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The Altoona Curve proved to be a team of destiny in 2010, then dismissed their manager in a transaction that defied destiny.
After finishing the 2009 season with a franchise-worst 62-80 record, the Curve rebounded admirably in 2010, winning the Eastern League's Western Division championship with an 82-60 record and moving on to win the first league title in franchise history.
Led by second-year manager Matt Walbeck, who was named the Eastern League's Manager of the Year, the Curve ousted the Western Division runner-up Harrisburg Senators in four games in the first round of the playoffs, then repeated the accomplishment against the Eastern Division champion Trenton Thunder in the championship series.
The Curve boasted a wonderful mixture of outstanding pitching, solid hitting, and good defensive play to bring Altoona its first league title in the 12-year history of the franchise. Altoona's 2004 team had also made it to the league championship series, but lost the series in three straight games to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.
The 2010 Curve pitching staff was led by lefthander Rudy Owens, who posted a 12-6 regular-season record and 2.46 earned run average, while catcher Hector Gimenez - who was named the team's Most Valuable Player - finished the regular season leading the squad in batting with a .305 average, 16 homers and 72 RBIs.
Left-handed reliever Danny Moskos recorded 21 saves and a 1.52 earned run average during the regular season for Altoona. He was temporarily promoted to Class AAA Indianapolis in midseason, then sent back to the Curve, where he continued his excellent Class AA work in the Eastern League championship series, saving all three Curve victories.
The Curve opened the league championship series with a 3-2 loss in 10 innings to Trenton at Blair County Ballpark in a game in which New York Yankees' perennial all-star pitcher Andy Pettite started in a rehab assignment for Trenton and tossed five innings, leaving the game with the score tied, 2-2.
While Pettite's appearance in Altoona thrilled Curve fans, the Curve themselves provided the biggest thrills, defeating Trenton, 6-4 in Game 2 at Blair County Ballpark before winning Game 3 and Game 4 at Trenton's Waterfront Park by respective 5-0 and 5-2 scores.
Many of the players on the 2010 Curve team had experienced winning a Carolina League championship at high Class A Lynchburg, Va. in the 2009 season, so the pedigree of excellence was already built in with the Curve's first-ever championship squad.
But the Curve still had the challenge of fulfilling that potential, and they did so with an exclamation point all throughout the 2010 season and in the playoffs.
"It was magical, and it was meant to be,'' Walbeck told the Mirror after the series clincher in Trenton. "It's been a pleasure to coach these guys.''
Unfortunately and incredibly, though, that pleasure did not last long for Walbeck.
The Pittsburgh Pirates organization had Curve Nation scratching its heads in late September, when the organization informed Walbeck that he would not be retained for the 2011 season. The Pirates refused to discuss the reasons for Walbeck's dismissal in any depth, pinpointing the manager's desire for a promotion to the Class AAA level - and the lack of availability for a job there with the organization - as the most significant factor in the decision.
Four days ago, the Curve officially announced that P.J. Forbes, who had been the manager of the Pirates' high Class A Bradenton Marauders team, would become Altoona's new manager for the 2011 season.
Outfielder Alex Presley batted .350 with six homers and 47 RBIs in 67 games with the Curve last season before his midseason promotion to Indy. Presley was called up by the Pirates in September, and collected his first major league hit against the Atlanta Braves Sept. 8.
Owens and Presley were named the Pirates organization's minor league Pitcher of the Year and Player of the Year, respectively.
In an interesting aside to all the Curve's success in 2010, former Curve owner Chuck Greenberg joined with Major League Baseball Hall-of-Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan this past summer to gain ownership of the American League's Texas Rangers. Greenberg and Ryan outbid Mark Cuban - the billionaire owner of the National Basketball Association's Dallas Mavericks - in the quest for the ownership reins of the Rangers, who won the American League championship in 2010 and made it to the World Series.
Though the Curve's first championship and Walbeck's dismissal proved to be two of the Mirror's biggest sports stories in 2010, there were many others:
Steelers' off-the-field drama
The Pittsburgh Steelers didn't make very many good headlines on the field in the 2009 season, finishing out of the National Football League's playoff hunt just one year after winning the Super Bowl title.
They made plenty of news clips this past offseason, however, and none for the right reasons. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and wideout Santonio Holmes, two star players who helped the Steelers defeat the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl XLVIII in February 2009, attracted headlines for two separate alleged off-the-field incidents in early March.
Roethlisberger was accused of sexual assault by a 20-year-old college co-ed after an alleged incident in a bathroom at a Georgia nightclub.
After an investigation by Georgia authorities, no charges were ultimately filed because of lack of evidence, but Roethlisberger's reputation was further sullied just one year after he was accused of rape by a woman surrounding an alleged 2008 incident at a Lake Tahoe, Nev. hotel. No charges were filed, either, in connection with the Lake Tahoe incident, about which Roethlisberger denied the allegations and counter-sued for damages to his reputation.
Roethlisberger, who owns a home near Milledgeville, Ga., where last March's incident was alleged to have occurred, was in the nightclub with three other people, including Steelers' offensive tackle Willie Colon, celebrating the quarterback's 28th birthday. The other two individuals accompanying Roethlisberger were a Pennsylvania state trooper and a Pittsburgh area policeman whom Roethlisberger had hired to work for him as personal assistants/bodyguards. Before the alleged incident, Roethlisberger's group was mingling with another group of people that included the alleged victim.
The fallout from the Georgia incident was, initially at least, extremely damaging for both Roethlisberger and the Steelers. The quarterback's once sky-high popularity plummeted in Pittsburgh and even in his hometown of Findlay, Ohio, and National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell addressed the latest allegations against Roethlisberger by initially slapping the quarterback with a six-game suspension without pay at the outset of the 2010 regular season for violating the NFL's personal conduct code. On Sept. 3, Roethlisberger's suspension was reduced to four games for good behavior.
As part of the suspension, Goodell ordered Roethlisberger to undergo a comprehensive behavioral evaluation by professionals, and forbid Roethlisberger to engage in any football-related activities with the Steelers until the evaluation was completed. The evaluation was completed in May, and Roethlisberger was cleared by the league May 27 to return to the Steelers for offseason workouts that began June 1. He was not permitted to practice at the Steelers' training facility for the duration of his regular-season suspension, however.
Trade speculation surrounding Roethlisberger swirled throughout the Pittsburgh area and on national television and radio sports channels as last April's National Football League draft approached. The public posture, even among some of Roethlisberger's own teammates - notably Pro Bowl receiver Hines Ward - was that the suspension was justified.
In any event, Roethlisberger's absence and subsequent injuries sustained by two of the Steelers' backup quarterbacks early in the season tested the mettle of this year's team immediately. The Steelers responded admirably though, winning their first three games.
In their initial response to the Roethlisberger ordeal, the Steelers reacquired quarterback Byron Leftwich from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Leftwich, who was a backup for the Steelers in 2008, was expected to compete with Dennis Dixon for the starter's job at the outset of the 2010 season. But Leftwich hurt his left knee in the Steelers' final preseason game Sept. 2, leaving Dixon as the Steelers' opening-game starter.
Dixon held the fort in the Steelers' season opener, when Pittsburgh outlasted the visiting Atlanta Falcons, 15-9 in overtime, but was injured in the second game of the season, when the Steelers turned to veteran Charlie Batch to close out a 19-11 road victory over the Tennessee Titans.
The Steelers wound up going 3-1 in Roethlisberger's absence, and his four-game suspension ended October 17, when Roethlisberger threw three touchdown passes to lead the Steelers to a 28-10 win over the Cleveland Browns at Heinz Field.
With Roethlisberger back under center for the remainder of the season, the Steelers won eight of their next 11 games, clinched a playoff spot, and stood a good chance of winning the American Football Conference North Division championship as this story went to press.
While Roethlisberger remained with the Steelers, the team parted ways with two of its better-known players, Holmes and placekicker Jeff Reed, in 2010.
Less than three days after the Roethelisberger rape allegations first surfaced, Holmes was in the news for allegedly physically assaulting a woman in an Orlando, Fla. nightclub. The woman, Anshonae Mills, 21, filed a lawsuit in late March claiming that Holmes grabbed her face and threw a glass at her March 7 in the nightclub, cutting her above the eye.
Holmes - who was named the Most Valuable Player in Super Bowl XLVIII after catching a game-winning touchdown pass from Roethlisberger in the final minute - denied hurting Mills. According to a police report, Holmes told an officer that Mills grabbed his wrist and called him a racial name, and then another woman threw the glass that hit Mills in the face. Mills didn't press charges originally, then changed her mind, claiming that Holmes and a police officer had tried to intimidate her and sway her from doing so.
In early April, another man stepped forward and claimed responsibility for the incident. But just days later, the weary Steelers traded Holmes - who also faced a four-game suspension this season for violating the league's substance abuse policy - to the New York Jets for a fifth-round pick in last April's National Football League draft.
An in-season casualty for the Steelers was veteran kicker Reed, who was released Nov. 16 after missing seven of 22 field goal attempts in the 2010 season, including a 26-yarder against New England at Heinz Field Nov. 14. Reed had been the Steelers' placekicker since 2002, and was ranked 12th in NFL history with an 81.9 percent field-goal kicking accuracy rate. The Steelers replaced him with Shaun Suisham, a former kicker with the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys.
Penn State football headlines
Big Ten Conference realignment, the starting quarterback situation, and legendary coach Joe Paterno's health and status headlined the Penn State football saga in 2010.
Paterno - NCAA Division I football's all-time winningest coach - also celebrated his 400th career coaching victory this year, and senior running back Evan Royster became the school's all-time rushing leader.
In a transaction that has national ramifications in the college football world, Nebraska announced its defection from the Big 12 Conference to the Big Ten Conference, effective in 2011. It's a move that will increase the number of Big Ten teams to 12, and set up two six-team divisions and a first-ever conference championship playoff game next year at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
It was announced Sept. 1 that Penn State will be part of the conference's new Leaders Division with Ohio State, Wisconsin, Illinois, Purdue and Indiana. The other division will be known as the Legends Division and include Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa, Michigan State, Minnesota and Northwestern.
The conference's championship trophy will be named after Paterno and another college football coaching legend, the late, great Alonzo Stagg.
The conference realignment will give the Nittany Lions another blockbuster cross-division conference rival in Nebraska, which played in what was arguably the most exciting game in Beaver Stadium history, back in 1982.
Even though Paterno announced that at his final regular-season press conference, on Nov. 23, that he is planning to return as coach in 2011, Paterno began his 45th season as Penn State's coach this past fall amid speculation that it might be his last. Now 84 years old, Paterno was plagued by intestinal problems last spring that forced him to cancel several scheduled public appearances.
But as the 2010 season kicked off, he publicly maintained that he had no plans to step down as coach in the near future, even though he was quoted in the Mirror that his assistant coaches had been "carrying" him. At the November press conference, Paterno - whose current contract runs through 2011 - said that he believed the Lions could be a pretty good team next year, and he would "like to be part of it.''
Penn State started the 2010 season with a true freshman quarterback, Michigan native Rob Bolden, under center. It was the first time in Paterno's head coaching career that he had begun a season with a true freshman at the quarterback spot. However, when Bolden suffered a concussion in the seventh game of the season, at Minnesota, walk-on redshirt sophomore Matt McGloin stepped in, jump-started the Nittany Lions' offense and took over the starting job for the rest of the season.
McGloin, a native of West Scranton, engineered the Lions' road victory at Minnesota, and their home wins the next two weeks against Michigan and Northwestern. The 35-21 win over Northwestern Nov. 6 was Paterno's 400th career coaching win, and came after McGloin brought the Lions back from a 21-0 second-quarter deficit. Penn State's victory over Indiana the next week gave Paterno his 401th career win.
Royster claimed the program's all-time rushing record with a 150-yard rushing effort against Michigan Oct. 30 at Beaver Stadium. Royster broke Curt Warner's mark of 3,398 yards that had stood since 1982. He finished the 2010 regular season with a career rushing total of 3,834 yards on 666 carries and 29 touchdowns.
Penn State finished the 2010 regular season with a 7-5 record and earned a berth in the upcoming Jan. 1 Outback Bowl in Tampa, Fla. against the Florida Gators, who also finished the regular season 7-5.
Penn State opened the 2010 calendar year with a 19-17 victory over LSU in the Capital One Bowl in Orlando, Fla. last Jan. 1. The Nittany Lions - who finished the 2009 season with an 11-2 record - mounted a 69-yard, six-minute drive that ended when kicker and State College native Collin Wagner booted a game-winning 21-yard field goal with 57 seconds left in the game.
Top prospect pitches here
If Stephen Strasburg ever lives up to his lofty advance billing, thousands of Curve baseball fans can claim they saw him make his first professional pitching appearance in person.
Strasburg, the top pitching prospect in all of baseball, made his professional debut with the Eastern League's Harrisburg Senators against the Curve last April 11 at Blair County Ballpark.
A total of 7,887 fans, and a throng of media that included an ESPNews camera crew, were on hand to watch Strasburg - who the Washington Nationals made Major League Baseball's top draft pick in 2009 - kick off what is expected to be a brilliant career.
On a warm, sunny, made-for-baseball Sunday afternoon, the big righthander threw 82 pitches in five innings of work, striking out eight batters, and allowing four hits, four runs - three of which were unearned - and walked two batters while picking up the pitching victory as Harrisburg wiped out a 4-0 deficit and beat the Curve, 6-4.
ESPNews aired Strasburg's debut live for 11 minutes during the first inning of the 2 p.m. game and ESPN aired clips of his performance that Sunday night, along with highlights of the prestigious Masters golf tournament.
Although the Curve managed to collect four hits - including an impressive first-inning double to right-center field by outfielder Presley - the 21-year-old Strasburg showed onlookers that he is the real deal, frequently topping out at near 100 miles per hour on the stadium pitch-speed board, and mixing in curve balls that averaged over 80 miles per hour.
Strasburg, who can also handle the bat, helped himself at the plate with a run-scoring double to deep right field.
The Curve also faced Strasburg a second time on May 2 before a sellout crowd at Harrisburg's Metro Bank Park, and jumped on him for four second-inning runs in a 6-1 victory.
Strasburg was promoted to the Nationals' Class AAA affiliate at Syracuse in early May, and made his major league debut with the Nationals on June 8 against the Pirates before a sellout crowd at Washington's Nationals Park, striking out 14 batters in seven innings in a 5-2 victory.
Strasburg's season ended badly, however. In late August, Strasburg suffered a tear in a ligament in his pitching elbow which will require Tommy John reconstructive surgery and sideline him for the entire 2011 season.
BG girls defend state title
It would have been difficult to believe at the outset of the 2009-10 high school basketball season that the Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic High School Lady Marauders could have done anything to improve upon the program's past basketball accomplishments.
After all, BG had entered the season as the reigning PIAA Class A girls basketball champions, and boasted senior power forward Alli Williams, who committed to St. Francis University on a Division I basketball scholarship.
When BG won the school's fifth girls basketball championship in March 2009, it marked the second time in three years that the Lady Marauders had captured the gold medal.
BG already had established itself as a girls basketball power entering the 2009-10 campaign, but the Lady Marauders further cemented their reputation as one this past March.
The 2009-10 Lady Marauders became the school's first undefeated girls team in school history, polishing off a perfect 30-0 season with a 49-29 victory over District 6 rival Northern Cambria in the state championship game at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center March 27.
For players like Williams - who was named the Pennsylvania girls Class A Player of the Year for the second straight year, winning another state championship last year was extra special. She was a freshman player on the 2007 team that defeated Pittsburgh North Catholic, 43-38 for the Class A state title, and last March's championship victory meant Williams played on three state championship teams in her four terrific seasons at BG, where she wrapped up her career as the school's all-time leading scorer (1,756 points) and all-time leading rebounder (900).
During her four years at BG, Williams played on teams that won an eye-opening 128 of 134 games.
"Winning a state championship is winning a state championship - it's always amazing,'' Williams told the Mirror after scoring 16 points and collecting 14 rebounds in the title win over Northern Cambria.
Last March's victory was BG's third straight Class A championship under veteran coach Mark Moschella, who also coached the Lady Marauders to the Class A title back in 1993. The Lady Marauders also won two Class AA state titles under John Frederick in 1984 and 1991.
Junior Kelsey Livoti ignited BG's 2010 championship win over Northern Cambria by scoring seven first-quarter points as the Lady Marauders opened a 16-7 lead.
Though Williams and another valuable senior player, Kaleigh Floyd, graduated last spring, BG returns an impressive nucleus led by Livoti and two sophomores, Halee Adams and Elyssa Ehredt, both of whom played key starting roles on the team last season as freshmen.
Adams scored 11 points in last March's championship game, and may be a candidate to unseat Williams as BG's career scoring leader before she graduates in 2013.
Wannstedt done as Pitt coach
On the surface, the numbers appeared to be good enough for Dave Wannstedt to remain as the head football coach at the University of Pittsburgh.
The Panthers were 42-31 in Wannstedt's six seasons, including a 26-12 record in the past three seasons. Pitt was in contention for a Big East Conference championship this year, and finished with a 7-5 record and a berth in the Jan. 8, 2011 BBVA Compass Bowl in Birmingham, Ala.
But numbers sometimes lie, and in this case, they were deceiving. Pitt failed to play in a Bowl Championship Series [BCS] Bowl under Wannstedt, and the Panthers often floundered on the big stage, being routed by Miami in a national prime-time game this year and getting shellacked by archrival West Virginia in the annual Backyard Brawl. Both games were played on Pitt's home turf at Heinz Field.
Wannstedt resigned his coaching position under pressure Dec. 7, but will remain as a special assistant to athletic director Steve Pederson.
While Pederson attempted to cast Wannstedt's move as a mutual decision, Wannstedt's demeanor at the press conference to announce his departure revealed otherwise.
Pitt hired Miami of Ohio University head coach Michael Haywood to replace Wannstedt Dec. 15. Long-time Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Bradley, a Johnstown native, was reportedly interested in the position, but Pitt did not grant him an interview.
Pirates change managers
After three straight last-place finishes in the National League's Central Division in as many seasons, the Pittsburgh Pirates fired John Russell as their manager following the 2010 campaign. He was replaced by former Colorado Rockies manager Clint Hurdle in November.
Hurdle, 53, had served as the batting coach with the Texas Rangers in the 2010 season. Hurdle and Jeff Banister, who was the Pirates interim bench coach last season, emerged as the two finalists for the position that became open when Russell was let go after compiling a 186-299 record in three seasons at the Pirates' helm, from 2007-09. Last year's club won only 57 of 162 games, finishing 34 games behind the first-place Cincinnati Reds.
PSU spikers win another
Penn State has become the country's elite collegiate women's volleyball program. The Lady Lions won their fourth consecutive NCAA Division I volleyball championship this season, closing out a 32-5 season with a 3-0 victory over the University of California in the title match at Kansas City, Mo. Dec. 18.
Penn State won the championship bout, 25-20, 27-25, 25-20 behind 18 kills and 10 digs from senior Blair Brown and 16 kills from Deja McClendon, who was named the national freshman of the year.
It was Penn State's fifth overall national championship under veteran coach Russ Rose, who took over the program back in 1979.
PIAA track gold rush
Led by seniors Janae Dunchack and Brady Gehret, the Mirror coverage area enjoyed an exemplary showing in the PIAA Track and Field Championships last May 28-29 at Shippensburg University's Seth Grove Stadium.
Dunchack, Northern Cambria's three-sport standout, won her fourth PIAA Class AA girls high jump state championship with an effort of 5 feet, 6 inches. Dunchack, who is now at Dartmouth College, also took third place in the long jump, enabling her to finish her stellar high school track career with a total of eight state medals.
Dunchack became just the 13th athlete in the history of the PIAA track championships to win an event in the meet in four consecutive seasons.
Gehret, Altoona's standout sprinter who committed to Penn State University for a full Division I track scholarship last February, won gold medals in the PIAA, Class AAA boys 200 dash and 400 dash, and a silver medal in the long jump, last May in Shippensburg.
Gehret won the 200 dash in a time of 21.23 and the 400 dash in 46.46 while leading the Altoona High School boys team to its second PIAA Class AAA team championship in three seasons.
Gehret and Dunchack were also named the Mirror's 2009-10 respective boys and girls Athletes of the Year earlier in the month of May last year.
Tyrone sophomore Nick Patton also brought home a gold medal for the Mirror coverage area in the Class AA boys 200 dash at states last spring, winning that event in a time of 22.31.
Schopp captures wrestling title
A.J. Schopp become the 12th state champion in Tyrone Area High School's rich wrestling history last March 13, when he secured the PIAA Class AA 135-pound state championship by defeating Montoursville's Luke Frey, 4-2 in the title match at Hershey's Giant Center.
Schopp wrapped up his senior season with a 42-0 record and his career with a 160-11 mark. He is starting his collegiate wrestling career this winter at Edinboro University.
Schopp negotiated a gauntlet of obstacles to win his first state title last year after finishing second twice and fifth in three previous appearances in Hershey.
He suffered a broken nose in practice drills against Portage state medalist Shawn Perich four days before the state tournament began, and wore a protective facemask during his first three matches at states.
He discarded the facemask prior to the start of the second period of his bout with Frey, who won a state championship at 103 pounds as a freshman in 2008.
Trailing, 2-0, Schopp tilted Frey for two back points in the second period, then scored a third-period reversal to win the match, 4-2.
Schopp reached the championship match by scoring a 4-2 win over Wyomissing High School's Nick Hodgkins - last season's 119-pound champ - in the semifinals.
"I'm feeling pretty good, finally getting the gold this year after three times in the state finals,'' Schopp told the Mirror after his state championship victory.
Schopp was named the Mirror's 2009-10 Wrestler of the Year. He also won the recognition in March 2009 after taking second place in the state tournament at 130.
SFU women reach NCAA tourney
The 2009-10 basketball season was a very special one for the St. Francis University women's basketball team, which won the Northeast Conference Tournament championship and advanced to the NCAA tournament.
The Red Flash entered the NEC Tournament as the fifth seed, but claimed the school's fifth NEC title - and first since 2005 - by defeating second-seeded Long Island, 77-68 in the tournament championship game on the losers' home court.
Senior Britney Hodges - who averaged 22 points in the tournament and was named the tourney's Most Valuable Player - scored a game-high 23 points in the NEC title game as St. Francis built a 16-point lead midway through the second half.
St. Francis punched its ticket to the NCAA tournament and a first-round game against second-seeded Ohio State at the University of Pittsburgh's Petersen Events Center, but the fun ended there for St. Francis, which was defeated, 93-59. The Lady Red Flash finished the season with a 17-15 record.
Neither the St. Francis men's basketball team or the Penn State men's basketball team qualified for postseason competition last March.
The University of Pittsburgh men's basketball squad fell just short of another berth in the NCAA's Sweet Sixteen, losing to Xavier in the second round of the NCAA tournament. The Penn State women's basketball team qualified for the Women's National Invitational Tournament but lost a first-round game there to Hofstra at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Central, P-O teams reach finals
Both the Central High School baseball team and the Philipsburg-Osceola High School softball team reached the state championship game in their respective sports last spring.
Central, seeded seventh in the District 6-AA tournament entering playoff competition, staged a remarkable run through the postseason, finishing second in the state with a 5-3 loss to Bermudian Springs of District 3 in the PIAA Class AA state title game played at Blair County Ballpark June 18.
Central closed its season with a 17-11 record and became the school's first state baseball finalist since 1984, when the Scarlet Dragons dropped a 3-1 decision to Chambersburg in the Class AAA state championship game.
Also last June 18, the P-O softball team dropped its Class AA state championship game to Nanticoke, 3-1, in 11 innings in a matchup of 25-1 teams at Shippensburg University's Robb Field.
Pentoney cries foul
Hollidaysburg Area High School boys basketball coach Mick Pentoney has never been reticent about expressing his personal opinions, but his doing so last January landed him in a barrel of hot water.
In an exclusive interview with the Mirror, Pentoney expressed his displeasure over the fact that top-100 recruit Taran Buie was playing basketball last season as a senior at State College Area High School.
After Buie - the half-brother of Penn State University men's basketball star Talor Battle - had verbally committed to play college basketball at Penn State in the summer of 2009, Pentoney felt that Penn State and the Nittany Lions men's basketball coach, Ed DeChellis, may have motivated the decision of Buie's family to relocate from the Albany, N.Y. area to State College.
"I just look at the timeline,'' Pentoney told the Mirror. "He picks Penn State, and they move to State College. If it looks like a fish and smells like a fish, I think it's a fish. Somebody's trying to tell me it's chicken. It's not healthy for scholastic sports.''
Pentoney made it clear in the interview that he didn't think anybody involved with the State College High School basketball program had any influence in the move, but he instead targeted the Penn State program and the governing bodies of both college sports [the NCAA] and Pennsylvania scholastic sports [the PIAA] for not taking a stronger stand against what he feels are colleges using such a tactic to keep closer tabs on the players they recruit.
The Hollidaysburg Area High School District's administrative officials immediately made it clear that they were distancing themselves from Pentoney's comments, with HASD Superintendent Paul Gallagher maintaining that "the statements made by Mr. Pentoney in the newspaper, that is not our position.''
Pentoney was suspended for one game by the school's administration following his comments.
In a later, related development, Buie told the Mirror that he "just thought the coach acted childishly" when referencing the comments.
"I don't know the guy personally, but I think his comments were childish and ridiculous,'' Buie said of Pentoney's comments.
Battle also refuted Pentoney's claims, saying that his family "moved down here to be closer to me, with no one's help.''
Denise Murphy, the mother of both Buie and Battle, told the Mirror that Penn State University never offered either her or any member of her family any incentives - financial or otherwise - whatsoever in exchange for Buie committing with the Nittany Lions.
"I'm probably one of the most honest people you'll ever meet, and [Penn State] absolutely gave me not one cent, ever,'' Murphy said. "Absolutely not one thing.''
DeChellis, whose team struggled at the bottom of the Big Ten Conference standings all of last winter, called Pentoney's comments "unfortunate,'' but he also refused to dwell on the issue.
"I've got a lot of problems, and that ain't one of them right now,'' DeChellis told the Mirror.
Pentoney later issued a public apology that was published in the Mirror.
Events leaving area
A couple sporting events ended their association with the Altoona area - at least for the immediate future - and the future of a few more are in question here as the 2010 year came to a close.
The Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Association East-West All-Star Football Game in Altoona will probably end after 10 seasons following the announcement, this past summer, that the Allegheny Mountains Convention and Visitors Bureau has discontinued its association with the game.
Also in July, it was announced by the PIAA that, starting next season, the state championship games in both baseball and softball will be held at State College's Medlar Field. The state baseball finals are being transferred to State College from Blair County Ballpark, and the softball finals are moving from Shippensburg University's Robb Field.
After being cancelled in 2009, the Tour de 'Toona came back this past August as a one-day event - a criterium held through the streets of intown Altoona on Sunday, Aug. 29. Two years ago, in 2008, the Tour de 'Toona was also cut back to one race. After its inception as a one-day criterium back in 1987, the Tour de 'Toona eventually grew into one of America's biggest stage races, involving seven days of competition through the 1990s and the early and middle part of this decade.
Altoona also did not host a National Amateur Baseball Federation Regional Tournament at Vets Field last summer for the first time in over a decade, and George B. Kelley Federation teams voted in September not to host a regional again in 2011.
PSU hockey goes Division I
Thanks to the generosity of a wealthy alum, Penn State announced in September plans for a new multi-purpose arena that will house the school's new Division I men's and women's hockey programs.
University leaders announced in September that Penn State's men's and women's current club ice hockey programs are being upgraded to NCAA, Division I status, beginning in the 2012-13 season.
The new arena, which will seat between 5,000 and 6,000 fans and will be completed in 2014, is being funded by an $88 million donation from Penn State alumnus Terry Pegula and his wife, Kim.
Terry Pegula is the founder and former president of the energy company East Resources, Inc., one of the kingpins in the state's natural gas industry. The East Resources, Inc. company was sold earlier this year for $4.7 billion.
Gehret wins national gold
Altoona's Brady Gehret placed first in the Nike Indoor Nationals in the 400-meter dash at Boston's Reggie Lewis Sports & Athletic Center last March 14.
Gehret, who also won two gold medals and two silver medals in the Pennsylvania state indoor track and field championships a week before, captured first place in the national event with a time of 47.69 seconds, edging out James Harris of Lanett High School in Alabama by .04 seconds for the gold medal.
Riley nets title
Peter Riley won the PIAA Class AA boys singles state championship in the PIAA tennis tournament last May 29 at the Hershey Racquet Club.
Riley, who attends Northern Bedford High School but competes in tennis for Tussey Mountain High School because Northern Bedford does not have a tennis program, was declared the state champion after his scheduled opponent in the finals, Drew Hoffman of Lower Moreland High School, was forced to bow out of the tournament due to illness.
"It was bittersweet,'' Riley, a junior last season, said of the victory. "[Hoffman] was a really good player, and I would have liked to have played him in the finals and won, but I guess this happens sometimes.''
Riley, the District 5 singles champion, reached the PIAA final by winning three matches at states, including a 2-6, 6-0, 6-3 victory over Danny Malloy of Wyomissing in the semifinals.
In memory
The following area sports figures passed away during the 2010 calendar year, in order of age: tennis legend Bill Parsons, and former heralded St. Francis University track and cross country coach Father Bede Hines, T.O.R., both 92; former Altoona Area High School track and football standout Jack Hopper, 88; former Hollidaysburg Area High School baseball coach J. Paul "Scrappy" Weaver, 85; former Pittsburgh Pirates broadcaster Nellie King, 82; former Altoona High School football coach Chuck Coder, 80; former area television and radio sports personality Dick Richards, 77; former Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic High School assistant track coach Bill Conrad, 78; the Rev. James Conrad, 72, a former area official, coach and administrator; former Central High School athletic director, basketball and baseball coach Sam Ebersole, 64; former Central Blair Recreation Commission superintendent Ralph Williams, 59; former Tyrone High School assistant football coach John Meredith, 55; Juniata Valley High School girls basketball coach Jama Greene, 32; former Altoona Area High School wrestler Scott Russell, 31; former Chestnut Ridge High School wrestler Chans Feather, 18; former Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic High School basketball player and cross country runner Mary Kantoski, 18; Penn Cambria High School junior wrestler and cross country runner Joey Stoy, 17.


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Danhong Injection in the Treatment of Chronic Stable Angina
This study is currently recruiting participants. (see Contacts and Locations)
Verified September 2016 by China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences
China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences
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Information provided by (Responsible Party):
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First received: September 5, 2012
Last updated: September 27, 2016
Last verified: September 2016
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subset: commoncrawl


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With about 7,000 inhabitants, Appenzell is the political, economic and cultural center of Appenzell Innerrhoden, the smallest Swiss canton. The car-free village beckons with pretty lanes and a myriad of small stores and boutiques that are ideal for shopping and browsing. The facades of the buildings are decorated with frescoes. Appenzell Museum, which is in the town hall, shows a cross section of Appenzell's history and culture.
Nowhere else in Switzerland is the transformation from the hilly landscapes of the Swiss mittelland to the rock-dominated Alpine world so full of surprise as in the Alpstein region. Mighty rock formations tower loftily to over 2500 metres in height – seemingly from nowhere.
A cableway operates between Wasserauen and the Ebenalp (1644 m) – the gateway to the hiking region of the Alpstein – and the "Wildkirchli" cave chapel, which appears to claw dramatically to the rock, can be reached on foot in only 15 minutes by walking through an initially gentle landscape and two caverns. But the position of the Aescher hostelry, captured a thousand times on postcards, is even more spectacular, having been built precariously into the rock face. The Ebenalp is also a paragliding paradise and starting point for the hike up onto the Säntis summit. Mind you, the ascent up onto the Säntis by cableway from Schwägalp is far less strenuous!
Appenzell benefits from a particularly dense network of rambling trails, including 'experience trails' such as the barefoot trail near Gonten, a trail which enables you to experience nature, and the circular chapel trails. Further walking regions in Appenzell: the Kronberg (1663m), which can be reached by cableway from Jakobsbad, and the Hohe Kasten (1795m), whose summit offers magnificent views down into the Rhine valley.
Those visitors seeking noise, hustle and bustle, and crowded ski pistes will be disappointed in Appenzell's winter manifestation. The hilly pre-Alpine landscape and the mighty Alpstein take on the appearance of a snowy-white winter fairytale. Winter walking and cross-country skiing are very widespread in the hilly Appenzell landscapes. A wide network of around 200 km of cross-country ski trails extends through Appenzell. Kronberg, Hoher Kasten and Ebenalp-Schwende are popular ski areas with families in winter.
- Säntis – at 2502 metres, the highest summit of the Alpstein massif with superb sweeping views of six countries.
- Art Museum of Appenzell and "Ziegelhütte" Art Gallery – housed in a modern design by the Zurich-based architects Gigon/Guyer, the museum and art gallery are dedicated to the paintings of Carl Liner senior and junior, as well as contemporary artwork.
- Ebenalp with "Wildkirchli" – the gentle landscape suddenly becomes dramatic; the "Wildkirchli" cave chapel and nearby Aescher hostelry claw to the rock face.
- Hoher Kasten – lookout and hill walking mountain (1795m) served by a cableway from Brülisau. Panoramic views across the Appenzeller landscape and into the Rhine valley, Alpine garden with 192 Alpine species.
Top Events
- Provincial assembly in Appenzell – in keeping with age-old tradition, cantonal votes are cast and decisions reached in the open-air (April).
- "Ländlerfest" in Appenzell – folk music festival with Appenzell stringed-instrument music (normally two violins, cello, dulcimer and double bass) and folk dancing (August).
- 'Chlaus' market – pre-Christmas Sunday market in Appenzell (December).


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6 Real Video Games That Were Too Insane To Release
Waterworld (Sega Genesis)The movie Waterworld lost so many millions of dollars that it would have been cheaper and less embarrassing if Kevin Costner spent $110,000,000 hiring crowds of people to watch him cry during sex. While he was filming Waterworld, MC Hammer was holding Oakland money eating contests that were more fiscally responsible -- and more watchable.
The movie was made into a game for the Super Nintendo; a game that's historically considered less fun than playing with a small pox blanket. It was also released for the Virtual Boy, but wasn't received as well there. In fact, "Waterworld on Virtual Boy" is now how you tell a computer to fuck itself in machine language. It's the most horrible thing to ever be put inside a Virtual Boy, including Japanese robot inventors.
Finally, after making the worst movie into worst game on the worst system, someone said enough, and the Sega Genesis of Waterworld release was canceled. The game required players to kill tiny semi-harmless jet skis from their sailboat that kept coming and coming until the everyone-is-dead alarm went off. This was your signal to start your search, while an alarm sounded, for a buoy that lets you dive into the water. When your core gameplay is "go ahead and shoot until we tell you to stop," that lacks strategy or even simple urgency. Waterworld might as well ask the player to wait in the car for 20 minutes while it goes and gets its nails done. Except that if Waterworld did that, it would come back three months late, let you know the bill was way more than it expected, and ask you to pretend to be a chicken because it sold you to its Vietnamese manicurist. The only thing you can trust Waterworld to do is fuck up in every direction.
If you get to the water-diving stage, it's so dull your body will swear it's dying of old age. You slowly steer Kevin Costner through underwater ruins to collect treasures where it's impossible to tell what you will or won't get stuck on. To add to the excitement, nothing has any interest in killing you. This game is as rewarding as finding a fish in your couch. The only way you could have a more miserable Waterworld-like experience is getting a job as Dennis Hopper's condom.
Rap Basketball (Super Nintendo)Rap Basketball is hard to explain, but let me see what I can do: It was going to be a mix of rap and basketball. Now that that's over, the plan was to have rappers with no basketball experience be the stars of the game. Unfortunately, this chain of stereotypes leading from rap to black to basketball created a bizarre vortex of unlogic that only didn't sound racist if you were already a racist. I mean, don't get me wrong, I bet LL Cool J is great at basketball, but I'd never say that to his face.
Before any rappers were signed, the production company bounced all its checks to its contractors and went out of business. Rap Basketball died a hard death. The game was finished up to the point where the player could control one of four identical men, dribble a basketball, drop a basketball, and do nothing else. I can't believe they threw that much work away. Here's a couple ideas on how they could have released it exactly how it is:
So I guess we can be thankful that such a stupid idea never made it to the market. A game about rappers playing basketball? That's ... oh shit, never mind. In 1995, Mandigo made that exact thing starring such notable basketball stars as Queen Latifah, House of Pain, and Coolio. It was called Rap Jam: Volume One, if only so us future people could enjoy the told-you-so feeling of there never being a Volume Two.
Steven Seagal is The Final Option (Super Nintendo)No one has a worse movie-star-to-video-game ratio than Steven Seagal. Robin Williams and Tim Allen have had more video games based on their movies than Steven Seagal. That's the kind of outrageous statistic that makes me think math is calling us pussies. Steven Seagal and TecMagik tried to fix this in 1994 with Steven Seagal is The Final Option. It was cancelled, renamed Deadly Honor, then cancelled again. During that time, nine games about Power Rangers were released. My god... according to these numbers, that means there are fewer than negative eight balls on every one gamer.
Steven Seagal had a lot of input on the game, which explains why it might not have been awesome in the way they wanted it to be awesome. In the first mission you infiltrate Nanotech's underground munitions depot, an underground munitions depot populated by only two kinds of people: maintenance workers and lab technicians. The odds were ridiculous even for an action star famous for his one-sided fights. Fact: The closest a fist has ever come to Steven Seagal's face in a movie is when the script calls for his character to eat a hot dog. In fact, there's a Hollywood legend that when Steven Seagal eats a hot dog, they have to slow the film down just so you can see it.
The Nanotech lab technicians are the bravest corporate employees you'll ever see. They don't run away when a well-armed maniac bursts into their office and murders their janitor. They don't even drop their clipboards. While you threaten to sue the company every time a co-worker gets caught smelling your gym clothes, these guys walk right up to Steven Seagal and jab him with their free hand. Nanotech needs to give these guys a raise. And in honor of these kick ass scientists, I'm going to scientifically prove how they star in the perfect game:
Controls: Steven Seagal moves like time-lapse footage of a pigeon decomposing and it's a five step process for him to change directions. So in that way, this is a precise simulation of what it's like to pilot a Steven Seagal.
Graphics: In Steven Seagal is the Final Option, you look exactly like Steven Seagal from Hard to Kill. Which is easily the nicest thing anyone has ever said about anything. They never finished Seagal's running animation which is a shame because I'm sure it would have involved motion capturing a fat woman waking up in bathtub full of snakes.
Realism: Steven Seagal has proven many, many times that if he has a knife and a gun and he goes up against a scientist carrying papers, he wins. It's the main reason science has no explanation for Steven Seagal-- no one has ever returned from studying him.


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Whirlpool Gold 2.0 cu. ft. Over-the-Range Microwave w/ AccuWave® Power System - White
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- Evenly cook, defrost, reheat, soften and melt with constant, gentle heat - The AccuWave® power system lets you easily thaw chicken without cooking the edges and reheat sauce without splatters
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Ball State Sports Link: Changing of the Guard
Change. It's a constant in college athletics. For 33 years, Laura Seibold-Caudill was a constant for Ball State Women's Swimming and Diving.
Now, new head coach Kristy Castillo is in charge. Ball State Sports Link's Brandon Scott and Chris Kosinski have this feature.
Join The SL Nation:
Connect with over 7,000 other fans and get daily updates and videos with BSU's largest social media network for BSU Sports - Ball State Sports Link.
Like SL on Facebook: www.facebook.com/BallStateSportsLink and Follow SL on Twitter:@bsusportslink.
About Ball State Sports Link:
During the semester, students will produce a broad range of media from live remote productions, live-to-tape events, television programs (WIPB-TV, Comcast Indiana, ESPN Networks, Fox Sports Net, Cardinal Vision 57), student-athlete features and webcasts. Other facets of the immersion program include radio, newspapers, podcasts and the use of mobile technology and interactivity via the web.
To maintain a focus on cross-platform promotion, students repackage the feature stories they create for local use at Ball State and send them to local news stations and outlets in the hometown of the featured player-on any platform the station may require.


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9 Tips for Surviving While Stranded at the Airport
#4. Rooting Out Dissidents
Denis Doyle/Getty Images News/Getty Images
"What did Steve ever do?" they'll say. "What does Steve have to do with a snowstorm or a goat on the runway or whatever the fuck Chicago's problem is?" they'll say. "He's just a dude," they'll say. Make sure it's the last thing they say.
Steve lovers are race traitors, and race traitors will not be tolerated.
Look, accidents happen. Sometimes those archaic, humid "horsey sauce" packets from the airport Arby's just find their way into some arrogant Steve apologist's coffee. Sometimes furious tapeworm infestations just kind of happen.
#3. Establish Your Rule
Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images
Make it official. A king is a king only so long as the people believe he is, so cement that symbolism in your followers early. A king is not a man. A king is a throne. A king is a crown. A throne made out of the carry-on baggage of his followers. A crown made out of the seized iPhone chargers of the betrayers.
#2. Secure Your Dynasty
Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
Death is an inevitability. No man is immortal, no matter what deals he may strike with the great and powerful Newsstand Witches of Terminal 4. A life is a fleeting thing, but a legacy? A legacy may extend for thousands of years. But for a legacy, you need an heir, and for an heir, you need a queen. Your fellow passengers will beg for admittance to your impenetrable baggage fort. They will fall over themselves for the chance to sow your seed, to bathe in the fantastic waters of your luxuriant drinking fountain pools. They will do anything -- everything -- to ensure that their children and their children's children will never go without battery life. You will have your pick of mates.
But do not be swayed by mere beauty and grace. Your legacy will not be secured by lust, but by intelligent maneuvering and the fortification of power. Sure, she looks like the ass end of Yugoslavia boned Herman Munster and somebody hit the baby with a shovel, but that stewardess is your smartest choice for queen. She is always privy to the holy flight information. She is the avatar of the Airport's whims on Earth. Securing her hand will make your rule not just politically sound, but divinely blessed.
#1. Acclimating to Society Again
Digital Vision./Digital Vision/Getty Images
So your flight has finally arrived and started boarding, and you're struggling with the concept of giving up your mighty Gate Kingdom to rejoin the common world as a peon. It can be heartbreaking, I know, but resist the urge to wage violent and bloody war against the rest of the airport. You cannot hold your empire against the modern world. There is a life waiting for you out there. You need to suck it up, put what's left of your pants back on, pull your carry-on from the battlements, tell Gergana it was all pillow talk, and wash Steve's blood off of your face before they start calling for Zone 3. You've probably got about 20 minutes left. But hey, do you know what that's plenty of time for? A slice of wet pizza and a quick "Yugo blitz" behind the people mover -- you know, for old time's sake.
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Some virtuosos play the piano to perfection, others paint like Picasso, but for MGH physician-researchers, talent lies in the art of discovery.
Existing mouse models do not appear to accurately reproduce the human genomic response to serious traumatic injury, including major burns.
Serious traumatic injuries, including major burns, set off a "genomic storm" in human immune cells, altering around 80 percent of the cells' normal gene expression patterns.
A team led by MGH scientists has developed a new microfluidic tool for quickly and accurately isolating neutrophils – the most abundant type of white blood cell – from small blood samples, an accomplishment that could provide information essential to better understanding the immune system's response to traumatic injury.
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Wedding Garment (Matthew chapter 22 verses 11 and 12) - Printable Version
+- The British Orthodox Church - Fellowship Forum (http://britishorthodox.org/forum)
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+--- Thread: Wedding Garment (Matthew chapter 22 verses 11 and 12) (/showthread.php?tid=51)
Wedding Garment (Matthew chapter 22 verses 11 and 12) - Mark Fletcher - 09-02-2007
Quote:11 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there was a man which had not on a wedding garment. 12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
In the Parable of the Feast (Matthew chapter 22 verses 1 to 14), Jesus speaks of a wedding garment. Does Orthodoxy believe that this wedding garment is a reference to the bodies of spiritualised matter which Christians will receive at the Second Coming of Jesus?
Is it correct to see the Holy and Divine Fire that 'builds' these new bodies as in some sense 'golden' in nature, and therefore to refer to this as in some way a golden wedding garment ?
- admin - 09-02-2007
Hi Mark
That's an interesting question.
The idea of 'being clothed' and 'putting on' is found in much of the New Testament, which explains and explores what Christ spoke of.
Here are some of the passages which seem relevant:
Quote:For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
This speaks of our human physicality as being a 'tabernacle' or tent, and that it will be changed for something more permanent, an eternal building made by God Himself for us. This seems to me to describe something which is still physical but even more real than our present reality, just as a house made of bricks and stone is more solid than a tent.
And this passage speaks about the longing for something more real that many or most of us feel as we struggle with illness, weakness, sin and various other deficiencies in our present condition - but our new life will not be 'naked', we are not called to be purely spiritual beings, but it is the will of God for us that we be completed with a physicality, but a better and more substantial one. Heaven is not a ghostly sitting on clouds - as far as I can see from the Scripture and my reading of the Fathers - but we will have a new physicality that is described as 'life', even while our present physicality is described as 'mortality'.
So I think this passage would allow us to understand the 'wedding garment' as a new physicality which is filled with divine life, in every sense. Yes, indeed, filled with a Holy and Divine Fire, which in our present state is rather hidden, and manifested only occasionally as a glorious and uncreated light, but which in that state will be openly revealed, just as a wedding garment is the best and most expensive set of clothes a guest has.
Quote:He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
This passage suggests to me that the imagery of clothing uses whiteness, and this fits in which the traditional clothing of candidates for baptism who wear white, and in the West the clothing of those being confirmed is also white, and in recent times the dress of the bride at a wedding.
This passage suggests to me that those who are clothed by God are those who persevere in faith and life. I sense that this is important to Orthodoxy. The Christian Faith is not about intellectual acceptance of certain propositions, but about entering into life and persevering in life. I drive past a Baptist Church near my house and I notice that many of the things that they have on their posters are propositions about faith, not faith in Christ Himself as a person. Ultimately, though I do believe that right belief is necessary because like taking medicine, if we have wrong ideas we may harm ourselves or make ourselves ill, nevertheless we have a relationship with Christ, the Son of God, as we have a relationship with a doctor. We do not get health by believing propositions about our Doctor.
What I think I am trying to say is that the ones in white garments are not those who go to Church a lot, they are not those who believe that Jesus died for their sins as a mere proposition, rather they are those who entered into life, divine life, and persevered in that life and these garments are reflective of that life, and are white as a sign of the purity and holiness of this life.
Quote:I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
Here again is another interesting passage which ties together 'overcoming' and 'white raiment'. There is also the idea of not being naked, which came up earlier. And there is the idea here also that these who are clothed are those who have invited Christ to become the centre of their life, the root and foundation, they are those who share His life and share their life with Him.
If we take a look at some of the passages which talk about putting on clothing we find:
Quote:And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
This opposes one type of clothing 'works of darkness' with another type of clothing 'armour of light'.
This suggests to me that our 'spiritual clothing' is not only something in the future but is something we should have a care for right now. Can the angels see how we are spirtually dressed, even if we can't? I wonder if I am dressed in dark and dreary tatters or if I begun in some small sense to prepare for the wedding banquet?
Quote:For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. (1 Corinthians 15:53-54)
This is another good passage with a clothing connection. As the first passage spoke of mortality and putting on life, so this passage speaks of corruption and incorruptibility, mortality and immortality. And I suggest that death, which shall be utterly defeated and eliminated is found in our corruptibility and our mortality, it is not merely the cessation of breath and heart-beat, or the separation of the soul from the body for a time, but it is all of the weakness and burden of our present state. This is death. But we shall be clothed with life.
Quote:For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (Galatians 3:27)
And how do we 'put on' this new life? We are taught that it is through baptism, and this then leads to a need to understand what is meant by baptism in the Orthodox perspective. Not a mere ritual, but a renewal of our spiritual being and the beginning of the renewal of our physicality. We become a 'new man'. Indeed we become Christ, in that we share His life, and the word Christian does mean 'little Christ'.
All of this, all of these analogies, are far removed from the idea that a Christian is someone who goes to Church, believes things about God, or has a merely intellectual relationship with faith. To cover our nakedness it is not enough to 'know about' clothes. It is not enough to have owned a piece of clothing at some time in the past. It is not even enough to spend a lot of time in clothes shops! We need to put some clothes on and be in intimate connection with them such that all that we do our clothes do with us. In the same way we must put Christ on, not know about Him, not merely visit places where others have a relationship with Him, not even have prayed to Him at some time in the past. We need to be in an intimate relationship with Him, as close as between clothes and the one who wears them.
One last passage, and there are many others
Quote:And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. (Ephesians 4:24)
This is what I think the wedding garments are. They are the 'new man' we receive in baptism and must then 'live out' in the rest of our lives. This 'new man' only grows to maturity in a living and sacramental relationship with Christ. It can become stained and need renewal. It can become weak and need strengthening. It is a new principle of life within us which we must discover and live out from. (Indeed I have become recently interested in the ideas of the Society of Friends in regard to the indwelling light, which I think echo the traditional Orthodox descriptions of the spiritual life).
Even here though there is a linking of the new man with a change of life. The garments are white - holy and pure - and we do not receive new life so that we have an excuse to continue in sin. But this white garment is a gift from God without any obligation on His part. We do not receive this garment because we are good enough, because we are never good enough, we receive it so that we can begin to share in God's life, now and in the life to come.
Back to your question...
I think that the wedding garment IS related to the spiritualised body which we will receive, but also that it is related to our becoming spiritualised persons even now, since the source of our being has been spiritualised by union with Christ in baptism.
I hope some of this is useful, it certainly helped me to consider these passages.
Thanks - Mark Fletcher - 09-02-2007
Thank you so very much for your comprehensive and interesting reply which I will consider carefully.
Over 15 years ago, I went on holiday to Glastonbury with a friend. We both attended a quiet, midweek Anglican Eucharist celebrated by a very elderly priest. One couldn't fail to notice his "true personhood": a sort of ordinariness which seemed exceptionally holy, pure and loving. I mentioned this to my friend afterwards, and she told me that as soon as she saw him, she noticed that he was suffused with a gentle, golden light. She also told me that she used to know an elderly Anglican priest in Surrey who demonstrated exactly the same personal qualities and had the same golden light within and around him. That was my reason for asking the question!
- admin - 09-02-2007
Dear Mark
I am not able to comment on the colour of the uncreated and transfiguring light which suffuses some of those who have true personhood in Christ, but it may indeed be as you describe. You may know this passage from St Seraphim of Sarov's conversation with Motovilov, which describes this light. And this whole piece is worth reading here.
http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets ... raphim.htm
http://www.orthodoxphotos.com/readings/ ... ings.shtml
http://www.unicorne.org/ORTHODOXY/artic ... raphim.htm
Quote:"And in fact the Lord has frequently demonstrated before many witnesses how the grace of the Holy Spirit acts on people whom He has sanctified and illumined by His great inspiration [14]. Remember Moses after his talk with God on Mount Sinai. He so shone with an extraordinary light that people were unable to look at him. He was even forced to wear a veil when he appeared in public. Remember the Transfiguration of the Lord on Mount Tabor. A great light encircled Him, and His raiment became shining, exceedingly white like snow (Mk. 9:3), and His disciples fell on their faces from fear. But when Moses and Elias appeared to Him in that light, a cloud overshadowed them in order to hide the radiance of the light of the divine grace which blinded the eyes of the disciples. Thus the grace of the All-Holy Spirit of God appears in an ineffable light to all to whom God reveals its action."
Discussion - John Charmley - 09-02-2007
Dear Mark,
As the process of theosis advances, we do, perhaps, put on the white garments - it would not be surprising if it were so, or that those so attuned could see signs of it.
We have, many of us (I hope) had the experience of being with someone who seemed to radiate quiet holiness; such people are a sign of what it is possible to be as a human being in this world.
Our Lord, knowing us, does His best to keep it simple, telling us in Matthew 22:37-40:
Quote:37 Jesus said to him, `You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'If you ponder these words, you will see how they are the pattern for the Christian life.
In Christ,
- admin - 09-02-2007
I was fortunate to meet Brother Ramon a couple of times before I got married, in fact I spent some days on retreat at Glasshampton, the Anglican Society of Saint Francis monastery over near Gloucester just days before I got married.
He was such a man...and his spirituality was transforming and indeed he radiated the light of Christ within him. He was a wonderful man, and it was a sadness to discover that after many years, when I decided to get back in touch with him, he had died a few months before of cancer.
It is a blessing to know other people, even ordinary Christians who would not think highly of themselves, but who have a savour of Christ about them, I mean in their manner of life, their gentleness and kindness, their humility and sense of their own unworthiness.
I hope that one day the same might be true in some small measure of me as well.
Quote:Let your light so shine before men that they will see your good deeds and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
- admin - 09-02-2007
There is a lengthy paper here by Father Matta el Meskeen (Matthew the Poor) about the manifestation of light in the Christian life. I haven't read it yet but even the first page is good.
http://www.coptichymns.net/module-libra ... age-1.html
Here is a bit..
Quote:Thus, God began his revelation to man based on the inner man, i.e., his spiritual consciousness, where God is revealed not through fire, but through the inextinguishable and uncreated true light. It is the light of God Himself that uncovers that which is hidden. It enlightens man's heart, mind and life. It reveals all Godly matters and the eternal life in which he is invited to live with God and to enter into an eternal relationship with Him. For the revelation of God is to know the truth, eternal life, and the total knowledge of God, which inevitably absorbs all that concerns God. It is the knowledge of eternal truth itself, acquiring it, owning it, uniting and sharing with it. It is impossible for anyone to get to know it unless he totally understands and grasps it. Therefore he who does not know the truth does not possess it and share it. Such are God's ways.
Thanks - Mark Fletcher - 09-02-2007
I felt moved to tears by your responses. Thank you both so very much for taking the time and trouble to respond in this way. I shall print off the pieces you suggest and look at them carefully.
The elderly priest known to my friend was a man of massive intellectual gifts who knew the late Metropolitan Anthony Bloom of the Russian Orthodox Church very well. He was totally humble and devoted to being a parish priest. He refused all offers of preferment, and enjoyed the company of children hugely. He gave her great peace of mind when her second son was born with handicaps and the possibility of death. He baptised him twice: once in the hospital, and once in the church as a kind of thanksgiving. There was something extraordinarily peaceful, loving and understanding about him which made him very attractive to people of all kinds.
Thanks again.
Discussion - John Charmley - 10-02-2007
Dear Mark,
Those people mentioned by Peter and yourself are reminders of what we are called to be, and what, with His help, we can become.
Orthodoxy seems to me the only Christian teaching that brings together all the senses, and which makes sense; this life can be transformed for us by the love of God, and everything we do, and everything we experience can be part of the process of transformation - as long as we fix our minds and hearts on God, and as long as we love Him and one another.
Even though we have fallen away from what we are meant to be, He can bring us back - if we let Him.
In Christ,
Thanks - Mark Fletcher - 10-02-2007
Thank you for the posting John. I think that the word 'Allow' is a very important one! I have a feeling that Divine Life, Light and Fire is something that is given and not earned in any way - and yet there is a response which we have to make; an acceptance and a growth within it that is essential for it to retain its "hold" on us.
I remembered this morning Matthias Grunewald's extraordinary masterpiece of 1515: The Isenheim Altarpiece: The Resurrection:
One senses the 'otherness' of that golden radiance. It always sends shivers down my spine when I see it! Thank you for your kindness to me in helping me to understand a little, and for your prayers.
Thanks - Mark Fletcher - 12-02-2007
Thank you so very much for that. I shall print it off and treaure it as the feast of truth that it is and think about it prayerfully.
Light - John Charmley - 12-02-2007
Dear Fr. Simon,
Thank you for this sermon, which provides us all with much hope and inspiration.
Churchill once said 'We are all worms, but I do believe that I am a glow worm'. That, I suspect, was said in a spirit of hubris, but if we approach it in the spirit of your sermon, it would provide something at which to aim.
It sometimes occurs to me that we can complicate things too much, and your words pick a way through the thickets for us. If we walk in His way, if we obey His commandments, and if we love one another as He loves us, then our little light can flicker in the darkness; if we all light our candle, then the darkness is further diminished.
One of the things that has struck me about the BOC is that it is so good at conveying the deep simplicity of the Faith; love the Lord Our God, love one another, keep the commandments; there is such depth in these things that a lifetime spent in study would scarcely suffice to get far below the surface. But there is a radical simplicity in the Christian life and in prayer that we can all come to it and grow in Him.
I am grateful to the British Orthodox Church for providing a place where someone who is English can come and discover the fullness of the Orthodox Faith in an ethos which is welcoming and, if I may use the word, homely.
I would encourage any of the Fellowship here who have been thinking about converting to pray for guidance; what I have found has been so wonderful.
In Christ,


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With the nation apparently headed for higher taxes under the scenario known as the "fiscal cliff," Sacramento-area experts offered ways Thursday for people to prepare their personal finances.
Without congressional action, current tax rates will expire on Dec. 31, resulting in a $536-billion federal tax increase.
According to the Tax Policy Center, taxes would go up for more than 88 percent of Americans by an average of $3,500 per year.
Ray Benetti, a certified public account in Sacramento's Arden-Arcade area, said he has been receiving a half-dozen calls a day from clients who want to know how they should prepare.
"To get prepared for next year, you have to do something now. And I think a lot of clients are asking if they should sell stocks that have gains, and we're recommending that they do," Benetti told KCRA 3.
Benetti said it is almost certain that taxes on capital gains -- profits earned on stock transactions -- will go up in 2013.
He said he is also recommending to some clients to move expected income into the current year.
"People that are self-employed or that own a business can do that by calling their customers and saying, 'Would you pay your bill in advance?', if you're a cash-basis taxpayer, for example," Benetti said.
Dennis Ventry, a tax law professor at UC Davis School of Law, agreed that those two strategies might work for some people with high-level incomes.
However, he said middle-class Americans could do "little to nothing" to prepare for the fiscal cliff.
Ventry suggested people could begin to budget for the higher tax bill, but added even that would be difficult because of the complexities of the changes being considered.
Ventry said many employers were prepared to withhold more money from employee paychecks beginning next week.
However, he said many people may not know how much the "fiscal cliff" will cost them until early 2014 when they file their taxes for the coming year.
While watching his children skate at the ice rink in downtown Sacramento Thursday evening, Reid Sewell of Oliverhurst said he felt there was little he could do to prepare at this point.
"If we didn't think (lawmakers) were going to have it together before now, I might have had time. Now I'm just going to have to cut going into the year and see how things go," Sewell said.
"With six children, we have football, we have soccer. We'll have to take a look at that and see what we can do about cutting into those or find another way to come up with the money for it," Sewell said.
Amber Quiliza, who was at the skating rink with her seven children, said the effects of the "fiscal cliff" could trickle down to them as well.
"We were planning on giving them an allowance this year. I don't know (if) it's going to happen this year," Quiliza said.


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I think John Nicks has his work cut out for him. Ashley has to go into Worlds like she is skating for the world championship. If she backs in hoping not to fall, there's trouble ahead.
I think John Nicks has his work cut out for him. Ashley has to go into Worlds like she is skating for the world championship. If she backs in hoping not to fall, there's trouble ahead.
You are assuming all these would skate clean. I don't know about that, ice IS slippery.
Also, at Nationals, Wagner was battling salmonella from the previous week and still recovering from the hip pointer (training-wise, at least). Assuming she can avoid more rancid chicken ceasar salad, she SHOULD be in better fighting shape.
So, giving the same consideration, if all clean, she will be around 7 or 8.
If all make one mistake, she will be around 7 or 8.
If she's clean, and all make mistake, then she maybe stay in the top 3.
For SP only, here are some who will place higher than her if they are clean and she is clean.
Mao,yuna, Carolina, adelina, Liza, kiira, akiko, maybe even Gracie and the Canadian girl as well.
There are about 9 girls who can get ahead of her.
Maybe with enough push, her pcs will cancel out some of her tes deficit, that's why I think at best, she can hope for 7 or 8. At worst, could be out of top 10, even when she is clean.
However, I take your point. I guess we'll see what happens
ETA: For this post I am also addressing SP only.
Last edited by tulosai; 02-08-2013 at 02:29 PM.
The big question Wagner will be facing is whether to go for the 3-3 and 2A/3T. I don't know how consistent or comfortable she is with those jumps, especially considering her recent setbacks. Like MM implied, I think she'll just have to take a deep breath and go for broke, holding nothing back. Only then will she have some sort of shot, assuming she doesn't screw up.
Gold will obviously go for it all - I will wait until after Four Continents for final thoughts on her.
If she goes for broke, it will take at least a few melt down for her to make the podium. She's second tier. Only way is to out TES the top girls. Problem is the top girls currently out TES her. And with PCS disadvantage, it is grim and dim prospect.
Next year's Olympics could be a shark tank.
You've got.
Yu-Na Kim, the reigning Olympic Champ who can put up unreal scores.
Mao Asada, the two time world and two time GPF champions who can do three triple axels in a single competition.
Carolina Kostner, the PCS Queen, who is at the peak of her career.
Kaytlyn Osmond, Canadian star, who is surprisingly good, and dominant.
Julia Lipinskaia, the Junior World Champion who put up a 187 spot (Junior World Record). One of the best spinners.
Elizaveta TUKTAMYSHEVA. Absolute beast. Can give you 7 triples every day.
Adelina SOTNIKOVA, THREE time Russian national champion whose personal best score is eighth in the world.
Kanako Murakami, 2010 Junior World Champion, and 2010-2011 GPF Bronze MEdalist. Has infinite potential.
Akiko Suzuki, a skater who found her mojo after 24. Absolutely on Fire.
Ashley Wagner, this girl is ferocious to compete with when she's on.
Gracie Gold. 3Lz-3T, 2A-3T, combinations make her a 130+ LP force to be reckoned with.
And the great thing is at least 6 of these skaters will be staying on for Pyongchang. It should be a wild ride.
I think this might be a worlds Ashley will want to forget, not as bad as czisny's last year, of course, but embarrassing. Going to worlds not winning the lp at her own nationals does not bode well. As one writer put it, Gracie stole her thunder. Psychologically, there is no way she is going to forget the falls she has had in her last two events, one resulting in a serious injury. I think she will skate conservatively and hold back, and as one poster indicated that could really be problematic. I think she should probably have gone to 4CC and in a less pressured competition than worlds hopefully had a good skate and completely regained her confidence. I expect Gracie will out rank her at worlds.
It seems like a lot of people are worried, and some have written out Wagner completely as a top contender. I would love nothing more than for her to do well and show everyone what's what, but then again, I want them all to do well. I'm not holding my breath, but I'll be very happy if Ashley does well. I just want everyone to be on their A-game, then I'll be happy no matter who medals.


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EAST PALESTINE - It's looking like the Inter-Tri County League upper tier is going to be a two-horse race the rest of the way.
Springfield has the lead at the top of the stretch with Mineral Ridge one length off the pace. As for the rest, they're just hoping to show.
East Palestine was the Tigers latest victim as Springfield practically led wire-to-wire in a 53-46 win on Tuesday.
Springfield is 9-2 overall and 8-0 in the league. Mineral Ridge, fresh off a victory over Crestview on Tuesday, is 7-1 in the league. The rest have at least four losses including East Palestine at 4-6 overall and 4-4 ITCL.
"We're trying to pull away," Springfield coach Eric Fender said. "This win tonight helped us gain a big lead on East Palestine, but we still have tough games left."
The forward duo of Mark Schuler and Jared McTigue had 17 points each to lead the Tigers against the physical Bulldogs.
"It was one of my better games," McTigue said. "I guess I got open and guys got me the ball and I scored."
McTigue said he's really impressed by the way the sophomore Schuler has been developing.
"He knows what to do," McTigue said. "He's growing and he's still young, but he's a good player."
"(Schuler) is stepping up," Fender said. "He's getting more confidence in his jump shot. He made a few tonight once he started seeing the ball fall in the hole pretty early. The hoop widens a bit when you do that. It becomes like throwing the ball in the ocean sometimes."
Eoghan Bees, who had been one of Springfield's top scoring threats earlier in the season, had three points against the Bulldogs, but was integral in managing the pace and controlling the offense.
"I've played with him all of my life, so I know what he's like and he knows what I'm like," McTigue said. "We have good chemistry."
East Palestine has now lost four straight against its rivals from down the road. The loss means the Bulldogs won't be in the discussion for the league title for the second straight season.
"I don't anticipate Springfield losing four out of their last six," East Palestine coach Tom Bingham said. "We're going to try to play spoiler and gain some momentum for the tournament."
Austen Reiser, a senior forward, kept the Bulldogs within range to make a run at a win, but the Tigers managed the lead good enough so that the threat never materialized.
"We wanted to find Reiser on defense," Fender said. "We know the other players are good players, but we know he's capable of putting up 30 or 40 points. We wanted to try to deny him as much as possible."
Reiser did manage 17 points and 16 rebounds. The only time East Palestine was even with Springfield was at 0-0 and 2-2. Springfield balanced a double-digit lead for most of the second half.
"I give them all the credit," East Palestine coach Tom Bingham said. "There's a reason they're 8-0 in the league. They executed well and they shot well. They also took care of the basketball."
Springfield also got some important support off the bench as Joe Wrask buried two key threes in the second quarter to push the Tigers out to their first double-digit advantage of the game.
"His confidence wasn't there coming down to the end of the first half of the year because he wasn't hitting some shots," Fender said. "He started building that against Jackson-Milton and that continued against East Palestine. He played a great role for us and hit some nice shots."
With an 11-point advantage heading into the fourth quarter, the Tigers ate large chunks of the clock and had no trouble avoiding any big run that they thought the Bulldogs might mount.
"We managed the lead really well," Fender said. "We had a few sloppy turnovers and at the end of the first half our shot selection wasn't too good at times, but we're still learning. We're only now exactly halfway through the season. We're going to get better."
Springfield won the jayvee game 39-21. Jared Musial had 16 points for the Tigers. Austin Reynolds had nine points for the Bulldogs.
Springfield is at South Range on Friday. East Palestine travels to United on Friday.


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From 2004 through 2012, Penn State has or will open Big Ten play on the road seven times in nine seasons. Meanwhile, the conference has given Ohio State a home opener in league play 70 percent of the time since the Nittany Lions entered in 1993.
The Penn State conspiracy theorists -- who believe the Big Ten has never treated its newest member (until Nebraska) fairly -- certainly would say that sounds a little fishy.
Is it a big deal? Maybe, maybe not. Good teams find a way to win on the road, but clearly the first conference game helps set the tone for the remainder of the season.
The Lions have lost five of their last six conference openers on the road. They haven't been much better at home, though, losing four of their last five.
Whether all this matters much or not is up for debate, but the schedule facts compared to Ohio State do speak for themselves.
In 20 seasons from 1993 to 2012, the Buckeyes have/will be at home for the conference opener 14 times, compared to only eight for Penn State. The entire chart is to the right and shows that only Northwestern (six) and Minnesota and Iowa (seven apiece) have had fewer conference openers at home than PSU.
Fact Box
Where to begin
In a span of 20 years, since Penn State joined the Big Ten in 1993 and through the 2012 season, this is how many times each league member has/will open up conference play at home versus on the road:
Ohio State.....14.....6
Michigan State.....10.....10
Penn State.....8.....12
*--Joins league in 2011
How PSU has fared
The Lions have played nine road games and eight at home to start Big Ten play. But with road trips this year and the next two, it will be seven road openers in nine years from 2004-2012 and 12 in a 20-year span. The outcomes since 1993:
1993.....Minnesota.....W, 38-20
1995.....Wisconsin.....L, 17-9
1999.....Indiana.....W, 45-24
2001.....Iowa.....L, 24-18
2002.....Iowa.....L, 42-35
2003.....Minnesota.....L, 20-14
2008.....Illinois.....W, 38-24
2009.....Iowa.....L, 21-10
1994.....Minnesota.....W, 56-3
1996.....Wisconsin.....W, 23-20
1997.....Illinois.....W, 41-6
1998.....Ohio State.....L, 28-9
2000.....Ohio State, L, 45-6
2004.....Wisconsin.....L, 16-3
2005.....Northwestern.....W, 34-29
2006.....Ohio State.....L, 28-6
2007.....Michigan.....L, 14-9
The Lions travel to Iowa to start conference play Saturday. They will be on the road again the next two years and, although they were at home in 2008 and '09, they also were on the road four straight years from 2004-07.
Additionally, the Lions have had four years (2007, 2004, 1998, 1996) when their first two league games were on the road.
On "The NitWits" TV program Sunday night, the Mirror's Neil Rudel brought up the point that the Lions have been on the road to start Big Ten play a lot recently, so we researched how they compare to other teams.
Mark Rudner, who's in charge of scheduling for the Big Ten, said he has never been made aware of that breakdown or that Ohio State has been at home 14 out of 20 years. (The Buckeyes do open on the road this year at Illinois.)
"Very interesting," Rudner said. "Did not know that."
Rudner is associate commissioner of the Big Ten and is in his 32nd year with the league. He's also an Ohio State alum, which the Penn State conspiracy theorists surely will find interesting.
Rudner dismissed the notion that the league plays favorites on issues like scheduling or anything else.
"There is simply no truth to that whatsoever," he said. "It's pure folly to think that, and all we do and all we can do is create schedules based on the parameters that we're given by our athletic directors. They're the ones who approved the schedule."
The scheduling parameters, Rudner noted, that must be followed by the league include:
* Every team plays four home and four road games.
* No team can play more than two consecutive road games.
* The first half and second half of the schedule must be balanced with two home and two road games.
"All I can say is that if it was an issue for our athletic directors or our football coaches, they would have brought it to our attention beforehand and said, 'Listen, we need to make this a priority in our scheduling principles,'" Rudner said.
"But at no time in the last -- well since Penn State came into the conference -- at no time have I been part of any discussion whereby either the coaches or the athletic directors have said you need to balance out how you start the season at home or on the road."
It's not known how PSU feels about the quirky scheduling practices. Penn State spokesman Jeff Nelson sent this reply in an e-mail Wednesday when asked about the schedule:
"The home and away opponent data, playing dates and football scheduling principles are entered into the computer, and then the schedules are reviewed by the Big Ten staff and the athletic directors for final approval."
That means, at some point, PSU athletic director Tim Curley would have signed off on the schedules.
"If any of our athletic directors ... feel like there needs to be a much broader discussion about that or if there's a question about the integrity of the scheduling process, they certainly have the ability to raise those issues when we meet," Rudner said.
Maybe Penn State or no other school has complained, but it's tough to argue that opening at home so often has given Ohio State an advantage.
Cory Giger is the host of "Sports Central" from 4 to 6 p.m. daily on ESPN Radio 1430 WVAM. He can be reached at 949-7031 or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Springtime Flower TreatsAngie McGowan
Do you want a quick and easy treat to make with your kids that is perfect for spring? These cute little flowers are just the thing for your little girls or boys. If you like rice krispy treats, you'll love these fruity pebble treats made in the same way. But be warned, these are very addictive. I like rice krispy treats, but could live without them. However after dreaming up this little concoction, I can't imagine my life without them. I'll definitely be making them now on a regular basis. If your kids prefer chocolate, you could also make with cocoa krispies or if they like plain, regular krispies.
I made these just like you would rice krispy treats and then pressed them about 1 inch thick on a cookie sheet. After our fruity pebbles treats cooled, my son cut out the flower shapes. Then we used Wilton ready to use icing in a tube to decorate them. Wilton even has the screw on icing tips that fit on these tubes, so the mess made by your kids will be minimal, hopefully. But at least they will have lots of fun!
Springtime Flower Treats
3 Tablespoons Butter
1 – 10 oz Bag Marshmallows
6 cups Fruity Pebbles
Nonstick spray
A Flower Cookie Cutter
Decorator Icing in different colors (I used Wilton ready to use in a tube)
1. Melt butter in saucepan. Add marshmallows. Melt over low heat and add cereal. Mix until well combined.
2. Spray a cookie sheet with nonstick spray. Spread cereal over a cookie sheet, about 1 inch thick. Either press down with hands or spatula sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.
3. Let cool, then cut out flower shapes
4. Decorate with kids using icing.
Makes 5 large flowers


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Form the Bible - pg284.Shimmer. Designer = Colin Terris Colours = Gold, Green, Pink, and PurpleIssued 2001 - closedMiniature & Medium SeriesOriginal Cost = 18.50 pounds or $42.50(US)Ross
The sun comes through the round glass and is magnified
How did you put the fire out on the settee......a soda syphon?
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