I'd start by wishing you all a wonderful new year, filled with new adventures, health, wealth and happiness, but my major resolution is to cut down on sarcasm, so that makes things awkward.
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Ah, what the hell, no doubt the no snacks, limited soft drink, and no hunch bets edicts have been broken as you read this.
Apart from a simple pill to thwart all forms of COVID, what does your average football fan need to have a happy new year?
"Some games to watch, Lowey," you answer curtly, and ain't that a fact. Even more so, believe me, if you're a columnist whose major brief is to analyse Jets games, just played, or upcoming.
With two recently postponed, and some grey clouds prominent on the horizon, (you may notice I have cunningly, or desperately if you prefer) used the turn of the year as an opportunity to head down an alternate path.
Whether you support the Jets, Mariners, even City or Victory (hang your heads), Liverpool, United, Chelsea, or Scunthorpe, the major event in world sport this year is undoubtedly the FIFA World Cup, to be staged in Qatar.
It is still in Qatar, isn't it? That wasn't a crazy, pre-COVID nightmare?
I digress, and there goes the sarcasm promise!
The diehards among the football fraternity will commit totally to the tournament no matter what, the less staunch supporter may not be so invested if the Socceroos don't qualify.
And to be honest, the national team is facing its biggest qualification test since that memorable night in Sydney in 2005.
On that occasion, they overcame the might of Uruguay, having to play the fifth-placed South American team, home and away, to advance.
The current squad sit currently in third place in their qualifying group.
The top two advance to the big dance automatically, behind Japan and Saudi Arabia.
They face both of those teams in their final four group-stage matches, and there is a massive amount at stake for the team, and the code in Australia, in coming months.
The team finishing third will have to navigate a path past the third-placed team from the other Asian group, before facing the fifth-placed team from South America.
You guessed it, our old friends Uruguay are looking quite likely to finish in that position.
Fortunately, everyone in that proud football nation will have forgotten the stinging pain of 2005. NOT!
A lot can happen in a few months, but that is not a road you want to travel. Few would argue that was Australia's best-ever squad, and if you're honest in reflection, we needed a fair few lucky breaks to draw the tie 1-1 on aggregate, before advancing on penalties.
The current Uruguayan team also features a couple of useful veterans in Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez, who can score a goal at a decent level.
I remember writing that I thought we could get a result in 2005 with the Hiddink factor, a chartered flight, and our best-ever team, but that given equal luck Uruguay would qualify eight or nine times out of 10.
A local radio personality queried that assessment, but I reckon it was very accurate, and I'm telling you our prospects of doing that in 2022 are comfortably slimmer than they were then.
The first-choice 11 in 2005-06 were all playing regularly in decent teams in the top leagues of Europe.
That is no longer the narrative.
Tim Cahill, at 24 years of age, was a substitute (a very effective one, of course), to give you an idea of the team's quality and depth.
All of which just highlights how much is riding on automatic qualification. Graham Arnold doesn't have the firepower or polish of the class of '05-06, but he has an organised and resilient group.
We wish them a happy and prosperous new year, and need to support them vociferously in the remaining home qualifiers.
There is a lot riding on it.
