August 10, 2004, 06:21 AM

Deja Vu All Over Again

By Rob Booth

I thought some of the info in today's Lucas Wall article looked familiar.

We reported that a Valley TV station put out this news last week. Later, I found the press release on the Texans web site. I noticed something interesting in the quotes in today's articles.

Here's a quote from the Chronicle article:

“We have been anticipating the completion of MetroRail since we opened the stadium in 2002,” said Jamey Rootes, the Texans' senior vice president. “It will take our fans a few games to get comfortable with this new game-day service, but we see it as an opportunity for fans to build new game-day traditions by riding to the games together and enjoying the many entertainment options that are available along the Main Street line before and after games.”

Here's the quote from the Texans web site:

“We have been anticipating the completion of MetroRail since we opened the stadium in 2002,” Texans Senior Vice President Jamey Rootes said. “Metro Park and Ride was available as a service to assist fans until light rail was up and running. Over the past year we have worked closely with Metro and Houston officials to create our rail plan. It will take our fans a few games to get comfortable with this new game day service, but we see it as an opportunity for fans to build new game day traditions - by riding to the games together and enjoying the many entertainment options that are available along the Main Street line before and after games.”

Chronicle quote:

“This will give Texans' fans an opportunity to visit restaurants and shops along the light rail line,” said Barry Mandel, president and CEO of the Houston Downtown Alliance. “They can also enjoy the entertainment of downtown after the game.”

Texans quote:

“We're excited to be working with the Texans on utilizing the light rail during games,” Barry Mandel, the Executive Director of the Houston Downtown Alliance. “This will give Texans' fans an opportunity to visit restaurants and shops along the light rail line. They can also enjoy the entertainment of downtown after the game. We're really excited about this new opportunity for fans and for the city of Houston.”

Now, there's nothing wrong with cutting and pasting from a press release, that's the purpose of press releases. Some people regard bloggers as being cut-and-paste non-journalists, but at least here, we can smugly say that we got this info to you before the Chronicle.

It's also interesting to see the loss of a choice (shuttle buses) being described as an “opportunity.”

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