Don't Buy Blodget's Microsoft Bluster

("But I thought...) Never mind your logical thoughts. Logic has no place in talk and writing about Black Friday, where it is ancient perceptions that rule.

Look, most business news outlets have already run stories this year about how, with advanced discounting, the Christmas season is starting earlier than ever. This caused The Business Press Maven to crack wise that Black Friday will soon become the start of the Christmas season again ... only it'll be the one 13 months off, not one.

And as we saw last year, Black Friday is followed by too many other defining days to count, from Cyber-Monday to Last-Minute Saturday ... or whenever. Though I do not think we are headed for a good holiday season like I did last year, the problem with treating each of these days as central is that, as we saw last year, they can't help but disappoint. Because they are not central. Last year, each of these days passed in disappointing fashion ... and then we had a good year!

The Christmas season, in the end, is long and there is no one central day. But old canards die hard. Just ask The Associated Press, which started the week with this line: "And after Thanksgiving, as investors do every year, they'll be watching for hearty holiday spending by consumers on Black Friday..." Sources close to reality tell me that Black Friday can finally be declared nonsense.

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