Thoughts about New Year's Eve

     Shortly before the year 2011 began, I turned 40. I say this simply because that may be affecting my reflections on New Year's Eve. I'm actually kind of mad about it. Not the holiday itself. Frankly, it's just a day on the calendar any more and a reminder of the fleeting passage of time. But I digress. What I'm mad about is that New York seems to have somehow managed to corner the market on it here in America. Times Square, the ball drop, Dick Clark, the whole nine yards. And it's not right. This party gets televised via NBC & all its affliate stations throughout the nation. Which would be fine except only a small portion of the country is ringing in the New Year at EDT/EST (whichever it is). 3/4 of the country still has an hour, two hours, or three hours yet to go before the new year starts. Yet, we're force-fed this program like New York City and the east coast own the holiday celebration rights.
     There are major cities in the other 3 time zones, as big as NYC or very close to it. There are also other television networks that even people without cable can access (so no relying on CNN or other cable channel) that could take on the challenge of televising a celebration in these 3 zones. Hollywood celebrities, bands, stars and starlets, etc etc could all join in the ones that they wanted to (or paid them most, whichever) and those of us in the  remaining portion of the country not located in Eastern time zone could ring in the new year, watch a ball drop if that's what was decided (more in a bit on that), and do it all at the time that's accurate for us.
     Don't get me wrong. I grew up watching the Times Square ball drop with Dick Clark. I always looked forward to it. It was wonderful. But it was always an hour early for me. Still is. But as I've gotten older, the ball drop has lost some of its luster. Some of it comes from just being older. But I think the majority of my apathy towards it stems from what I've already said: NYC and the rest of the country act like it's the only place to celebrate, like they've somehow come to OWN the holiday. That, and like most of the other holidays, it's become a major marketing campaign.
     Why don't any of the other TV stations and cities rally together and help take back New Year's Eve in the other time zones? For Central time, get Chicago or the Twin Cities to set something up. For Mountain time, Phoenix AZ would work, and it might be fun to see a party in a 'desert' locale for New Year's. For Pacific: there's many choices. Pick one. Then, decide which station besides NBC or CNN is going to televise the festivities. Sign up celebrities, bands, etc. Maybe a parade. As for the countdown, does it have to be a ball drop? How about a mass balloon release, with single balloons being released during the countdown until the mass one at midnight? Messages could even be attached to the balloons. Make it a school project for the state or something. Or, if balloons won't do, instead of a big, lit up ball dropping down the side of a building, how about a hologram or something similar of Father Time? He could be an old man at the top who slowly gets younger as he lowers to the ground until he becomes the baby New Year? With all the CGI stuff available today, that shouldn't be too hard to get on some sort of long screen on the side of a building somewhere. ABC, CBS, and PTV (Public Television) or some other station could divvy up the other 3 time zones. The commercial aspects of it could be phenomenal money makers for the stations. Tourism to the host cities would increase, if only temporarily. And it would destroy the monopoly NBC and NYC seem to have managed to create on the whole celebration.
     Why should the majority of the country be subject to Eastern time for a televised broadcast of New Year's celebration and countdown? If it's because the capitol of our country happens to be there, that's no excuse. Big deal. It's just plain dumb luck that our country is large enough to have 4 time zones and our capitol is located where it is. It could just as easily have ended up in Mississippi, Idaho, or Oregon. Pure chance. So again I ask why? Tradition? Again, big deal. It'd still be televised for those who really wanted to stick to the tradition of watching the NYC thing. If it changed though, at least we'd have a choice and we wouldn't be stuck with a New Year's Eve party that starts the new year off for us long before it's actually the new year for us. Just sayin'.