Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe PARTY HARDY The Boston Herald has suggested to its readers that they "call in sick if (they) have to" so they don't miss Tuesday's welcome-home celebration for the Super Bowl champ New England Patriots. Advertisement The festivities officially begin at noon (EST) Tuesday on City Hall Plaza. The Patriots will be treated to a parade through downtown Boston followed by a rally at the plaza hosted by Mayor Thomas M. Menino in front of thousands of happy Pats fans. The team will promenade down Boylston Street beginning at Copley Square, then proceed left onto Tremont Street, make a right on Court Street and cruise down the home stretch, Congress Street, before adjourning at City Hall Plaza. The Pats scored a last-minute field goal Sunday to beat the St. Louis Rams, 20-17. THINGS WE DON'T UNDERSTAND Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris may now have one of the most recognizable faces in American politics. She reports that a group of visiting parliamentarians from Mongolia recently attended a meeting of the state Cabinet, interrupting a round of introductions to exclaim, "We know you! CNN!" The Republican Harris currently is in the midst of preparing a campaign for a Florida congressional seat. Advertisement (From UPI Capital Comment) NEWS OF OTHER LIFE FORMS Britney Spears was Super Bowl XXXVI's MVP, according to TiVo subscribers. The company says those TiVo households who watched the football championship game used the pause or replay feature an average of 44 times during the broadcast. Replaying commercials turned out to be the most common usage, with Spears' Pepsi spots the most popular. In fact, her two ads top the TiVo subscribers' list of replayed commercials. The Cadillac CTS ad, Bud Light's "Robot Wars" and the trailer for the upcoming movie "Collateral Damage" round out the top five. TODAY'S SIGN THE WORLD IS ENDING Texas A&M's 90-year bonfire tradition will not resume in 2002 because of safety, cost and legal liability issues. That's according to school President Ray Bowen, who said liability coverage alone for students and staff building the bonfire would've run $425,000 a year. The tradition was put on hold after a 55-foot-tall stack of logs collapsed Nov. 18, 1999, during construction -- killing a dozen Aggies and injuring 27 more. The huge bonfire was burned each year at the pep rally that precedes the Aggies football game with the University of Texas. Advertisement Bowen urged students in the future to create a new tradition at Texas A&M. AND FINALLY, TODAY'S UPLIFTING STORY The Winter Garden of the World Financial Center is the first of the half-a-dozen buildings destroyed or heavily damaged by the Sept. 11 Twin Tower terrorist attacks being rebuilt. The Winter Garden was the city's largest glass-enclosed space, in the grand tradition of London's 19th century Crystal Palace. The many-paneled splendor of its barrel-vaulted atrium and its supporting steel structure was severely damaged when the twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed -- showering the structure with tons of debris. Engineers have found the damage is not irreparable -- although some supporting columns were destroyed, the spectacular marble staircase ripped apart, the fan-lighted façade facing the Hudson River twisted, and 70 percent of the glass skin of the atrium destroyed. A $50 million rebuilding effort already has begun with next September as the target date for completion.
