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OFF MAIN STREET / THE OFFBEAT SIDE OF THE NEWS
Published on July 24, 2005
© The Buffalo News Inc.
Rumor control
Most of Washington buzzed with rumor and speculation Tuesday over who President Bush would nominate to the Supreme Court. Just before 5 p.m., the University at Buffalo news services office sent out an advisory containing expert commentary on Bush's selection. "Judge Edith Brown Clement is a safe choice for Bush," UB political scientist Mark Hurwitz said in the e-mail. "Bush gets a woman to replace (Justice Sandra Day) O'Connor, and a reliable conservative, who should be easily confirmed." Oops. Though Clement's name was zipping around cyberspace and on the airwaves Tuesday, Bush in the end tapped Buffalo native John G. Roberts. UB sent another e-mail Wednesday. "Unless there's a real problem with Roberts that we don't know about, he will be confirmed," Hurwitz said. Friends in high places Speaking of Roberts, even though he left this area after second grade, friends report that he remains a die-hard Buffalo Bills fan. Sen. Charles E. Schumer, a New York Democrat, said this week that Roberts' support of the Bills was the one "unequivocally great" quality about the nominee. "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" had a little fun with that observation, running a clip of Schumer's comment and noting Roberts' lack of a paper trail of opinions. "Ah, a Bills fan," Stewart said. "And, might I add, the one position of Roberts for which we do have a written record." The show then put up an altered photo of Roberts' head attached to a guy who had "Bills #1" painted on his bare chest. But seriously: If Roberts gets on the court, can he persuade his fellow justices to overturn the NFL's ruling in the Home Run Throwback Case? Eating as sport "Buffalo" Jim Reeves is putting his appetite on the line against 31 other contestants in what one news release calls "the most dramatic event in the history of competitive eating." It's the "Alka-Seltzer US Open of Competitive Eating," soon to air on ESPN, and the electrical engineer from Boston, N.Y., entered the grueling tournament. Reeves has competed at the National Buffalo Wing Festival and is ranked 11th in the world in the sport. He went up against No. 1 eater Takeru Kobayashi of Japan and No. 2 eater Sonya "the Black Widow" Thomas of Virginia, among others, in the tournament, which was taped for broadcast in three episodes starting Thursday. The five-round menu included cheese fries, spaghetti and chopped salad. Just thinking about it gives us indigestion. New to these parts Two people walking their dog in the Southern Tier town of Wayland were surprised to find a critter that isn't native to this part of the country: an alligator. Steuben County sheriff's deputies, working with animal control and SPCA officers, managed to corral the gator with moderate effort and no loss of digits. No charges were filed against the reptile, which declined to answer questions. "Obviously, somebody had it as a pet and let it go or it got away from him," Sheriff Dick Tweddell told Off Main. The alligator, which measures almost 4 feet in length, is now resting at the SPCA in Rochester, according to the Hornell Spectator newspaper, which ran a front-page story on the incident. Tweddell said he didn't think to keep the alligator in his department as a new crime-fighting tool. "I probably couldn't afford to feed it," he said. What's in a name? UB recently installed a new, multimillion-dollar super-computer cluster that researchers at the school nicknamed U2, after the famous Irish rock band. But that's only one of the nicknames that the rock-and-rollers at UB's Center for Computational Research have given to their valuable equipment. More than 100 pieces of computer equipment are named after superstars, including the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin and Janis Joplin. There's even a desktop computer named after pop star Michael Jackson. We can only imagine what's stored on that one. Written by Stephen T. Watson with a contribution from Dan Herbeck.<
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