Courier Express

I heard that the Buffalo News building was to be sold. My heart sunk a little bit.

I recall being enamored with someday working as a sports columnist at the Buffalo News.

Got me thinking about the end days of the Courier Express, back in September of 1982.

As I grew up we often had both newspapers delivered to our home. My Dad favored the Courier Express, but I thought that the Buffalo News sports section was better, mainly because I read Larry Felser’s column immediately upon opening the paper.

And man, I got in trouble for not bringing the sports section back to the kitchen counter.

I didn’t just read the paper, I devoured it.

Every day.

I recall that there was great anxiety about the Courier Express going out of business because the Buffalo News would be the only source we had for information.

Sounds funny now, but given the false news we are now exposed to, perhaps we were better off back then.

A few years ago, I did a construction project at the Buffalo News building. It was impossible not to think of how much I had wanted to work at a newspaper.

Think Oscar Madison.

I’m still saddened by the loss of print news and the feeling of the paper in my hands as I sat at the kitchen table eating a bowl of Frosted Flakes.

Talking about a story or a column with my buddies or my Dad.

At that project, I found old editions of the News, and the Courier Express.

I sat at a table, in the offices where I should have worked in a perfect world, and I read the old papers from the late 70’s.

Cover to cover.

As if I were 14 years old again.

My kids NEVER held a newspaper.

And man, that makes me sad.