THE COMING OF 2025

The end and beginning of the year are a transition celebrated worldwide.   

• The first nation to celebrate New Year 2025 was Kiribati, at 5AM ET.  This is because the International Date Line where the day begins is in the Pacific Ocean.
• At 6AM ET came New Zealand.

• Then at 8AM ET, Sydney, Australia.  More than million watched, live.

• 10AM, Tokyo, Japan.

• 10AM ET, Seoul, South Korea.

• 11AM ET, Hong Kong.

• 11AM ET, Beijing, China.

• 11AM New York, Taipei, Taiwan, their tallest building, Taiwan 101.

• Midnight New York, Bangkok, Thailand.

• 3AM New York, Dubai, UAE, Burj Khalifa, tallest building in the world.

• 
  What are the final places to see the new year?
• Baker Island and Howland Island.  However, no one lives there.
• 6AM ET, American Samoa hits midnight.
• 5AM ET, Hawaii.
• 4AM ET, French Polynesia and Alaska.
• 3AM ET, the Pacific Coast of U.S. and Canada.

Maybe the most seen new year celebration occurs at Times Square in New York City.  The following list is from Time magazine:

• In the USA, maybe a million revelers pack Times Square, waiting for the ball to drop at midnight.  Another billion watch on TV.  
• We have a special interest this year because in the spring we spent five days in New York City at the Marriott Marquis, where our room faced that ball.

Ten surprising facts about that glowing orb drop:

• Dropping balls began in the 1800s, as this practice was used to signify time to sailors at sea.  First in Portsmouth, England, then Greenwich, which led to the Greenwich Mean time.  A timekeeping ball is still dropped there daily.
• The Times Square ball tradition began because of a fireworks ban in 1907, but was hardly noticed.

• 
  More recently, counting down a launch had to do with a bomb to be exploded, for the Doomsday Clock came to be in 1947.
• It's possible, not much was known about the Times Square drop until 1957 when a radio program brought it to nationwide attention.

• 
  To compete with Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians (watch their final performance in 1976--nice performance at Times Square if you like nostalgia), Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve began the countdown on TV from 1972, with Three Dog Night and George Carlin.  50 years of the program.

• 
  But crowds did not come until 1979.
• The ball today weighs more than a car, 11,875 pounds.

• 
  After New Year 2024, 200 sanitation workers took six hours to clean up close to 100,000 pounds of trash and confetti.
• The Marriott Marquis (our hotel) charges $15,000 for its Prime VIP Couple's Package, offering an open bar, dinner buffet, hors d'oeuvres, bottle of champagne and guaranteed seating next to floor-to-ceiling windows looking out onto Times Square.  We could have done this for the cost of the room, which in the Spring was around $500/night.
• 
  There are no portable restrooms in Times Square.  Solution?  Adult diapers.  No kidding.
• Pitbull unveiled the current ball on December 27.  He placed the final crystal on the ball.  Next year, there will be a brand new higher tech ball.
• Read the entire article for all of them.

This year’s main event will be presented by co-hosts actor Jonathan Bennett and interviewer Jeremy Hassell. It will feature musical performances from Mark Ambor, Mickey Guyton, Rita Ora, Carrie Underwood, and the Jonas Brothers. and more, per the Times Square website. Major broadcast networks will also be celebrating in Times Square, with ABC showing Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest and CNN hosting New Year’s Eve Live with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen.

In other parts of the world.

• In Brazil, revelers wear white and go to the beach.
• In Japan, Buddhist temples ring bells 108 times because there are that number of earthly desires.  Each strike removes one of them.

• 
  In  Denmark, they stand on chairs or couches to leap off when midnight hits.  Not to do so brings bad luck in the new year.
• Spaniards pop 12 grapes in their mouth

Shifting gears to sports.

It's here! Over the next 40 hours, sure to be filled with drama, the College Football Playoff field will shrink from eight teams to four. Here are the matchups:

Tonight: (6) Penn State vs. (3) Boise State (preview) Tomorrow: (5) Texas vs. (4) Arizona State (preview) Tomorrow: (8) Ohio State vs. (1) Oregon (preview) Tomorrow: (7) Notre Dame vs. (2) Georgia (preview)

Oregon is not favored to win the championship, but if it does, they will become the first 16-0 team in college football history.  The last time Ohio State lost twice to the same team in the same season was in 1894.

The PGA's first two tournaments will be held in Hawaii:

• The Sentry beginning Thursday, January 2 at the Kapalua Resort Plantation Course on Maui.
• The Sony Open at the Waialae Country Club in Honolulu from January 9.

Tiger Woods plans on playing more this year.  Below, Tiger and Charlie just came in second at the PNC Championship, with daughter Sam on the bag.

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