Steeler Super Bowl Champs Items Headed Overseas

Although the Steelers lost the Super Bowl to Green Bay Sunday 31-25, people in Armenia will be wearing clothing that touts the Steelers as Super Bowl XLV Champs. For more than 15 years, World Vision has received clothing from the NFL and sporting goods stores printed with what turned out to be the losing team’s logo. World Vision Sewickley office Corporate Relations Senior Director Jeff Fields says they already have about 300 shirts and 300 hats from the NFL that were in Dallas for the locker room celebration. He says more will be coming in from retailers including Dick’s Sporting Goods. He says he expects to see some sweat shirts coming in soon.

Fields says the clothing will be shipped to Zambia, Romania, Armenia and Nicaragua. If they have enough, they may add other locations. Fields has accompanied the shipments of erroneous merchandise in the past and says it is “life changing” for many of those who get the clothing. He says they are living day-to-day and many have no running water or electricity so getting a new piece of clothing is amazing. “The kids, and even adults, just light up,” says Fields. He says this is the silver lining to Sunday's loss.

World Vision takes donations of clothing and other items year-round and sends them to all corners of the globe. Fields says any company with surplus items can make a donation and they are always looking for volunteers to help sort the products.

Crackdown on Counterfeit Jerseys

Federal authorities in Pittsburgh from Homeland Security and Customs have seized thousands of unlicensed Steelers and Penguins jerseys in addition to Super Bowl-related merchandise. The crackdown if part of a nationwide effort to fight counterfeit goods. Over the past 3 days, authorities confiscated packages at the DHL facility in Robinson Township. That action yielded nearly $1.5 million in unlicensed Chinese-made gear including 5 thousand jerseys. Scott Best, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Pittsburgh, says fans should be suspicious of cheap merchandise. DHL issued a statement saying it is cooperating with law enforcement and it does not knowingly transport counterfeit goods.

City and County Hold Steelers Rally

A few hundred people showed up for a noontime rally sponsored by Allegheny County and the City of Pittsburgh on Thursday.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are playing the Green Bay Packers in the Superbowl on Sunday.

Allegheny County Executive and Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl spoke at the rally and symbolically destroyed a wedge of cheese.

Students were there from Gateway High School, Pittsburgh Brashear High School and Thomas Jefferson High School.

Many of the people there were dressed in extreme black and yellow costumes. The rally also consisted of waving around terrible towels, a player look-alike contest and complimentary food and refreshments.

Winter Classic Time Changed

The National Hockey League has moved the start time for the NHL Winter Classic to 8 p.m. tomorrow. It had been set for 1 p.m. but concerns over rain and warm temperatures forced the move. Cooler and drier conditions are expected to move into the region lat in the day. Gates to Heinz Field will now open at 5:30 p.m. Pre-game entertainment will begin at 7:30 p.m. The NHL warns that there could still be delays throughout the game to work o the ice. The decision to stop play will be made by the Commissioner. To make sure poor ice conditions do not negatively impact either team, the clubs will switch ends at the 10:00 minute mark of the third period. The NHL says it will retain the ability to postpone the game at any time and play the game Sunday at Heinz Field. The game can also be called after two periods.

Winter Classic is More Than Just a Game

When the Penguins played in the first NHL Winter Classic in Buffalo in 2008 there were very few activities surrounding the game but that will be very different this time around. Public skating on the rink built outside of Heinz Field opened Christmas Eve and a full schedule of youth and minor league hockey games on the same ice began Sunday. Winter Classic themed events will be part of the First night celebration, college hockey will take center stage at the CONSOL Energy Center Thursday and on the ice inside Heinz Field, an old timers game featuring the likes of Mario Lemieux, Paul Coffey, Ron Francis and Bill Guerin will face off Friday morning.

Penguins CEO David Morehouse says Pittsburgh had a lot of stuff going on already and the team wanted to be part of it. “With the location of the stadium being downtown kind of adjacent to all of these other activities, it was important to tie them all together. So you have a lot of cultural things happening in the cultural district between Christmas and New Year’s, you have the First Night Celebration New Year’s Eve and we have a great expansion of hockey interest in the region so its not just about the Penguins,” says Morehouse.

Morehouse says the idea of having a Winter Classic in Pittsburgh was born on the day of the first classic. He says during the game he went down from his box to talk to NHL Commissioner Gary Betman about bringing the game to Pittsburgh. “The first thing he said was he thought it would be interesting,” says Morehouse, “but neither one of us knew it was going to be the great success it was, so after that first game in Buffalo everyone else wanted it and it became impossible to get it right away.” Morehouse says he continued to “bug” Betman and finally got the game.

Morehouse says the event will not disappoint, “It’s a great matchup to have Washington and us play in the Winter Classic, Pittsburgh is a great city to host it in, the Steelers with their great traditions and history, it’s a great venue.”

NHL Classic Lures Fans to Pittsburgh

Heinz Field, the home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, will be turned into an outdoor hockey rink. It's for the NHL Winter Classic on January 1, 2011. Joe McGrath, President and CEO of visitpittsburgh, expects a positive impact from the game between the Penguins and Washington Capitals. "We're estimating that the economy should have a punch of about $22.7 million from the event itself."

McGrath says in addition to the number of avid hockey fans from around the country who will be attending the game, they are expecting about 30,000 people visiting from the Washington, D.C. area alone. He says many people are making it a weekend getaway.

Apart from the Winter Classic, locals and visitors from other cities can celebrate at the annual First Night Pittsburgh New Year's eve celebration. There will be many hockey-themed activities. McGrath also notes that the "Hockey Hall of Fame" will be on display at the Carnegie Science Center Sportsworks from December 27th to December 31st. Due to all of the activities, McGrath suggests people who want to come to Pittsburgh to check ahead for accommodations. The Winter Classic game is a sell out. McGrath says Heinz Field holds "60,000 plus" and exceeds some of the other stadiums that hosted the game.

The Black and Gold Tries to Add Green This Sunday

Steelers fans parking in the six lots along General Robinson Street on the North Shore Sunday will be handed a big blue bag to hold all their recyclables. Steelers Spokesperson Dave Lockett says they have teamed up with the Pennsylvania Resources Council and the Alcoa Foundation to launch the program. Tailgaters will be asked to place their cans, bottles and plastic items in the bag and then either take them up to a collection point near the stadium or to hand them over to volunteers circulating through the lots. Lockett says the team is uncertain how much material will be gathered but he says he hopes it will be well received. Lockett says they will have a chance to talk to the fans as they are dropping off the recyclables. He says they will be asking fans to "get into the mind set of doing it beyond game day, adding it into other aspects of [their] life."

Alco Parking manages the lots and is responsible for cleaning them after every game. Managers there say they fill a standard residential garbage truck every week.

The Steelers plan to offer the blue bags for the two other remaining home games. Proceeds from the sale of the recyclable materials will be given to a different non-profit each week.

Pirates Manager Comes with a Cause

When the Pittsburgh Pirates hired Clint Hurdle as their new manager not only were they getting a man with more than two decades experience in professional baseball they also picked up the national celebrity spokesperson for the Prader-Willi Syndrome Association (PWSA). Prader-Willi Syndrome is a rare genetic defect that occurs in about one in every 15,000 births. The illness begins with a newborn typically having a low birth weight and hypotonia (weak muscles) that is so severe that the child cannot suck well enough to get nourishment. Most babies must be kept alive with a feeding tube. The syndrome then “flips” between the ages of two to five when the child never feels “full” leading, if unchecked, to morbid obesity. Other symptoms include short stature if not treated with growth hormones, incomplete sexual development and in some cases, behavior and developmental problems.

Hurdle’s 8-year-old daughter, Madison, was born with Prader-Willi Syndrome. He and his wife have been active with the PWSA for years and he says his daughter’s illness played a small roll in his decision to come to Pittsburgh. “I don’t think it is a coincidence that the only in-patient clinic [for PWS] in the world is in the Children’s Institute here in Pittsburgh,” says Hurdle. He says the Institute has a great support group, “we have reached out to many families throughout the years since the birth of Madison and we have been embraced by many families who have children older.” Hurdle and his family currently live in Denver where he used to coach and says Madison gets great care there but they will soon be looking for a new home in Pittsburgh. “You talk about an easy transition, I know a couple of doctors over there.”

Robert Nicholls is a professor and genetic researcher at the Childrens Hospital of Pittsburgh. He has been studying PWS for nearly a quarter of a century. “Were making great strides in understanding the genetic basis, but its very complex. Prader-Willi Syndrome is not due to loss of function of a single gene, which many conditions like cystic fibrosis and others are, but there are new cellular models there are animal models,” says Nicholls. Nicholls says he works closely with many doctors and patients at both his hospital and at the Children’s Institute. He says it does not seem like the syndrome is increasing or decreasing, nor does it seem to discriminate between males and females or among races. He notes that most cases are in developed countries like the US, England and Germany but he notes that in most third-world and developing nations children with PWS never make it out of infancy. Those who make it out of infancy and are being treated can live into their 60’s and beyond. “When diagnosis was late, meaning by the 20’s or 30’s, and individuals had already become severely obese, then it is a life threatening condition,” says Nicholls.

Pirates Pick Hurdle

The Pittsburgh Pirates today announced that Clint Hurdle has been hired as the team’s 39th manager. The 53-year old Hurdle was the Hitting Coach for the American League champion Texas Rangers last year. He says Pittsburgh is a “wonderful and perfect fit” for him. “A challenge, oh its there. The opportunity, its there,” says Hurdle, “I am very much aware of the accountability and the responsibility that comes with a job and the opportunity to have the job as a Major League manager.”

Prior to joining the Rangers for the 2010 campaign, Hurdle spent more than 15 years in the Colorado organization, serving as a minor league hitting coordinator, Major League hitting coach and the team’s manager, from April 2002 until May 2009. “Clint Hurdle is an extremely intelligent, passionate, knowledgeable baseball man with proven leadership skills and ability to move this team forward,” says Pirate General Manager Neil Huntington. “We are very pleased to hire such a quality man who will make an immediate and lasting impact on this organization.”

Hurdle would not promise a winning season in 2011 but he says his goal is to bring championship baseball back to Pittsburgh. “We’re always going to feel we’re closer than a lot of people think.” On the specifics… “We’ve got to pitch… and you’ve got to play 27 outs on the other side of the ball.” Hurdle is also looking for a ‘team’ attitude, “I spent some time in Colorado where we sent three or four guys to the All-Star game and finished up in third or fourth place. That’s not championship ball.”

“The one thing I will promise you I will bring, I’m all in,” says Hurdle. The Michigan native says he asked the team management tough questions to make sure they were also, ‘all in.’ “I wanted to look them in the eyes and ask them, 'Are you in?'" he said. "And to a man they looked me in the eye and said 'We're in.' "

As for the Pirates record setting streak of consecutive losing seasons, Hurdle says, ”this is going to turn. There’s not a doubt in my mind that this is eventually going to turn.”

Hurdle says he plans to move his wife and two daughters to Pittsburgh from the home in Colorado as soon as possible. His daughter Madison suffers from Prader-Willi Syndrome. Pittsburgh is the home of the nation’s only in-patient clinic for the syndrome. He says that was a factor in his decision to come to Pittsburgh.

Pitt RB Lewis to Start Against Notre Dame

Pitt football coach Dave Wannstedt says Dion Lewis will start at tailback against Notre Dame tomorrow, despite 277 yards and three touchdowns from tailback Ray Graham last Saturday.

Wannstedt says Graham's performance against Florida International University earned him equal time with Lewis, though.

"The way we want to run the ball, I've gone through four tailbacks in a season," says Wannstedt. "We were so fortunate last year that Dion stayed healthy all year with the number of carries he had, so we're going to need them both."

Wannstedt says the team needs to clean up its play when facing teams like Notre Dame. Last year, Pitt was the least penalized team in the Big East. The Panthers committed 10 penalties for 64 yards against FIU last week, dropping them to 119th out of 120 Division I teams in terms of penalties (9.5 per game).

Pirates Manager Russell Booted

After posting a 188-299 (.386) record over the past three years, Pittsburgh Pirates Manager John Russell was fired today.

General Manager Neal Huntington announced the news, adding that the Pirates are already looking for a replacement.

"He put his heart and soul into this difficult challenge and was tremendously committed to the organization and the plan we implemented three years ago," said Huntington in a written statement. "But, in the end, we decided that new leadership in the clubhouse would give us the best opportunity to move this major league team forward."

House OKs Concussion Bill

Pennsylvania lawmakers are taking action to address the growing concern about concussions in sports. The Safety in Youth Sports Act, sponsored by Democratic Representative Tim Briggs of Montgomery County, aims at preventing serious brain trauma and to better monitor concussions in middle and high school aged athletes. He said its especially important to not shrug off brain injuries.

He said the bill was inspired by a bill passed by the Washington State legislature and his own experiences with his 8 year old son playing football.

Concussion trained medical professionals must release in writing any injured athlete to return to their sport. Briggs said it was important to change the mentality of "getting back in the game" or "shaking it off."

The Department of Health, The Pennsylvania Brain Injury Association, physicians and medical professionals from UPMC were involved in crafting the language.

The act calls for the state Departments of Health and Education to develop educational guidelines about injuries in school sports, including risks associated with continuing to play or practice after a concussion or head injury. Each student and parent/guardian must sign a form attesting that they know about the risks. There is also a mandate that all schools hold informational meetings regarding the risk of brain injuries and concussions. All new coaches must take an online course and be certified in concussion management training. It would penalize non-abiding coaches.

The measure now moves to the Senate.

Fate of Arena no More Clear After Hearing

The members of the Allegheny County Sports and Exhibition Authority Board heard from roughly equal numbers of speakers for and against the razing of the civic arena to make way for new development at Monday’s public input session. The Penguins are pushing to have the arena torn down to make way for new development while those looking to save the arena want to take some time to look at the different re-use possibilities. They argue that there is no need to raze the building immediately saying instead it can be used sparingly to finance its upkeep while its future is being debated. The Penguins and their supporters say having the building in the way will limit interest in the site and slow the reconnection of the Hill District to the Golden Triangle. Russell Guest is an architect in the city and he says he has been talking to people about re-using the arena. “Everyone always turns to you and says ‘what do you want to do with it,’ and I always tell them ‘what can’t you do with it,’ “says Guest, “It’s a 415-foot clear span, if you can’t figure out how to use that to serve the city in a new way, you’re not very smart.” Allegheny County resident Mike Mc Donnell says at first he wanted to save the arena but after talking to Hill residents who felt otherwise, he pondered his position. “I wanted it to stay because I liked it. I, I, I. I took the position because I was being selfish, I wanted to stay because I liked it, and then it occurred to me. This was no basis for a position this important.” Several speakers told the board they have yet to fully make up their minds on saving or not saving the civic arena but they urged the board to take all steps necessary to make sure every option is explored before bringing in the wrecking ball. There is no time line for a final decision on the fate of the arena.

Listen to Save the Igloo Founder Rob Pfaffmann's 3:30 comments to the board here.

Listen to Penguins President David Morehouse's 2:30 comments to the board here.

New Display Opens At Arena

The Pittsburgh Penguins today named the members of an “All-Time Team” and unveiled an interactive display honoring the player, fans and each of the three cups in the team’s history. The bank of touch screens is located just inside the entrance on Center Avenue. That area is open to the public during business hours. Each of the 15 players has his own screen where fans can get stats, see pictures and watch highlights. Two additional screens feature some of the most influential coaches; general managers, executives and support staff members in team history as well as the fans. Another wall features three Stanley Cups which visitors can manipulate on the screen to zoom in on the names of the players and see highlights of all the Pens championship seasons. Fans and a panel of media and team officials selected the players on the All-Time Team. Active NHL players were not eligible. The team includes hall of fame players Mario Lemieux, Paul Coffey, Ron Francis, Joe Mullen and Larry Murphy. Other members of the team are Syl Apps, Tom Barrasso, Les Binkley, Dave Burrows, Jaromir Jagr, Rick Kehoe, Pierre Larouche, Jean Pronovost, Kevin Stevens and Ulf Samuelsson. Pierre Larouch, who still lives in the South Hills, says he is honored to be part of the dream team, “it completes my career.” He says it will be a great way for the younger fans to learn about the history of the team. Pens President David Morehouse says since they do not get to keep the Stanley Cup having a virtual version is the next best thing. Fans can spin the cup, zoom in on player’s names and even see highlights of the championship series. Morehouse says he is a bit worried people may try to kiss the cup, “we are going to have to clean the screens in this display quite a lot.” As he scans the names of the player sin the Al-Time team Morehouse calls the collection of talent “awesome.” “When you look at that team and then look at the current players we have, it is rare in sports to have that kind of talent in one city.” Says Morehouse, “We have been very fortunate to have the kind of players we have had come through Pittsburgh.”
Check out some Pictures of the new Arena on our Facebook Page.