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I know for sure that Patrick Hammer, the popular meteorologist KSTP-TV dropped in November 2013, didn't want to leave Minnesota. But he's going. To WGRZ, the Gannett station in Buffalo, N.Y.
"He's going to be the Dave Dahl of his [new] station. Nobody showed him any love in Minnesota and so Patrick had to move," said his former KSTP on-air pal and now the man behind "The Rusty Gatenby Review." Gatenby said that Hammer's charming fill-in work at KARE 11 got that station's phone ringing but it didn't have an opening so news director Jane Helmke put out the word that somebody should hire Hammer.
"People really did respond to him positively," Helmke told me Wednesday. "Certainly I called a couple people."
Hammer tweeted the news on Thursday morning. "Totally fired up. My wife and family wanted to be buried in blue sky. So Buffalo it is. Not goodbye just a new hello."
I know Hammer did not want to leave this area because he previously told me, "I'm hoping to stay here. My family loves it here."
Jenner and Wheaties
Bruce Jenner has the same taste buds as Caitlyn Jenner, and General Mills probably doesn't want to offend fans of either. But a story posted Monday by TMZ about General Mills, on whose Wheaties boxes Bruce has appeared, left a peculiar aftertaste.
The Olympic decathlon icon, in case you've been in a coma, has announced that he is transgender and has become Caitlyn. When TMZ contacted General Mills for a reaction to Caitlyn's debut in the latest issue of Vanity Fair, the TV show/website was told, "Bruce Jenner continues to be a respected member of Team Wheaties." When TMZ.com "followed up by asking if they acknowledge the presence of Caitlyn, the response was short and to the point: 'We stand by our statement.' We were told General Mills has had its statement locked and loaded for a while. It's interesting the company rolled out the box cover in 2012 for a retro campaign celebrating the achievements of Olympic gold medalists, which also included the images of Muhammad Ali and Mary Lou Retton. We don't know if they will use Bruce's image in the future."
Tuesday I called General Mills to find out if its statement had been correctly conveyed by TMZ. The Golden Valley-based company's spokesman, Mike Siemienas, told me that the statement TMZ said was locked and loaded is one that was prepared after Jenner's interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer.
In the updated statement, Siemienas opened by noting that it "also addresses the petition to put Caitlyn on the box:
"Bruce Jenner has been a respected member of Team Wheaties and Caitlyn Jenner will continue to be. We always appreciate hearing from our consumers but, of course, we do not discuss our future marketing plans."
Featuring Caitlyn will be touchy for companies with whom Bruce has enjoyed marketing relationships. It would be a lot more controversial than a mixed-race kid enjoying Cheerios with parents of different races. But I could see this former Olympian swinging a golf club on a future box of Wheaties, even though golf is not a decathlon event.
On the lookout for Love
Kevin Love haters may finally enjoy some revenge for his ditching the Timberwolves for the Cavs.
Sports guys are speculating that LeBron James seems emotionally over Love, so to speak. There may or may not have been a chemistry issue between the all-but-in-name coach of the Cavs and the ex-Wolf before Love sustained a season-ending shoulder injury. (This Love is a strange dude who, while always affable on TMZ, seemed as unsatisfied on a winning team as a losing one.) Last week James was chattering about how the player who replaced Love, Tristan Thompson, should be a Cav his whole career. Humm. Without Love, the Cavs have done pretty well in the playoffs, and tonight they play the Warriors in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
Although Love has said he plans to play with the Cavs next season, if he's not on the bench cheering his team in the NBA Finals the way injured athletes usually do, the optics will speak loudly.
C.J. can be reached at cj@startribune.com and seen on Fox 9's "Buzz." E-mailers, please state a subject; "Hello" does not count.
