Miami viceless? Uh, sure

People tend to be sensitive when it comes to their hometown, as local reaction to President Obama's remark about Las Vegas this week clearly illustrated.

Miami Herald humor writer Dave Barry recently poked fun at his city, the host of Sunday's Super Bowl between the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints.

Offended readers fired back, causing Barry to apologize. Sort of.

Saying what he wrote about Miami was all in jest, Barry then listed some "facts" to help Super Bowl visitors get to know the city.

Among them:

-- "Miami is totally safe."

-- "The drivers here are courteous and law-abiding."

-- "There is plenty of available parking on South Beach, where the clubs feature affordable drinks in an atmosphere of quiet, soothing music."

Well, it sounds like a swell place to visit -- just as soon as we get through blowing a bunch of cash in Vegas.

• KEEPING UP WITH BUSH -- A minor Super Bowl controversy emerged when Saints running back Reggie Bush was photographed purportedly leaving a South Beach nightclub at 3:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Bush told reporters that the shot was taken while he was entering the club -- and much earlier in the night. It was the one night the Saints did not have a curfew, and Bush said he has since been in bed by 10 each night.

Of course, it's not Bush's football prowess that keeps the tabloids and paparazzi following him around. It's his relationship with Kim Kardashian, who's famous for, well, being famous.

"You have a celebrity relationship, you get used to (the attention)," Bush said. "I hate it, though."

• NO BLUE IN BAYOU -- A Louisiana high school student says he was sent home for wearing a Colts jersey Friday -- the day the principal encouraged students to wear Saints black and gold.

"If they tell other students to support their team, why can't I support mine?" Brandon Frost, 17, told The Associated Press. The senior at Maurepas High School moved three years ago from Indianapolis to Maurepas, a town 30 miles from Baton Rouge.

A Livingston Parish School Board member said Frost wasn't sent home but was told he couldn't wear the blue jersey at school. Keith Martin, whose district includes Maurepas, said the school uniform had been relaxed only for black and gold.

He said he planned to ask school system attorneys whether that violated Frost's right to free speech.

• DOG DAYS -- Back at the Super Bowl for the second year in a row, Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward would probably just as soon be elsewhere this time.

Ward was in South Florida on Thursday helping to judge a dog competition.

"Oh, man, it definitely stinks, to be honest," Ward said to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The Steelers didn't make the playoffs this season, failing to overcome a five-game skid that included losses to some of the NFL's worst teams.

"The other day at dinner, we reflected on that," Ward said, "and everyone was scratching their heads: How in the world did we lose those games?"

COMPILED BY MARK ANDERSON LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL