Excited and Skeptical

Tunneling through today’s Times, I crashed into a headline.

“Promise of New Subway Has West Siders Excited and East Siders Skeptical.”

It is genius. No, it’s not poetry, smartass, grabbing, evocative, memorable or even mildly interesting. It doesn’t  compel you to read the story—unless maybe the intersection of West Side excitement and East Side skepticism startles, amazes or mystifies you.

But it is a useful #headlinetemplate. It can work for so many subjects. Just scrap “”Promise of New Subway” and substitute some other noun or phrase.

For example. . .

“New York State Lottery Has West Siders Excited and East Siders Skeptical.”

“New Met Pitching Phenom Has West Siders Excited and East Siders Skeptical.”

 “Albany Corruption Has West Siders Excited and East Siders Skeptical.”

“War on Christmas Has West Siders Excited and East Siders Skeptical.”

“Easter Egg Hunt Has West Siders Excited and East Siders Skeptical.”

 “Amazon’s Acquisition of Zabar’s Has West Siders Excited and East Siders Skeptical.”

“Google’s Acquiition of Fairway Has West Siders Excited and East Siders Skeptical.”

“New report on Climate Change Has West Siders Excited and East Siders Skeptical.”

And so on.