C.J.: Make a note: Obama's personal secretary has relatives here

"They say you never hear the personal secretary's name until you get in trouble," said Katherine Murphy, the Twin Cities grandmother of the woman slated to be in charge of Barack Obama's daily schedule.

This item would be an exception to that saying, as was the Boston Globe story about Katie Johnson, who six years ago became a Wellesley grad and more recently was a key aide to the manager of Obama's campaign.

Johnson has never lived in Minnesota, but she has two sets of grandparents here. Her maternal grandparents, Katherine and Kingsley Murphy, live in the metro. Asked how they should be characterized, Katherine Murphy said, "Just the most wonderful human beings [who] ever lived. How do you think?"

She was being jocose and she succeeded. Then she added in a more serious tone: "We've been active in Democratic politics for years. Kingsley was an advance man for Humphrey." Katie's paternal grandparents are Robert and Corenne Johnson of Nicollet, Minn., according to Katherine Murphy. Katie is the daughter of Dr. Bruce and Georgia Johnson, who live in Brookline, Mass. Bruce Johnson works in the thoracic cancer center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

"Everybody is so happy about Katie," Katherine Murphy said.

Katie's tenure as personal secretary to the prez should not be marred by any of the unpleasant foolishness that touched Betty Currie, who worked for former President Bill Clinton. (Factoid: When the Clintons left the White House, Currie became the owner of the now-ailing Socks the cat.)

Getting in his hair We're more accustomed to seeing a chalk line at the feet of Steelers coach Mike Tomlin.

A colleague of mine says the line looks like the chalk line drawn to help define which hairs are due to be ripped off during a brow waxing. VIP Hair & Nails stylist Patrick Wilson speculated that the line might have been created by clippers scraping against Tomlin's head, as his hairline is magnificently manicured. Another VIP stylist, Russell Ginyard, said Tomlin is sporting the latest look "Bigen [permanent powder hair] color, and they use a stencil and they want to create that shape and the newest style is now they take pencils outlining it, making it more defined."

But Ginyard said VIP colleague Versie Donaby was the real expert on this subject. "It's called the Bigen and it's actually color. That's the new thing now," said Donaby, a man of few words.

Taking a moment from being all up in Tomlin's silly hair, I called the Steelers media relations office, seeking a comment from the coach on his cutting-edge look. I did not think Tomlin, who didn't really have time for Santa Claus [see it at youtube.com], would call me back the week he's preparing to play the Ravens in the AFC championship game and, of course, he didn't.

Forget the Philly stuff WCCO-TV's Heather Brown is nowhere near as stupid as she looked wearing Eagles gear to the Vikings' last game of the season.

Fans reportedly were craning their necks and whispering in disbelief at the sight. For a few days, it seemed as if Brown was ducking my call (aka doing a Jeannette), but Heather finally surfaced.

Click your heels, Dorothy, you're not in Philly anymore; you're a member of the "Hometown Team," noted one tipster, making use of what is a bygone slogan of the station.

"I know, but my whole family is from there, my parents are there," she said. But isn't it written that when we become an adult, we must put away childish things? "It's the only team that I would root against [over] the Vikings. You know, Darcy Pohland and I are good friends; I wanted to go [to the game] with Darcy. It was kind of a little joke with her. Darcy was with us, Jeannette and a couple of other friends. We went to Hubert's beforehand and all the Vikings fans were coming up giving me a hard time. I explained that it was my hometown team."

Vikings fans are quite a bit more civilized in these settings than, say, Packers fans or Eagles fans, who probably would have administered Brown a mollywhoppin', as in a beatdown.

"I probably wouldn't wear a Vikings jersey in Philly," Brown said. Exactly. Because they are uncivilized. "They're good people." Some maybe, but the lovely e-mails this item will no doubt attract will not validate her position.