September 2009
Monthly Archive
High School Revisited
Posted by admin on 22 Sep 2009 | Tagged as: Cheer for the Earth, PIGskin
Even when I was in high school, I didn’t invest much time or effort into the high school football games. And that includes one sad season of cheering at said games (I was the unsmiling cheerleader, which was not all that rebellious in hindsight). It didn’t help that I attended a Catholic school, whose team got their butts kicked by opposing public school teams. And then, in the past couple years, I discovered Friday Night Lights (I’ve read the book, and seen the movie, but I’m talking about the TV series). Suddenly the idea of a town so invested in this weekly football contest seemed almost enviable (what a simple thing to care about after all). It was all so unifying and important, and the people involved were not nearly as dumbed-down as I would have expected high school football fanatics to be. I realize it’s written by scriptwriters and played by (optimistically attractive) actors, but it captures something true nonetheless. There’s something pure about high school football. It’s easy to care about, even if you don’t.
The Eagles on Paper
Posted by admin on 11 Sep 2009 | Tagged as: Athletes Take Action, PIGskin
Do you know what you’re wiping your butt with when you use the bathroom at Lincoln Financial Field–home of the Philadelphia Eagles? I do. It’s SCA Tissue! Last May, 3 former Eagles even helped the tissue company plant 15 trees—linebacker Gary Cobb, wide receiver Fred Barnett and wide receiver Mike Quick—in their 6.5-acre Eagles Forest in Neshaminy State Park in Pennsylvania. The football team’s forest was just established last year, all part of its larger Go Green initiative. Last year, they offset all their emissions by purchasing wind power. Anyway, SCA is into forest management, plants 3 trees for every one used in Europe and sells 100% recycled paper products. Now the Eagles’ stadium carries nothing but SCA’s Tork brand, meaning its more than 1 million visitors wipe their butts and mouths with tree-happy recycled content. Since 2004, the team has reduced its energy consumption by 30%, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal.
On a side note, “the Nest” would be a much cooler and greener name for the Eagles’ stadium in an alternate universe where corporate sponsorship was not necessary. Even cooler if it actually looked like the Bird’s Nest from the Beijing Olympics (which Citi Group is now converting to an entertainment and shopping center).
