Feeling is mutual for Omaha, QB

Peyton Manning apparently loves Nebraska’s largest city.

The Denver Broncos quarterback used the word “Omaha” loudly and often during Sunday’s AFC divisional playoff victory over the San Diego Chargers. According to an NFL.

com video montage, Manning barked “Omaha” before the ball was snapped 44 times during the game.

The reason for the word choice, if there is one, is known only to Manning and the Broncos.

But it provided some unexpected publicity for the city of 427,000, perhaps best known as the home of both billionaire Warren Buffett and the Fortune 500 insurance company Mutual of Omaha (sponsor of the old TV show Wild Kingdom).

Omaha, in fact, was a trending topic on Twitter during the game, and the Greater Omaha Convention and Visitors Bureau jumped aboard, tweeting: “We certainly appreciate all the love from Peyton Manning :)”

Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce President and CEO David Brown said he was watching the game, and he wondered how his agency could capitalize. Brown said he wants to explore the possibility of hiring Manning, one of the sporting world’s top pitchmen, to shoot a promotional ad for Omaha.

“We’d be foolish not to,” Brown told The Associated Press, adding that he realizes Manning would command a fee that likely exceeds his agency’s budget.

If anything, Omaha once conjured an image of a cow town on the banks of the Missouri River. But Doug Parrott, executive vice president for the Nebraska-based Bailey Lauerman public relations and advertising firm, said that has changed over the years because of the prominence of Buffett and national media coverage of events such as the College World Series and U.S. Olympic Swim Trials.

Brown said the chamber of commerce has worked hard to woo corporations to locate to “the Big O,” as locals call it.

Omaha is home to five Fortune 500 companies, including Union Pacific Railroad, and sells itself on, among other things, a reasonable cost of living and dependable workforce.

A chamber-commissioned study last year found that 100 million people had been exposed to the “Omaha message” in the past decade and that the city is generally viewed positively,”Brown said.

“But when people are asked why they feel that way, they can’t bring it to a single message,” he said.

Maybe Manning can use a Colorado city or two during this Sunday’s AFC Championship Game against the New England Patriots. Boulder, Boulder! Or, Pueblo, Pueblo!

Bad timing

Steve Smith wasn’t interested in discussing the NFC Championship Game.

The wide receiver caught a 31-yard touchdown pass in the Carolina Panthers’ 23-10 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday in a NFC divisional playoff game in Charlotte, N.C. But minutes after the loss, a reporter asked Smith which team he would root for in the NFC Championship Game, San Francisco or the Seattle Seahawks.

“You really want me to thump you upside the head, huh?” Smith said. “That was the dumbest question, that’s the second dumbest question you asked me.

“I only cheer for one team - actually two teams, my team and my kid’s team. Other than that I can give a bleep.”

Next question?

Quote of the day

“We’ve got to outrun some people that are in front of us right now.” Arkansas men’s basketball Coach Mike Anderson, whose team

is 0-2 in the SEC entering tonight’s game against Kentucky

Sports, Pages 18 on 01/14/2014