ITEM ONE:

ROONEYS FOLLOW LEWIS & CLARK 200 YEARS LATER

The Rooneys roughed it!  In the 200th anniversary year of the Lewis & Clark Expedition – the first overland trip to the U.S. Pacific coast and back – Pittsburgh Steelers President DAN ROONEY and his family recreated part of the journey.  MERIWETHER LEWIS and WILLIAM CLARK’s three-year trip began in Pittsburgh in 1803, and Rooney is a buff of the expedition’s history.  So on his family’s annual vacation, the family flew to Great Falls, Montana in late June to retrace Lewis and Clark’s adventures for 2½ weeks by canoeing the Missouri River, hiking and horseback riding in the Bitterroot Mountains and rafting the Columbia River.  The journey concluded at the Pacific Ocean, and with a trip to Fort Clatsop in Astoria, Oregon, where Lewis and Clark wintered.  “We needed another vacation by the time we got home,” says Rooney.

ITEM TWO:

CANTON CAN’T WAIT!

With training camps around the corner and an “NFL Homecoming Weekend” scheduled in Canton, Ohio for August 2-4 for all Pro Football Hall of Famers, Cantonians can’t wait!  Need proof?  The Canton Repository recently conducted an online poll that asked the question, “What Is Your Favorite Summer Festival?”  The majority – by far (43.5 percent) -- chose the Hall of Fame Festival, which runs for 11 days.  Following Hall of Fame festivities was “small town festivals” (20.9), “other” (17.9), ethnic (5.9), historical (5.3) and church (4.9).

ITEM THREE:

WEDDING BELLS RINGING

Ties are not common in the NFL.  But “tying the knot” has been all the rage recently.  Two star quarterbacks recently married, and a top-notch running back and QB have become engaged.  And the brides are accomplished in their own rights.  Philadelphia Eagles quarterback DONOVAN MC NABB – recently chosen by a majority of Philadelphians as the city’s sports personality they would most like to have dinner with – was married on June 21 to ROXI NURSE, a former point guard for Syracuse, the school McNabb attended.  She is now the assistant director of academic support at Villanova.  Then on July 5, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback CARSON PALMER, the NFL’s No. 1 overall draft choice this year, married his USC sweetheart, SHAELYN FERNANDES.  A three-year soccer goalkeeper for the “Lady Trojans,” Fernandes ranks high in USC annals in numerous “’keeper” stats.  In late June, Tennessee Titans running back EDDIE GEORGE delivered a five-carat diamond ring to TAMARA (TAJ) JOHNSON, a member of the R&B group “Sisters With Voices.”  And, finally, new Denver Broncos quarterback JAKE PLUMMER has become engaged to SONIA FLORES, who was a student trainer at Arizona State, where Plummer played, and is now a school counselor.