The day's links

A few stories worth noting, particularly for those who like books and newspapers (there must be a few of you out there):

* Glenn Locke passed along this blog on the joys of publishing. The author has some very interesting sales figures for e-books vs. printed books. Obviously, "Rayzor's Edge" came out a little late to capitalize on this development part of the business. Then again, since my publisher went out of business, it wouldn't have mattered.

Most of the books I read won't be available electronically for years, but I can see it coming.

* Speaking of Glenn, he also sent a link to this site on really odd books. Nice to see "Rayzor's Edge" not appear here. I'm ready to read "A Cow Is Too Much Trouble in Los Angeles."

* Dave Kindred is always worth writing, and he compiled a list of dos and donts about sports journalism. There's some good advice there.

* Kindred mentioned the demise of the Washington Times sports section. I was late to the party when it came to hearing about that. Dan Daly has a nice tribute to the good work the paper did. I knew the late Dave Fay from the Times from my hockey days; he was one of the good guys.

Words matter...

Here's another reason to hate political talk shows these days, as if we needed them.

I was dial-hopping late Wednesday night when I tuned into Laura Ingraham's show. I've never heard it before, although I've seen her briefly on television a few times.

The subject of the day was health care -- surprise! More specifically, it was Nancy Pelosi's quote that "There has never been a more open process for any legislation."

Ingraham then went on and on about how this statement was a lie. This was repeated a few times, and posted on her Web site under "Lie of the Day" for emphasis.

Well. It struck me that Pelosi made a judgment about the process, and that Ingraham disagreed with Pelosi's assessment. OK, that is the right of the talk-show host.

However, there's a huge difference between "You're wrong" and "You're lying." The latter not only isn't accurate, but it turns up the volume on the discussion and makes it much less civil and much more personal.

Ingraham has other "lies" posted on her Web site. One is from President Obama on winning a Nobel prize: "I receive this honor with deep gratitude and great humility." Now, how would you know this is a lie without being a mind-reader? She could argue, rather successfully, that he didn't deserve the Peace Prize, but saying he's lying about being honored and humbled merely hurts that argument.

I'm only picking on Ingraham because I happened to hear her. Political analysts on the left also use this sort of logic. Heck, I've heard it come up in sports. One time Sabres coach Lindy Ruff made an opinionated statement about a player, and a reporter told me privately that he thought Ruff was lying -- when that was a giant leap to take under the circumstances.

But it seems to come up far more in politics, where commentators are desparate to be heard above the noise. No wonder liberals and conservatives can't get together on much at times. No one seems to speak English.

And mind your own business...

Nothing like taking a blowtorch to your credibility, Brit:



Why do I think Tiger, or anyone else, would respond with a strong "Mind your own business"? Or words to that effect?

Turn on the juice

The Buffalo Bills sure can make rooting for them a difficult experience.

Let's look (thankfully briefly) at the past year. The team's front office and coaching staff blew up the offensive line in the offseason, essentially starting over. Then the Bills installed a new, no-huddle offense that was almost guaranteed to confuse the rookies and newcomers on it, especially at first. As an added wrinkle, coach Dick Jauron fired his offensive coordinator on the eve of the season. Sure enough, it didn't work, and Jauron was fired in the middle of the season, which almost never works in football.

Yet, there seemed to be a silver lining. As I wrote in this space before, this was a pretty good year to be looking for a head coach. There were a variety of coaches with Super Bowl experience out in the marketplace. By making a decision on Jauron so early, the Bills guaranteed themselves a chance to talk to all of them earlier than most of the other teams in the league. It was no guarantee of success (ask Mike Shanahan about that), but at least the door was open.

The Bills also announced that they were going to hire a general manager to run the football operations. It was a chance to bring in some bright mind with a fresh perspective about how to revamp the entire operation and get off the treadmills of losing records. A bit of hope was in the air.

Some of the air came out of the hope balloon when the Bills announced they hired Buddy Nix as general manager. That's nothing against Nix. He's got a strong record in a variety of areas and learned from some good people. Besides, compared to the last guy in that job, he's a comparative younger at the age of 70.

But the search to fill that job was troubling. Apparently the Bills never talked seriously to anyone who worked outside of One Bills Drive, as John Guy was the only other person to be interviewed. That doesn't fill anyone with confidence that there will be change we can believe in, to coin a phrase.

Some of the glamour candidates don't appear to be interested in walking into Buffalo's head coaching job right now for one reason or another. Shanahan might regret not giving the Bills more consideration after a year or two of working for Redskins' owner Daniel Snyder, but that's another column.

We never know where the next great coach is coming from, of course, but at this point it looks as if the Bills only have one chance to hit a home run in the coaching search. That would be to hire Brian Billick.

You might remember Billick. He coached the Baltimore Ravens to a Super Bowl championship a while back. Billick was the offensive coordinator behind some great Minnesota teams, but after he jumped to Baltimore, the Ravens became famous for a punishing defense. You have to like someone who can work with the material at hand. He lost his job after a season in which he admitted he took on too much responsibility when he tried to be his own offensive coordinator for a full season.

Anyone who saw the HBO's series on the Ravens, "Hard Knocks," knows that Billick is an extremely smart man who you'd rather have on your side than against you. Besides, he has a college background in journalism, wrote a good book, and once appeared on "The Match Game." I can relate to anyone who knows the news business and game shows.

I'm no NFL Insider, as they say on ESPN, but unless I'm missing something Billick sure looks like he should be coaching somewhere in the NFL. Ron Rivera or Jim Harbaugh or whoever might be a great coach some day, but the Bills need some juice right now. Billick might be the one guy who can provide it right now.

Mall rat

Is it possible to suffer from trauma over a story closing in a shopping mall?

Maybe. The Borders Express in Eastern Hills Mall and in Boulevard Mall in suburban Buffalo are in the process of closing. The little stores in malls can't really compete with the superstores, like Barnes and Noble down the street in both cases.

In the case of the Eastern Hills store, the closing of the bookstore represents something of the end of an era for me. For as long as I've lived in Buffalo, I've been going to that bookstore. It used to be called Waldenbooks, but switched to BordersExpress fairly recently. I moved to Clarence in 1970, just as the mall was opening down the street. That's 40 years of shopping -- mostly for discount books, but sometimes for the full-price models. I think I bought most of the Bill James' Baseball Abstracts there.

All of this got me to thinking that there aren't many stores in a mall that can have any sort of pull of loyalty toward me, because I visit so few of them.

Let's take a look at the store directory for Boulevard Mall in Amherst:

4 Seasons Gifts by Flagtastic, 5-7-9, Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle, Aeropostale, American Greetings, Ann Taylor Loft, Art Design, Hair and Nails, AT&T Wireless, Auntie Anne's Soft Pretzels, Avon, Banana Republic, Bath and Body Works, Berrymoore Convenience, Bill Gray's, Blue Wireless, Bonefish Grill, Borders Express, Boulevard Bracelets, Boulevard Mall Bootery, Brookstone, Cajun Quarter, Carousel, Champs Sports, Charley's Grilled Subs, Charlotte Russe, Children's Place, China Max, Christopher and Banks, Claire's Accessories, Croc's Kiosk, Dakota Watch Co., Express, Express Men, Foot Locker, FootAction USA, Forever Candles, FYE, Game Stop, Gap, Gap Kids, Glamour Secrets, GNC Live Well, Gymboree, Hat World, Hollister Co, Hot Topic, House of Nacre, JC Penney, Johnny Rockets, Journeys, Justic, Kay Jewelers, Kids Foot Locker, Laux Sporting Goods, Littman Jewelers, M&T Bank, Macy's, Macy's Men's Store, MasterCuts, Max Rave, Men's Wearhouse, Michael's Arts and Crafts, Mrs. Field's Cookies, Naturalizer Shoes, New Age Creations, New York & Company, Northtown Auto, Pacific Sunwear, Payless ShoeSource, Perfume Hut, Pete's Greek Isles Express, Piercing Pagoda, Plumb Gold, Proactive Solutions, Pure Integrity Candles, Radio Shack, Sbarro, Sears, Shoe Dept., Simply Certificates, Sleep Number Store, Spencer Gifts, Sprint, Subway, Sunglass Hut, T Mobile, TGI Friday's, Taco Bell, Things Remembered, TT New York, Tuxedo Junction, Urban Behavior, Urban Kicks N Gear, Verizon FiOS, Verizon Wireless, Victoria's Secret, Yankee Candle, Yogen Fruz.

I know, it's a long list. But how many of them have I ever visited? It's much shorter.

The anchor stores, Macy's/Sears/Penney's, of course. The odd card was bought at American Greetings. Auntie Anne's, although their prices ahve gotten high. Bath and Body Works for the odd gift. Brookstone, to browse. Chili's, for lunch. Subway, for the odd meal. Verizon Wireless, to cancel my mother's phone. Tuxedo Junction, to be surprised how much it costs to rent a tux (easier just to buy one, which I did). FYE for the odd CD. Sbarro for pizza. Laux Sporting Goods for a Red Sox championship shirt. M&T Bank's ATM. I have bought a Simply Certificate once or twice. I've eaten in TGI Friday's. I had a gift certificate at Foot Locker once.

It's not a very long list. I'd bet you'd compile something of similar length, unless you buy women's shoes at a lot of different places.

No wonder a store closing is so tramatic -- it's one less place to visit when you feel the need to walk around the mall and window-shop.

In the spirit of the season

This is a good time of year to be charitable.

Therefore, let's say something good about Terrell Owens.

Remember all of the dire predictions about Owens? How he would ruin the Bills' chemistry simply by walking through the locker room? How he was an overpaid diva who would be complaining as soon as a pass was thrown elsewhere?

Let's settle up here. It hasn't happened. It's tough to know if he's been a model teammate behind closed doors, but based on an outside perception you'd have to say he hasn't been a problem child. Owens has shown up for every game, apparently worked hard in practice, and given some coaching to younger players after workouts.

That's not to say that the Bills acted correctly in signing Owens, at least in hindsight. The $6.5 million spent on Owens probably could have gone elsewhere -- yes, I'm thinking of the offensive line. He was something of a luxury that the Bills really couldn't afford at this stage. And he did take playing time away from young players like James Hardy and Steve Johnson; the Bills needed to know if those performers had any sort of future before going forward. We still don't know.

Still, you can't blame Owens for taking the money, especially since he probably wasn't going to get an offer like that from any other team. And he sold some t-shirts and jerseys around town.

My friends have joked that Owens may walk straight out of the stadium next week and head for a limo to the airport, littering the tunnel and parking lot with his equipment as he goes along. Owens only has had a few good moments in Buffalo this season, the touchdown against Miami topping the list, but he hasn't been a disaster.

But the dreary standards of the 2009 season, that counts for something.

AUDieu

Material on books usually pops up in my book review site. But that wouldn't be proper in this case.

My fingerprints can be found in portions of Suzanne Taylor's book on Memorial Auditorium, "AUDieu." So you think I'm not going to like it?

I didn't do that much for the book. A few quotes of mine pop up in the text, and my name appears in the credits and in the index. Even that much, though, is something of a thrill. I've been in a couple of book acknowledgements over the years, but never in an index. My name is even spelled right and everything.

This is an interesting idea for a book. For those of you who don't live in Western New York, it's difficult to describe what happened in the community as the Aud came down. It was something of a summer-long wake. People trickled down to the foot of Main Street, all to take a look at the place for one of the last times. And, of course, to ask for a rock. (Public disclosure: I've got one myself. But I'm not telling where it is.)

"AUDieu" can be split into two portions, essentially. The first half is about the Aud when it was a working building. There are plenty of good stories about what happened there, what it was like to work there, what it was like to sneak in (apparently everyone but me did so), etc. It's easy to tell this portion works well; most readers who went to the Aud will find themselves thinking of their own stories about the place. At least I did.

There are plenty of great pictures, too. John Boutet, who is the area's leading collector of sports memorabilia, allowed Taylor to take plenty of pictures of his material. There are many shots of ticket stubs and programs too.

The second half centers on the demolition, with several pictures of various parts of the building coming down. You still may recognize many of the scenes, despite the chaos around it. ("Say, I used to meet friends in the Beer Garden for the second intermission...")

There's one little feature of the book that I missed at first that is a very good one. The corners have a series of small photos of the Aud coming down, almost day by day. If you flip through the pages from front to back, you can watch the demolition from start to finish. Or, if you miss the place, go backwards and watch the Aud go back up.

About the only problem with the book is that Taylor and the publishing crew obviously didn't have much time to get it out. It missed the start of the holiday shopping season by about two weeks as it is. I found myself wondering why pictures of the demolition were placed in the front of the book at times, where they seemed out of place. And one more reading for fact-checking purposes probably would have cleared up a couple of minor issues.

Taylor also takes the unusual step of quoting herself for sections of the book, including using her own thoughts in breakout quotes. I can't say I've ever seen that before, and goes against my usual belief that history books usually should be written from a distance if they aren't autobiographies.

Still, that's a sign of how personally Taylor felt when the Aud came down. And that's exactly the audience (or if you prefer, AUD-ience) she's trying to reach. For those who feel that connection to the Olde Gray Lady of Main Street, "AUDieu" ought to keep the spirit alive.

(Learn more about this book.)