The rumors are true: The New Kids on the Block are reunited. They have an album coming out this summer and a tour slated for the fall.

I won't deny it - they look good.

I also won't deny that after consecutive days of not being able to get out of bed before 11:00am, I woke up at 8:00 this morning to watch them on the TODAY show.

Whatever gets me up, I say.

However, it was irritating, to say the least, that the interview was practically inaudible over the sounds of screaming fans. I'm no stranger to that, having been a teenybopper in my youth and attended my fair share of Hanson concerts. However, these were not teenyboppers, or even teenagers. Judging by the relative age of their fans in their heyday and the years that have passed since then, I would place the average age of the women in the crowd to be about thirty-two.

What in tarnation are thirty-two-year-old women doing SCREAMING at the top of their lungs in Rockefeller Plaza?

I can understand being excited. Incredulous. Starstuck. All the childhood memories of idol fantasy rushing back in one heartstopping moment as they emerged from behind the curtains. But. The screaming. Are we twelve? Have we no shame?

Have we no respect for the people sitting at home trying to hear anything that they're talking about?

This kind of makes me glad I wasn't around for Beatlemania. Well, in actuality I wasn't really around for NKOTB-mania either. I caught the tail end of it, and never went to any shows or watched any television performances. Probably also a good thing.

Hanson-mania was exhausting enough.