Odds & Ends

Written by Dan Gigler on Wednesday, 27 October 2010 2:35 pm.

A six-pack of Black & Gold tidbits for a Thursday ...

1. Sacks for Kids.

silverbackattack Leah Griffin, the Baltimore woman who started the Pay James Harrison's Bogus Fine Facebok page (13,000+ members) reports that she's spoken with folks in the NFL offices and indicated that any money sent to Park Ave. in honor of #92's aggressive play should be re-routed to James Harrison's charity, Sacks For Kids, based through the Beaver County YMCA.

Leah said: "Sacks for Kids is a program that provides "scholarships" for kids who want to join the YMCA but can't. Once a child applies and is accepted, they are granted a one year membership to the YMCA. ... A lot of these kids can not afford it and without the Y would more than likely be at home by themselves while parents are working...or worse, running the streets with no supervision."

A representative from the NFL is supposed to be in touch with her once the money is totaled.

If you'd like to donate to this worthy program, here is the contact info:

Renee Sannan
Beaver County YMCA
c/o Sacks for Kids
2236 Third Avenue
New Brighton, PA 15066
(724-847-2200)

2. Black & Gold helping Black & Gold

While the majority of Steelers fans headed to New Orleans this weekend -- and there are many -- are looking for a memorable Halloween in the Big Easy party weekend, on Saturday a group of Steelers and Saints fans will join for a service project for the area, still rebuilding from Hurricane Katrina:

" ... Saints and Steelers fans will join together to help a Gentilly family with a rebuilding project sponsored by the St. Paul's Homecoming Center. Proving competition can be friendly, the Steelers volunteer group from Butler, Pennsylvania , will help to restore a home and raise dollars for the St. Paul 's Homecoming Center.

To that end, Pittsburgh artist Willie Hobbs will sell prints of a Drew Brees and another seen below called "The Steelers of New Orleans" featuring Lousiana natives Mewelde Moore, Ryan Clark, Ike Taylor and Mike Wallace. The autographed, original painting will be up for auction, and 16x20 prints signed by the artist are available for order.

Proceeds will benefit the St. Paul 's Homecoming Center, an outreach of St. Paul 's Episcopal Church which is active in Katrina recovery efforts.

Steelers-of-New-Orleans

3. Halloween + Big Easy + Steelers & Saints = World Record?

From Deputy Sports Editor Carl Remensky: NBC wants Sunday night's clash between the Steelers and Saints in New Orleans to be a world-class event.

ghouls The network has invited officials from Guinness World Records to certify the Superdome gathering as the world's largest Halloween party, a pretty safe bet considering the town's affinity for parties and costumes.

"Halloween night in New Orleans was too rich to pass up," Fred Gaudelli, "Sunday Night Football" producer, told The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune. "I think America has never seen anything quite like this, and we intend to take full advantage of it."

No word on whether "full advantage" means costumes for SNF hosts Al, Cris and Andrea.

Dave Walker of the T-P says "Let's hope the Saints dress as defending Super Bowl champions."

The Steelers probably hope the Saints show up dressed up like the clowns who lost 30-17 to the Browns last Sunday in the Dome.

4. From our San Diego bureau ...

Although Pittsburgh is the top town in America to relocate to according to CNBC, reader and recent transplant Breen Masciotra is spending her first Steelers season as a resident of Ron Burgandy's city.

Here are some pics she sent of the scene for this past Sunday's game at well-known Steelers bar Bub's Dive in Pacific Beach:

bubs5