Springing into action to change seasons to make sense

Spring officially begins March 19 this year, about five weeks after baseball spring training started.

That makes no sense. Because our seasons – which are based on how much daylight we get – don't sync with how we really view the seasons. Sure, March 19 will be the vernal equinox, when there will be 12 hours of daylight. Sure, summer will begin June 20 this year – the day with the most hours of daylight. Of course, fall starts when we get back to exactly 12 hours of daylight and winter starts on the shortest day of the year.

Hogwash.

We should be in the middle of spring right now. All our seasons should start at appropriate times on the calendar. It's time for the Stanhope Seasons Plan.

By the way, this is not necessarily connected to my longtime New Year's Day proposal, when we move that holiday to the first day of spring. But it could be.

So go with me on this as I propose new definitions for the four seasons (not for Frankie Valli, though. Hah hah hah). The good news? This plan fits with what your brain already knows.

Spring: Spring begins on the first day of baseball spring training, which is so obvious it's hard to believe no one has promoted this as an idea earlier. For the uninitiated, that's usually around Valentine's Day. I'd even be willing to push the first day of spring to the first day of baseball spring training games,  which is near the end of February. By early March we all think it's spring, right?

Summer: Everyone knows that summer runs from the Friday of Memorial Day weekend through the Monday of Labor Day. That's when we camp. That's when we take vacations. Ask a kid when summer starts and they'll tell you: That three-day weekend just before school gets out. When does summer end? Either when they return to school or after Labor Day. I'm old school. It's after Labor Day. Summer is simple.

Fall: Autumn obviously starts the day after Labor Day and goes until Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is the last gasp of fall, with Black Friday just sneaking in (I'm open to having fall end on Thanksgiving night if you think Black Friday is winter). We all know that Dec. 1 is really part of winter. It's absurd that Dec. 20 is still fall under the current calendar. No one thinks that's autumn.

Winter: If you're keeping score, you understand this. Winter goes from the day after Black Friday until baseball spring training opens. It covers the main winter holidays (unless my proposal for New Year's Day goes through), but ends shortly after the Super Bowl. That makes sense, right?

Want more proof? Under my proposal, here is the length of each season in days. You'll notice it makes sense: Spring is 100 days, summer is 100 days, fall is 89 days and winter is 77 days. That's as it should be, right? Spring and summer should be a little longer than fall and winter. 

We can keep our calendar (with the needed switch for New Year's Day), but let's change the seasons. Ignore that the Four Seasons had a hit with the chorus, "Let's hang on to what we've got." That's not only redundant (it should be "Let's hang on to what we have."), it's wrong in the case of seasons.

Change the seasons.

Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@outlook.com.