The end of 2007 leaves me feeling strangely indifferent.
It wasn’t a bad year, it wasn’t a great year. It was…a year.

First and foremost: My family and friends are healthy, and so am I. I hope you are too.
Funny how that moves right to the top of the list as the years go by.

And with the passing of another year, I can’t help but think of two observations made by my mother.
She is not one of those mothers who is full of advice, whether it be good, bad, or ignored.
But she will say she can’t believe how quickly time has passed, and she wishes she and my father “did more.”

At 55, I can’t believe how quickly time has passed either.
And in 2008, I can do better. I can do more. Otherwise, what’s the point?

Time to stop looking in the rear view mirror.
Let’s click on the brights and hit the gas for 2008.

"C'mon people now, smile on your brother, ev'rybody get together, try and love one another right now."--"Get Together," The Youngbloods, 1967.

"We have taken this extraordinary step because it is in the best interest of our fans," says NFL commissioner Roger Goodell (right).

Wow. What a guy! NFL Commish Roger Goodell cares about ME, a fan.
I get to see the “historic” Pats-Giants game after all on a free, over-the-air network, NBC (and CBS and the not-so-free cable NFL Network).

Actually, I HAVE The NFL Network. And I’ve never seen it. It’s channel one-hundred-something.

The NFL has pretty firmly established over the years that it will do what’s in the best interest of the NFL.
(Remember, Bob Kraft aside, the NFL did NOT want the Patriots in Hartford. No way, no how.)
By sharing the broadcast with NBC and CBS, they will show the nation their NFL Network product, which may be good or bad, depending on how you feel about Bryant Gumbel’s play-by-play.

But I suspect Goodell was most moved by a letter he received from two fans who just happen to be members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Senators Leahy of Vermont and Specter of Pennsylvania suggested that the NFL's antitrust exemption might have to be reconsidered.
Said Leahy after Goodell caved, "I think it was a smart move on their part."

Antitrust exemption. Now THAT’S in the best interest of the NFL.
To borrow an old slogan from the NBA, you might call it fan-tastic.

A little more than a year before television must go digital.
February 17, 2009.
Me? HD ready? AGGGGGH!

So 2008 should be the year to get my teeth straightened and whitened, and get those hair transplants, right?

Hee hee. Ha Ha. GUFFAW GUFFAW.

Not gonna happen.
But I promise to keep those annoying little hairs that grow out of my ears and on my nose trimmed.
I know, so much more than you needed to know.

My favorite headline on our website:

SPEARS’ MOM DELAYS PARENTING BOOK RELEASE

Oh gee, why? Because her eldest daughter has gone from Pop Princess to Slut Queen?
Or because her youngest moneymaker got knocked up at 16?

The book is called “Pop Culture Mom: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World.”

And get this: it was to be published by Thomas Nelson, Inc. a Christian book publisher that claims to be the world’s largest publisher of Bibles in English.
So who do you think really pulled the plug: the proud mom (above), or the world’s largest publisher of Bibles in English?

Let me suggest shopping the book to a different publisher with an alternative title.
How about: “Call Me Ma: How I’d Die of Embarrassment If I Had Any Brains.”

With America’s seemingly endless fascination with celebrity, notoriety, and (ideally, of course) a combination of both, Jeffrey Dahmer would have come out with a cookbook by now had he survived a prison beating.
Maybe we can look forward to a literary effort by Roger Clemens called “Pitching for the Truth.”

Role models?
If they are, we're in big trouble.

AND IT'S FOR SALE!


It was inevitable that the naming rights to the Hartford Civic Center would be sold sooner or later. Turned out to be later…to XL Insurance. The XL Center.



Not exactly Travelers (“Hey, let’s take in a game at The Umbrella!”).

But we’ll get used to it (“Hey, let’s take in a game at the Extra Large!”).


The Worcester Centrum is now the DCU Center. (That’s Digital Federal Credit Union, but you can’t do FOUR letters and make it sound good.)
The Springfield Civic Center is now the MassMutual Center. (A solid enough name with local flavor.)
The Providence Civic Center is now the Dunkin Donuts Center. (Well, at least that’s ONE thing Hartford has over Providence.)

Selling naming rights is a real moneymaker, so to pad the retirement fund, I’m thinking of putting my name up for bid.

I can guarantee my name will be on the screen twice during each newscast, and if I grease the palm of the right director, it can appear more often.

There, for everyone to see, can be “(Your Company) Brooks.”
Borders Books Brooks
Burger King Brooks
G.E. Brooks

You get the idea. I haven’t run this by management yet, but when we work out the profit sharing numbers, I think it’ll fly.
New sources of revenue in tough economic times.

That’s what it’s all about, baby, and I’m a team player.

I know this is a little late, but my fingers just thawed out.

Thanks to all of you who took time to donate to our “Joy of Sharing” campaign on Saturday.
Money’s tight…so is shopping time after the first storm…and it was bitterly cold.
But you still came out by the dozens, and helped fill up a truck with toys. (And really good stuff, too, I might add.)
We literally could not cram another toy in the back of the truck. We had to fill up the cab, too.

One thing I noticed this year: more parents who said they wanted their kids to learn the true meaning of sharing with those who don’t have as much as they do.
And more kids who "got it."

That post-vacation glow didn’t slowly fade away.
It was beaten out of me. Like taking a juiced-up Roger Clemens fastball off the side of the head. (But that’s a subject for another day.)

I was one of the lucky thousands to spend hour after hour on I-84 during Thursday’s storm.
My commute is usually 20-25 minutes.
I left the house at 12:45 for a 4pm newscast. I got to the station at 3:58 for that 4pm newscast. Hands down, my worst commute ever.

Ahhh...that's better.

Still have that post-vacation glow.
It’s not the tan, it’s the attitude. Or lack of one. I didn’t even complain about the Britney Spears story in the 5:30 news on Wednesday.
That, of course, will change. Probably soon. Like during the Thursday snowstorm.

The reason I have that post-vacation glow is that it was an awfully good vacation, thanks to the Dearly Beloved.
As a flight attendant, she calls on her own knowledge of the destination, the word of others she trusts, and a lot of research. She’s particularly fond of tripadvisor.com as a tool for looking into hotels and resorts.

We are incredibly lucky that her job affords us the travel benefits it does (and she earns each and every one of them), and we use them as often as we can. We are also incredibly lucky that we can afford to stay at some lovely places, and this time, she really hit the jackpot.

We sampled the Riviera Maya in Mexico. We hadn’t been there since Cancun was a brand new resort town in the early 80s. Cancun has developed a well-deserved reputation as a party town for kids on spring break. It is now huge, and probably over-developed, though I’m sure that won’t stop even more development. Still, we stayed at a nice place and had a good time. The fresh fish was fabulous, especially when washed down with a nice Pinot Grigio. (I can drink white wine now that I’ve discovered Nexium, the greatest drug ever invented.)

From Cancun, we moved about 30 miles south to Puerto Morelos. Before I left, I saw a Corona beer commercial and thought, “wouldn’t that be soooo nice.”
We found the Corona beer commercial in Puerto Morelos. A quiet, gorgeous place called Ceiba Del Mar. Pricey, but the Dearly Beloved got a great deal. The only thing missing from the Corona beer commercial was the Corona beer. They serve Modelo. Good enough. If you have the time and the means, you may want to put this place on your travel wish list.

So that’s why I have this post-vacation glow. I’m hoping to hang on to it from the time I fill up the snowblower in the morning, until I brush the car off after the 11pm news.

Any time spent away in the cold weather months is time well spent, especially when they’re spent in warmer climes.

Speaking of spending, charging for using the internet has clearly replaced telephones as the new money maker for hotels. Most people don’t need to pay outrageous room phone charges anymore, because they have cell phones. But it’ll cost you to use your laptop in your room. At one place we stayed, it was $25/day. I didn’t need to be in touch THAT badly. At the other place, it was free, when it worked. Which was most often.

Other random thoughts and observations in the course of our travels: on the plane, I looked at the monitor, and saw Richard Lewis, lately of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
But it couldn’t have been an episode of “Curb” because, after all, it’s a commercial airline flight. Turned out it was an episode of “7th Heaven.” Richard Lewis on “7th Heaven?” REALLY, RICHARD??? I know it’s a paycheck, but what’s next, James Gandolfini guesting on “Gossip Girl?”

The airport design was ingenious. Perhaps even designed by my wife. You HAD to walk through the duty-free shop after clearing security. She shopped; I browsed. And I couldn’t help but notice that one of the celebrity endorsers for Tag Heuer watches is Steve McQueen. WHO DIED IN 1980.
Steve is in the company of the likes of Tiger, Brad, Uma and others who endorse this brand. I’ve never purchased anything based on a celebrity endorsement, I don’t know anyone who would, but I certainly can’t begin to imagine who would buy a watch based on the image of someone who’s been dead for 27 years!

Finally, I don’t know why, but I can’t seem to shake the thought of a tee shirt some guy was wearing at the airport. It said: “I thought I died and went to heaven at the Harriet Club BBQ. August 4, 2007.”
I will never (in public) wear a tee shirt that invites conversation.
I actually wanted to ask this guy, “What’s the Harriet Club?”…”What did they serve?”…”How was the BBQ sauce?”…but mostly, ”Did you really die, and come back as a moron with a really stupid tee shirt?”