March 18, 2023 - National Awkward Moments Day | National Sloppy Joe Day

Welcome to March 18th, 2023 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate awkward slips and sloppy sandwiches. In 2011, Real Madrid won the Copa del Rey, Spain’s national pro soccer competition. For Spanish teams, this is on par with the Big Game or World Series. So of course fans in Madrid came out in massive numbers to celebrate. As the victory parade rolled through the city, players waved and took turns showing off the trophy. Until it got to defenseman Sergio Ramos. Who dropped it. Ramos was standing on top of a bus, holding the trophy overhead. It slipped from his hands and it crashed to the ground. Which was bad enough, but then the bus ran over it. Oops. On National Awkward Moments Day, embrace the unintended faux pas of life and be grateful that tens of millions aren’t watching you do it. A version of the sloppy joe was served at a greasy spoon diner in Sioux City, Iowa in the 1920s. They called it the steamed hamburger, which was ground beef served loose on a bun with grilled onions, pickles, ketchup and mustard. But it was a Key West bar that named this loose meat sandwich. For this we can thank none other than Ernest Hemingway, who encouraged the bar owner to rename the place after Joe, a sloppy Havana bar keeper. Joe’s place in Cuba also served a loose meat sandwich, but the American owner knew a good name when she saw it. Today more than 50,000 sandwiches are sold each year at the Sloppy Joe’s bar in Key West, Florida. Of course you can always whip one up at home on National Sloppy Joe Day. No shoes, no shirt, no problem. I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson. Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices