With all apologies to (gag) Dave Matthews, my dream is to one day be watching ESPN late night, and be confronted with this:

“A must-have free DVD — the Cal Bears — capture the Bears incredible championship run with S-I’s famous writing and photography. Call now, free, with a paid subscription.”

I am so damn ready to overpay for a commemorative magazine and DVD.

So damn ready.

A lot of ‘Children of the 80s’, have memories of Rubik’s Cubes and hypercolor shirts, but it seems so childish. At least for people in my age group, those are infantile memories of primary school.

To relive the 15+ years of the Conan O’Brien show, and celebrate the ending of it, seems anachronistic, in a way.

Not just that ‘Late Night with Conan O’Brien’ has come to its conclusion. But, probably more worrisome, from a time-keeps-on-tickin’ perspective, is that the childish, relatable late night host has now taken on the mantle of the mainstream, target-audience-demo host of the freakin’ ‘Tonight Show.’

As I stare down the barrel of 31 years old, the conclusion of ‘Late Night’ with Conan means something, and I can’t help but think that it means I am old.

Excuse me?

First, and probably most importantly, the story the documentary is trying to tell is the blow-by-blow of what happened last year. How we got from a place where most people thought was good, or at least not FAIL, to where we are now.

But secondly, and the part that I find most audacious from Chicken Little johnny-come-latelies, is where were you 5 years ago. Oh, that’s right, at anti-Iraq war rallies. If the regulatory system was really a problem why didn’t we hear anything from you then?

Maybe you’ll stop reading, because these are from the so-called MSM (also known as THE ONLY PEOPLE ACTUALLY CALLING AND INTERVIEWING PEOPLE, SO MAYBE THEY AREN’T THE DEVIL)…but I highly recommend the following:

Vanity Fair on Bear Stearns failure.

Washington Post on what led to the housing collapse.

New Yorker on Ben Bernanke and the crisis. (most important reading of the past 2 years.)

New York Times on the role of regulatory agencies and quasi-governmental companies.

New York Times on Paulson’s transformation.

New York Times on the day the government started to privatize the banks.