Eagles, Lions & Football

I work in a bookstore in Wellsboro Pennsylvania. So, when a customer asked me how the eagles were on a Monday morning, I was sure he was asking me about the American Bald Eagles that we have nesting out in the Pine Creek Gorge. No, he was asking out the Philadelphia Eagles, the football team.

If you haven't figured it out, I don't really follow football. I'm a big guy, and I guess I look like I played, but I was never really interested. Sure, I played some backyard football, even tried small fry, but it just wasn't for me.

You can't, however, get away from football in Pennsylvania. We have two professional football teams, The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles. It depends where you are from who you favor. If you are from Southeast Pennsylvania there's a good chance you favor the Eagles, and the rest of the state tends to favor the Steelers. There are exceptions of course, but that's from my personal observations.

If you are into college football, and you live in Pennsylvania, chances are the team you root for is Penn State. I'm not into football, but even I know about the Nittany Lions. I remember the Joe Paterno show that used to be on the radio. I'd listen to it if it was on. My uncle's business was a frequent sponsor, and even though football wasn't much of an interest, it was still enjoyable to listen to Joe.

Joe was an important part of Penn State, and a lot of my classmates went to college there. When Kasey, the manager of the bookstore, heard that his son, Jay Paterno had a new book out, she was determined to get him to Wellsboro. I didn't think we'd be able to convince him to come. Kasey was successful.

The book event with Jay Paterno is our second event so big, that we couldn't fit it into the bookstore. Our first was our premiere of our webseries From My Shelf Books Vs. The Evil Empire This event is also going to be hosted by the Deane Center for the Performing Arts at 104 Main Street in the lobby.

Jay will be talking about his new book "Paterno Legacy, Enduring Lessons from the Life and Death of my Father." Jay will speak, have a brief Q&A period, and sign books.

You can pre-order your books at From My Shelf Books, receive a 20% discount, and get FREE admission to the event. This event is open to the public and cost is just $5 without purchase of a book. Cost is only $3 seniors or students.

So, if you already own a copy, come by and get it signed, or just listen to Jay speak. He's quite a good speaker. There will also be books will also be available at the event if you haven't had a chance to get one yet.

Wellsboro may be hours from the fifty yard line of Beaver Stadium, but we are Penn State...