Story published at magicvalley.com on Monday, February 05, 2007
Last modified on Sunday, February 4, 2007 11:59 PM MST
Super Bowl loser's t-shirts leave the country

Q: What happens to the Super Bowl champion hats and T-shirts for the team that lost the Super Bowl?

A: The Pittsburgh Steelers ran about the field with hats and T-shirts trumpeting their triumph within minutes of their 21-10 victory over Seattle in Super Bowl XL.

You can buy those same items the next day, which means the items are pre-printed for each team. What happens to the losing team's merchandise? I think this question crosses the mind of almost every football fan, at some point. There's an excellent answer.

The NFL donated all Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl Champions merchandise to World Vision, a Christian relief organization that helps more than 70 million people in 92 countries.

"If it turns out to be excess inventory or jerseys with non-existent winners printed, they do donate that product to World Vision," Brenda White said from World Vision's Pittsburgh office. White is a corporate relations officer with World Vision's Gifts-in-Kind Department.

Only 45 countries, mostly in Africa, South America and Eastern Europe, are eligible because of various copyright and licensing agreements.

"One of the reasons we work with the NFL and many of the sports leagues and colleges is because they trust us to take it out of the country," White said.

World Vision also works with the National Hockey League under an agreement similar to the NFL. White said the agreement with the NFL has been in place for at least eight years.

Q: Why does the news media use troops to refer to soldiers and Marines? I've even seen troop used in the singular sense to refer to a single soldier.

A: Reporters should never use troop to refer to a single soldier or Marine, at least not if they adhere to The Associated Press Stylebook.

"Troop in its singular form, is a group of people, often military," the Stylebook explains.

"Troops , in the plural, means several such groups. But when the plural appears with a large number, it is understood to mean individuals: There were an 150,000 troops in Iraq. (But not: Three troops were injured.)

Q: Could you please tell us how to play the Sudoku puzzle that's in your paper?

A: The premise is simple. Fill the grid so that every row, every column and every 3-by-3 box contains the digits 1 through 9. Each numeral can only appear once in each row, column and subgrid.

Sudoku is a number-placement puzzle that's become a worldwide craze in puzzle fads. It was popularized in Japan but originally created in America more than 30 years ago.

An experienced Sudoku player should be able to solve an easy puzzle in 5 to 10 minutes. Puzzle of medium difficulty can take 10 to 15 minutes and harder puzzles can take more than a half-hour.

For more information, check out www.sudoku.com

-- Christopher Bennett, Lee newspapers

Send questions to Chris Baldus, Times-News news editor, at cbaldus@magicvalley.com, 735-3259, or 132 W. Fairfield St., Twin Falls, ID 83301.

Ellie