It's my party and I'll sneeze if I want to

I’m not trolling for any sympathy, since I got to spend the whole week in New Orleans covering the buildup to the Super Bowl, but it hasn’t been all happy hours and fancy "Hurricane" drinks for this former party animal. The only party I got invited to was the media party last Tuesday night, and every fool with a credential gets invited to that.

Some of my friends got into the Rolling Stone (Magazine) party, which must have been rockin'. The Playboy and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit parties also are very hot tickets. I got into the S.I. party one year, but never got invited back -- probably because with all those super models, there just wasn't enough of me to go around.

Wouldn’t have mattered this year if I had been on everybody’s VIP list, because I spent most of the week with the worst head cold of my life. Got out of my hotel only a couple of times before the weekend and usually just to grab a bite to eat at the closest available restaurant.

On the brighter side, every night was a NyQuil VIP party, with me as the only guest. Almost expected to wake up to Drew Brees.