Sit down, it’s a joke! Those who know me best must be thinking, “Seriously, Al in Vermont! Did Hell freeze over?” Yah, I don’t think so and this week displayed yet another reason why we should trade Vermont to Canada–or perhaps even more suitable, a Middle Eastern Islamic “Republic” (sic). The City of Burlington, VT is in crisis; they cannot decide if they want the cable network Al Jazeera English on their system.

Want the details? Burlington was the first of only three markets that have agreed to carry the offshoot of the controversial international Arab news network. The other two markets, by the way, are Washington D.C. (of course, no surprise there, it’s probably how our government gets its intelligence) and Toledo, Ohio. What the hell were THEY thinking?

After several weeks, the Burlington Telecom system (which is city owned and reaches less than 3,000 subscribers) decided to drop the channel. Holy crap, Champy has come out of the water! The Mayor demanded the people have their say. Two separate forums concluded overwhelmingly that the station should go away.

One can only hope that common sense will prevail in the Socialist State of Vermont…but don’t count on it. Remember, this is a state that has a self-described Socialist as a United States Senator.

Unless you have been under a rock, you now know that the Boston Celtics have won the NBA Championship and thus will be hanging a 17th banner in the rafters of the Boston Garden. (I refuse to call the place some bank name.)

It was a sweet victory because we beat the highlight reel LA Lakers and Jack Nicholson and the league MVP Kobe. It once again proves the adage that one great player can carry a team for a while but not forever.

Red Auerbach is upstairs smoking a long cigar and laughing and grinning that Phil Jackson did not break the record they share of nine championships each.

If Boston is not Title Town USA, http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/titletown/index, I don’t know who could be. I mean the Sox, the Patriots and now the Celtics. In the New Millennium we have won more Championships than any other city by far.

For those of us old enough to remember Bird, McHale and Parish, as well as Russell and Cousy, it was and still is a great week.

As Wavelength Marketing, LLC discusses, now is the time to be more aggressive with marketing. I share this piece with you, as I have not read as well a reasoned discussion of how to counter a soft economy in many years.

It talks about common sense. And that now is the time when advertising mediums are not cluttered with fat and happy, “doing gang busters,” companies. And what that gives other companies is the ability to stand out in a much smaller crowd.

Sadly, too many advertisers (yes, this includes some of my clients) choose to cut back their marketing when the opposite action is what should happen. It is too easy for the inexperienced to assume that cutting money from a stretched budget is the best way to manage expenses when times are tough. These folks just plain do not understand marketing 101. You cannot sell products and services if you cannot get your message out.

Why does this make so much sense when we read it, but the opposite action is what happens in a soft economy? Simple–it’s fear! Toss in a little CYA (don’t make me explain that) and you can understand the ease with which companies quickly take the scalpel to the marketing budget. Hey, you know all those MBA’s learned about numbers and processes not the art of real marketing.

Cut your budgets at your peril. The world is full of companies who when threatened by a slow economy did the counter-intuitive thing and spent the money. Can anyone say Apple?