Off Main Street: raining on our T.O. parade
The offbeat side of the news
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Syndicated sports radio talk show host Jim Rome had some sage advice for Buffalo Bills fans Tuesday: Prepare for disappointment. Rome devoted the top of his radio show to Bills fans who harbor hopes that wide receiver Terrell Owens—the talented but sometimes destructive NFL diva— will resurrect the Bills as a competitive, playoff-caliber team.
“We’ve seen this movie before,” he said.
Three times, in fact. The movies always start out well, he reminded Buffalo, but there were no happy endings in San Francisco, Philadelphia and Dallas.
T.O. is undeserving of the red-carpet treatment that the city has laid out for him, he said. “And since you gave him the key to the city, you better be ready to change the locks and throw down a restraining order.”
On the upside, he said, Owens has Rome talking about the Bills in May, and VH-1 is here filming a T.O. reality TV show. Maybe that’s worth the price Bills fans will be paying later.
Kevin O’Connell for guv
Local Republican Party honchos seem to have the same lust for Channel 2 on-air types that the “Sex and the City” gals have for designer shoes: They just have to have them.
Veteran reporter Lynne Dixon announced this week she is leaving WGRZ-TV to run as the GOP candidate for a County Legislature seat from Hamburg.
Last weekend, Kevin Hardwick, a Canisius College prof who appears frequently on Channel 2 as a commentator, revealed he’s also a Republican County Legislature candidate.
In years past, the GOP approached both anchor Scott Levin and reporter Stefan Mychajliw about running for office. Both declined.
Further, Channel 2’s Scott Brown worked in Erie County Hall under Democratic County Executive Dennis Gorski.
What’s going on? Will the station change its slogan to “2 on Your Side: If that side happens to be the public payroll?” Lynne, we hope you get to keep your red coat.
A Wolf, and a mensch
Monday’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer”—the CNN program that is all Wolf, all the time—wrapped up with Blitzer’s look at the best news photos from around the world.
That day’s “Hot Shots” included a West Bank heat wave, a Pakistani refugee camp and the arrival at the White House of the Israeli prime minister.
The segment concluded with photos of Wolf at St. Bonaventure University, where he gave the commencement address and received an honorary degree last weekend.
Blitzer said the school’s graduating class received some words of wisdom Sunday—“At least I’d like to think so.”
The Kenmore West and University at Buffalo graduate added he was thrilled to be back in Western New York and lavished praise on Bona.
School officials loved the CNN shoutout, and said Blitzer couldn’t have been more gracious during a long day of traveling and meeting with people.
He even called Emily Sinsabaugh, the vice president for university relations, after the show to make sure she saw it.
Stroking our ego
If the poor economy and increased gas prices have you thinking of not traveling far this summer, try exploring the city generating considerable downstate word-of-mouth: Buffalo.
Yeah. Buffalo. This past week, the Queen City was held up as a summertime destination in the New York Post (“Rust Belt jewel-in-the-rough”) and New York Times travel section (“getting buzz for creative types . . . on the radar of art aficionados for decades”).
The Darwin Martin Complex restoration was celebrated in The Wall Street Journal, along with other cultural assets (“Buffalo’s citizens already have a lot to be proud of”). And New York Magazine in March trumpeted Buffalo (“in the midst of a renaissance of sorts”).
The Toronto Star chimed in last Saturday with a review of the Albright-Knox’s “Action/Abstraction” exhibition (“World class, and it’s not Toronto”).
Maybe the new marketing slogan should be “Buffalo. It’s not California.”
Written by Stephen T. Watson with contributions from Sandra Tan and Mark Sommer. offmain@buffnews.com
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