Media Day: It's Your Freedom, It's Your Press ...

This week, Media Day takes a moment to honor The Courier-Express, the venerable Buffalo morning paper that published its final editions 30 years ago today.

Steve Cichon, the news director at WBEN radio (though he should in no way be blamed for the blather that fill the spots between newscasts) and a former neighbor, scanned the entire A section of the final Courier-Express and posted it at staffannouncer.com, his site focusing on the history of Buffalo media.

At the time, future Pulitzer Prize winner and current Washington Post editorial cartoonist Tom Toles bid a wistful farewell to his first newspaper home.

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In more recent news, Bills CEO Russ Brandon insisted the team is not looking to add a second regular-season game in Toronto, which would mean fully 75 percent of the “home” schedule would be played in another country.

“We’re continuing those negotiations and we’re close to an agreement,” Brandon said. ”But the one thing that I will say is the report in the Buffalo News was not accurate. The one thing I want to make clear is we will not be playing multiple regular season games in Toronto.”

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Fleetingly a member of the Bills this summer, Vince Young has yet to find another job in the league, but has retained his knack for making headlines. This time, it’s not the former Heisman Trophy winner’s inability to harness his immense physical gifts that is newsworthy, but rather his apparentdifficulty with financial planning.

The degenerates at Kissing Suzy Kolber seem to find this funny. Because it is.

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This is a leftover from late last week, when a drone attack by Google’s flying spam-detection robots and/or government censors briefly silenced We Want Marangi and prevented its posting in a more timely fashion.

Former Courier-Express reporter Erik Brady -- a longtime USA Today staffer and host of excellent parties for Western New York media types whenever the Bills play in Washington – took this look at how NFLplayers view gay marriage in the aftermath of Minnesota punter Chris Kluwe’s blistering open letter to a stridently dopy Maryland state legislator.

"The tide is changing," Ayanbadejo said. He's noticed a shift in NFL locker rooms that he feels mirrors a shift in society. Some teammates used to call him gay when he advocated gay rights, he says; now they listen to him even when they don't agree. Many players who oppose same-sex marriage do so on religious grounds, he noted.

"I'm against it," New York Giants offensive tackle Will Beatty said. "It's just my religious background and, from what I understand from reading the Bible, it's a sin. I mean, we all have sins. No one's perfect. That doesn't mean I'm for sin."

Ayanbadejo respects the opinion but disagrees with it. "The disconnect is that religion is not law," he said. "And some guys have trouble seeing the difference."

(Extra thanks to Brady, whose Facebook post on the topic reminded me of the anniversary of the demise of the Courier-Express.)