A very wise man named Newton Minnow once called television a "vast wasteland" and I've always pretty much agreed with him when it comes to local television news.

But today I've got to take my hat off to Kent Wainscott of Channel 12.

I was the managing editor of the newsroom when Wainscott came to Milwaukee as a consumer affairs reporter. He was like a lot of young reporters, more concerned with how he looked on camera than anything else.

Now, however, he has grown into the best television political reporter in this market. And it's not even a close contest.

Channel 12, alone among the local stations, devotes time and resources to political coverage. But none of that would be worth a hoot unless you have someone to be the face of the coverage.

Mike Gousha leads the way with his normal brilliance, but Wainscott does the day-in, day-out coverage with a sense of leadership that is a real treat for the viewers.

The hardest thing for local television news to do is to have some sense of context around the news story. Wainscott knows the canvas upon which he is painting his story and makes sure that viewers aren't shortchanged.

In a world where newcomers dot the screen and try to pretend they know what they are screaming about Wainscott is a real breath of fresh air. He's lucky that he works in a newsroom where they actually care about real news and the trust the station has put in him is not misplaced.

If there were a lot of reporters like this in Milwaukee we'd all be a lot better off.

The triumph of Donald Driver last night in "Dancing With The Stars" was, as much as anything, a triumph of charm over beauty.

Driver went into the finals against Katherine Jenkins, a gorgeous classical singer, and William Levy, a gorgeous Cuban actor. They are each so beautiful they took your breath away.

But Driver had ... That Smile. We in Packers Nation have seen it many times before. It's a wide grin with sparkling white teeth and eyes that crinkle up in joy. If you needed a picture to go along with the word "happy" in the dictionary, you could use the picture of Driver smiling.

Make no mistake about it. Driver can dance. Over the 10 weeks of the program he improved constantly. One of the advantages he had over the others was that he is used to listening to coaching and then trying to put suggestions into practice.

You could tell each week that he heard what the judges said and did what they told him. It's like running precise pass patterns, something for which he's famous in the NFL.

I'm certain Packers fan votes helped him win the title. It may be no coincidence that the three football players who have won the title have been from the three favorite NFL franchises: Dallas, Pittsburgh and Green Bay.

Driver showed surprising grace as he danced each week with his lovely partner, Peta Murgatroyd, who may have set a "DWTS" record for using less material for costumes than any former contestant.

It was an outstanding ride for Driver and for Packers fans. I also think it would be a great idea for Brett Favre to make his apologies and amends to Packer fans by being a contestant on the show in an upcoming season.

So we have a new name for our arena Downtown.

That's nice, but it presents a problem for those of us who refer to the Bradley Center as the "BC." That phrase has been made famous by local sports talk and TV guys.

But they can't use it now that the place is the BMO Harris Bradley Center.

So what can we do for a snappy abbreviation for the facility?

It could be the BBC (B Bradley Center). Or maybe the Beemer.

Maybe we could call it the "Buh-moh." That's just a pronunciation guide.

I'm not good at this kind of thing, so any help would be appreciated.

Ah, the search for the perfect bagel goes on.

Maybe not perfect. But at least outstanding.

Milwaukee, like most cities, has two bagel chain places, Einstein's and Bruegger's. I don't mind either one, although if I had a preference I guess I'd go with Einstein's.

But both places leave me a little dissatisfied. The best bagel I've ever had was a regular one I bought in New York from a breakfast truck.

For me, there are a couple of things that make a great bagel. One is the texture. It must be chewy but it can't be hard to chew. You shouldn't have to work to get a bagel chewed. The crust should be crisp and the inside chewy.

The second thing is the flavor. It has to have a little bit of yeast taste. Yeast is added to flour, water, salt and malt syrup to make the bagel dough. I like to get a little bit of the unique flavor of the yeast in my bagel.

And they are hard to find in Milwaukee. I've been to most grocery stores and many of the bakeries in Milwaukee. I've been to the two great deli's, Benji's and Jake's. And as of yet, I haven't found the great bagel.

Ah, well. The search continues.