A couple of weeks ago, Texas and Texas A&M announced that their football programs would resume a Thanksgiving Day rivalry in 2008. As a result of that news, the NCAA blog Double-A Zone hosted an impassioned debate about whether or not college teams should play on national holidays.

One respondent, CJ, wrote that “I don't believe that our student-athletes should have to choose between a "social experience," such as Thanksgiving, or in the case of the up-coming month, Easter.  It is, after all, the social experiences, such as our national holidays, that have helped many student athletes arrive at being the best athlete they can be.”

Mimi says that “You could argue that student-athletes at major BCS schools receiving scholarships essentially sign a contract to participate in the team's entire schedule. But you could also argue that asking a student-athlete to give up a deep belief is contrary to what the NCAA says it is about.

Another commenter said that he doesn’t “have an issue with institutions scheduling games on holidays as long as they respect a student-athlete's right to not compete due to religious convictions.

The Double-A Zone offered a Web poll in conjunction with the post on national holidays, and 43 percent of respondents believe that whether or not games should be schedule depends on the holiday. 34 percent believe college teams shouldn’t compete on those days while 23 percent of respondents believe college teams should in fact play on national holidays.