Nobody asked me, but... By Ray Barrington News-Chronicle As always, with a nod to Jimmy Cannon, nobody asked me, but ... The design of the proposed Washington and Walnut tower is very nice, but does it remind anybody else of the tower from "Shrek?" Recent comments on the FCC loosening of ownership restrictions brought some comments, including an interesting one from a former News-Chronicle person: "At least WNCY, (Midwest Communications) runs a promo that says something about 'locally owned and operated.' So on their stations in Sheboygan and Wausau, do they say 'owned and operated by out-of-town carpetbaggers?'" And a column a few weeks ago about a new newspaper war in El Paso, Texas, brought an item from a former Grand Junction, Colo., resident who reports that a five-day-a-week free tabloid covering local news is taking on the local daily, owned by the Cox chain. Proof that we're paying too much attention to sports: Somebody called the newsroom the other day to inquire if it was true that a member of the Green Bay Packers got married. What's interesting is that it was a guy who called. Misery is leaving the office for five minutes late in the day and coming back to see the message light lit on the phone, just knowing it's the person whose call you've been waiting for all day. Am I the only person in the world who doesn't care about Laci Peterson, Sammy Sosa, monkeypox, Hillary Clinton, the Incredible Hulk or who the Dixie Chicks have been feuding with? Every time from now on that I see Bill O'Reilly, Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Geraldo Rivera or Michael Savage, I'll miss David Brinkley all the more. A Brinkley story somebody sent me: At NBC's Washington office, somebody put a sign in the men's room saying "Please do not throw cigarette butts in the urinals." Underneath it, in Brinkley's handwriting, was an addition: "It makes them soggy and hard to light." The County Board blew a chance at history Wednesday night with the Green Bay Packers lease of Ray Nitschke Field. The county is increasing the rent by $5,000 a year. It should have increased the rent by $1,000 annually for each game the Packers lose the previous year. Now, that's an incentive plan! Having to cover the Green Bay Water Commission and the Central Brown County Water Authority as they move, as slowly as the Fox River in January, toward an agreement lends a new meaning to the term "water torture." I had fallen away from it for a while, but the more I'm watching it again, the more I believe "The Simpsons" is the best-written show on TV. Mayor Jim Schmitt's "Kids Day" is a great idea, but if he really wanted to deal with children, he should have stayed on the County Board. A couple of weeks ago, we wrote about the possibility of WGBA-TV Channel 26 being gobbled up by a Giant American National Newspaper Entity Tasting Takeovers. (You do the acronym.) So what do we get this week? A copy of "TV Business Confidential," an industry fax, suggesting said acronym is making bids for 26. We'll keep an eye on it. As some of you may know, this column completes in the Wisconsin Newspaper Association's annual contest. At the end of June, I have to pick three columns to submit for a possible award. All I know is, this week's probably won't be on the list. Barrington is a reporter for The News-Chronicle. His column appears here Fridays. Contact him via e-mail at [email protected] or call 432-2941