"Windy City" is wrong on NBC's TODAY show

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

   Yes, one more time, the New York Sun Charles A. Dana "Windy City" myth.  I'm trying to have the NEW YORK SUN do a daily column on this.  IT NEVER ENDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    The following is from LEXIS-NEXIS...The TODAY show had our Allan Metcalf on recently.  Granted, anything after that would be downhill, but still...



Copyright 2002 National Broadcasting Co. Inc.
NBC News Transcripts


SHOW: Today (7:00 AM ET) - NBC


November 26, 2002 Tuesday

LENGTH: 597 words

HEADLINE: Weather report

ANCHORS: KATIE COURIC; MATT LAUER

REPORTERS: AL ROKER; MIKE LEONARD

BODY:
KATIE COURIC, co-host:

Anyway, we're going to switch gears and head to Chicago and get a check of the weather from Al.

What's going on there, Al?

AL ROKER reporting:

Well, Katie, I'll tell you it's Chicago--it's actually not bad right now, about 24 degrees here, downtown Chicago. Winds aren't too bad. And we always talk about Chicago and the windy city. Well, with us is one of Chicago's favorite sons, Mr. Mike Leonard. Mike, good to see you.

MIKE LEONARD reporting:

Hello, Al. How are you?

ROKER: A lot of people don't know outside of the country that you live here?

LEONARD: About 20 miles north of Chicago. I often just come into the city in the early morning to stand around.

ROKER: So you do that?

LEONARD: Yeah.

ROKER: And it just so happened that we were here.

LEONARD: Get out of my bed early--you were.

ROKER: It kind of worked out pretty well. And the interesting thing is we talk about Chicago being the Windy City, but it's not that windy?

LEONARD: No, actually, really it's not that windy. I mean, it's not even in, like, the top 10. I think it's, like, 21st. The reason it's the Windy City is back in the late 1800s they were doing something, they were trying to get a world's fair here.

ROKER: Mm-hmm.

LEONARD: And a New York columnist was tired of Chicago politicians talking about it and said that, 'Oh, I'm tired of all that windy stuff coming from Chicago,' meaning...

ROKER: Right.

LEONARD: ...talk.

ROKER: Now, I mean, downtown Chicago is very, very unique. I mean, in that you've got layers, you got levels. I mean, like, I know they're about to open--re-open lower Whacker Drive, which is a great name. And they're going to restage a--a Blues Brothers car chase down here.

LEONARD: Yeah.

ROKER: They're all very excited about that. This is--this is--really is a unique town with a--with a river running through the middle of it.

LEONARD: That runs backwards, too.

ROKER: Yeah.

LEONARD: Did you know that?

ROKER: I did not know that.

LEONARD: The river goes backwards. I think, it's the only one in the US. They--they--goes--goes the other way for some sanitary reasons. But it's a cool city because it's easy to get around...

ROKER: Uh-huh.

LEONARD: ...it's clean, it's friendly. It's a city of neighborhoods and, you know, it's been very, very comfortable for all of us to live here.

ROKER: In your--your estimation, what's the one thing that we around the rest of the country don't know about Chicago?

LEONARD: People think it's colder than it is.

ROKER: Mm-hmm.

LEONARD: And--and the windy thing, like that.

ROKER: Right.

LEONARD: But I think it's friendliness.

ROKER: Yeah.

LEONARD: People are very, very friendly, yeah.

ROKER: They are very friendly.

You are a friendly people.

(Crowd cheers)

ROKER: They're a friendly people. And we're having a wonderful time.

Mike Leonard, thank you very much.

LEONARD: Thanks, Al. Nice seeing you again.

ROKER: And nice hat thing.

LEONARD: Thank you.

ROKER: That was very nice. All right.

LEONARD: Intellectual, right?

ROKER: That's what's going on around the country, here's what's happening in your neck of the woods.

(Weather follows)

ROKER: And we want to thank our friends from WMAQ. Their local weather guy, Ed Kearn, is doing the weather right now on WMAQ. We're doing it at the same time.

Now let's go back to you, Matt.

MATT LAUER, co-host:

All right, Al. Thank you very much.

Coming up next, George Clooney. He's not so cute. Right after these messages.

COURIC: I don't know, Matt.

LOAD-DATE: November 27, 2002