Because I am a total science nerd, and we science nerds finally found an event where we can hang out with the cool kids. (We are likely to have better viewers and know how to use them)
Bad news fatigue (Please, let us talk about ANYTHING besides world news)
plus it being an experience shared by most of the US (if you had clear weather in the US, you had a chance to view at least a partial eclipse).
( well, + science + rarity)