for our favorite British bank holiday: Boxing Day.

Yet as I bear-hugged my breakfast fare and prepared to waddle to my basement for my favorite day of the Premier League season, something caught my eye. It was my brother blissfully draping his new DC United scarf over the shoulders of his Brek Shea USA knockoff. I, for one, was decked out in my Liverpool jersey, balancing the excitement of anticipating a day's worth of soccer with the sinking feeling I get anytime the Reds take on relegation fodder at Anfield.

As the day unfolded and I sat (and ate), jumped (Dempsey!), shouted (for West Brom), groaned (Carroll, Agger, and Adam), and ultimately had my fears confirmed, my mind continued to drift away from the fan side of my soul to the part of me that hyper-analyzes all things American soccer. Watching the Premier League? Yes, my little brother, decked out in all-American gear continued to monopolize my attention.

He is a casual fan, slowly being converted to the ranks of the obsessed, who is more than capable of spending time and money on soccer. He loves the game, even if he's not yet totally aware. He could care less if we watch the US National Team, DC United, or Liverpool. He is a fan of all three - the latter two thanks to yours truly - but will watch all things soccer if given the opportunity. All he needs is an event, a spectacle. Watching him react the same way I did to the actions of players whose names he was only learning  made me wonder how he would respond to a similarly festive MLS-watching holiday. When he asked me if who DC United was playing, I knew I was on to something.

If the powers that be in MLS decided that, for instance, Memorial Day should become an annual orgy of soccer, doubt at your own peril that an afternoon and evening could not be filled with a full slate of games. Add in the marketing clout of Soccer United Marketing (SUM), Fox, NBC, and ESPN, and suddenly you have a day for the American soccer fan. Whether one goes to his or her local stadium or makes a day of it with friends and family in front of a TV, such a day would create just the sort of sporting-media spectacle that MLS so deeply values.

Europhilic promotion-relegation, fall-to-spring proponents have been lambasting MLS seemingly forever. While those notions are grossly short-sighted, there is still a lesson to be learned from the holiday cheer spread by Boxing Day's yearly offerings: Let the season and its teams mature for a few months before unleashing a glorious day of non-stop soccer.

Of course the Boxing Day tradition on the other side of the Big Sink is just that, a time-honored tradition. But traditions have to start somewhere. Border-line American fans like my brother are far from above jumping on the next big (widely marketed) thing. Thumb through your calendar, read the small print at the bottom of the boxes that designate holidays; many of those now-traditions are the product of persistent marketing campaigns.

There are countless casual followers, like my brother, on the precipice of hardcore soccer fandom. All they need is a little push. I was lucky enough to have my dad happen upon some DC United tickets when I was young and impressionable. Other fans, the less fortunate, young and old, are only asking for a reason to watch. This is the marginal, the every-four-years fan that has joined the devout the past three summers in growing numbers to watch the US National Teams on the global stage.

MLS's 2012 schedule is already in the process of being set, but in years to come borrowing from and combining the pre-existing traditions of Boxing Day and Memorial Day offers a potent brew for soccer-lovers across the country. Taking a foreign trend, blending it with some patriotism and advertising it out the wazoo, making it into a food and TV-filled holiday? Nothing could be more American.

For the rest of us, it just means another day to spend dedicating ourselves to the game we love. That, and my brother can wear his scarf for an actual DC United game.

Jacob Klinger is a regular contributor to Soccer 365 as well as No Short Corners. He is currently a journalism student at Syracuse University. His love for the game goes back as far as he can remember, but was truly christened during the United States' cardiac qualifying campaign for Korea/Japan 2002. Between classes and columns, he still plays. You can follow him on Twitter @MrJacobK or email him at jmklinge@syr.edu.

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