Pardon me if I come across too much like Andy Rooney, but do you ever just want to complain about things?

I'm far too young to be considered a crotchety old man, but some things just drive me bonkers. Like seeing Christmas merchandise in a store weeks before Halloween. I understand retailers are probably just giving the people what they want, but I don't think I'll ever be comfortable with the commercialization of a supposedly religious holiday.

Of course, we just had Sweetest Day this weekend, and I can't stand Hallmark holidays, either. Maybe it's just that after all these years as a Cub fan, I've decided to don't like celebrating anything.

I'm also annoyed with political advertising. The next gubernatorial election in Illinois is more than a year away, yet the primary campaign is in third gear. It's a fine time for us to watch same-party opponents blast each other and to take note of what they say, since the loser probably will support the winner when it comes time to actually decide who's in charge.

Not to mention how much money is spent producing advertisements full of mudslinging and half-truths, all for the chance to run a state so broke it makes Humpty-Dumpty look spotless. Could those resources be better allocated? Yes, yes they could.

I'm also fed up with political extremism from people who ought to know better. We spent the better part of eight years hearing people on the left complain about how George W. Bush was an insult to the Oval Office, and now the right is saying the same about Barack Obama. The funny part is both sides seem unable to comprehend how anyone could hold an opposing viewpoint.

On national issues, I tend to look at things from an isolated standpoint — not judge based on which party is advancing the cause. And yet I feel those of us in the middle are perceived as just being wishy-washy, when the truth is we're simply fed up with closed-minded loudmouths from both sides of the aisle controlling all the soapboxes.

Speaking of things that make me angry, I get mad when anger doesn't last. Case in point: Any morn, public figure or otherwise, who is standing up for Roman Polanski (who left America about 30 years ago to avoid being sentenced in the sexual assault of a 13-year-old-girl) ought to be ostracized simply for being an idiot. And that's the way public opinion was going for a time, until a shiny object came along to distract us.

That shiny object, of course, was the "weather balloon" involved in the hoax of the century last week, when we were led to believe a 6-year-old boy was trapped inside the balloon as it careened through the sky. Turns out, it was an elaborate scam concocted to help generate publicity for a potential reality TV show.

That episode, of course, gives people who despise reality TV a chance to sound their trumpet. Look, just because some nut-job in Colorado wants to exploit his family doesn't mean all reality television is worthless. Sure, it's generally low-brow entertainment, but so is professional football, and that's a billion-dollar industry.

Your average reality TV show thrives via cast members willing to exploit their own lives and insecurities just for the chance to be seen. Yet your average NFL team thrives with a roster of physical freaks largely oblivious to the long-term affects of subjecting your brain to "thousands of jarring blows that shake the brain from front to back and side to side, stretching and weakening and tearing the connections among nerve cells, and making the brain increasingly vulnerable to long-term damage."

That sentence is from "Football, dogfighting and brain damage," an excellent New Yorker piece by Malcolm Gladwell, which I found through ESPN.com's Bill Simmons via his Twitter feed. And I hate Twitter (not as much as political ads and Roman Polanski supporters), but I'm learning to accept it nonetheless.

Yes, most of these complaints are superficial. I have my family, and we have our health, and I wake up each day wondering only what and when I'm going to eat, not if or how. But sometimes blowing off a little steam makes you feel better about things ... or at least it makes other people angry, and then you're not alone.

• SCOTT T. HOLLAND is former associate editor of The Times but continues to contribute his column plus help with editing, writing and page design. He can be reached at scotth@mywebtimes.com.