I Need to Read More of the Paper

Instead of hitting only the Editorial and Penguins/NHL sections and calling myself informed.

If I had read more of the paper on May 11, I would not have missed that CityReachers Pittsburgh is raising money to place copies of the New Testament in the Sunday Post-Gazette on September 7.

Pittsburgh themed copies of the New Testament, with a “front cover showing the Golden Triangle, a back cover photograph of Steelers kneeling in prayer and will include testimonies of well-known Pittsburghers”.

Because nothing says “Come to Jesus” quite like a photograph of the Pittsburgh Steelers.*

Fortunately, there are several readers who do peruse more of the paper and wrote letters to the editor, the first protesting the idea and threatening to cancel their subscription, the second praising the potential positive effect of essentially forcing the New International Version translation of the New Testament into the homes 250,000 subscribers.

I'm interested in seeing how this unfolds.

*I can't believe there does not exist a Pittsburgh Steelers last supper image somewhere on the Internet. In a city that turned Gary Roberts into a cult hero, not one photo shopped marvel of Big Ben as Jesus? Which begs the question – who do Steelers fans hold more sacred: Big Ben or Jesus?

Thou Shalt Not Anger JoPa

I normally don't follow college football. I don't find it terribly interesting and can think of 100 things I prefer to do then sit down and watch a game. Given the choice between Penn State football and Penguins hockey, I will choose hockey every time.

However, it is very difficult to grow up on the edge of central Pennsylvania and not know about Joe Paterno, affection ally known as “JoPa”. Eighty-year old JoPa has been head coach at Penn State University for forty years and has been voted most-likely-to-die & be-buried-at-halftime in the middle of field. This is the man who had to be physically removed from the field during a 2006 game after a collision with a Wisconsin player, in which he broke his leg and tore ligaments in his knee.

In early April of 2007 approximately fifteen members of Penn State's football team were involved in an off-campus brawl. Two of the players will have to stand trial for various charges, including burglary, criminal trespass, simple assault and harassment.

And JoPa is not happy about the kind of negative media attention the team is receiving. He is unhappy enough that the team, as a whole, is being disciplined for demonstrating a severe lack of leadership.

So this summer instead of enjoying the time off, all of the members of the Penn State football team will be assisting Habitat for Humanity in building a home and working the Summer Special Olympics. When the 2007/2008 football season comes around, the team will be suiting up the day after each home game to help clean Beaver Stadium. The money earned will be donated to support club sport teams.

And just in case you are curious, Beaver Stadium is the sixth largest stadium in the world, with a capacity of 107,282 bodies.

The moral of the story? It really does not pay to tick off the old man.