Watercooler Stories

The bride wore a white football jersey

CHICAGO, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- A wedding at ESPN Zone in downtown Chicago featured the bride in a Bears jersey and the groom in a Pittsburgh Steelers jersey -- and it was the bride's idea.

Lindsay Huetson, a lifelong Bears fan, said she came up with the idea for the football theme for her Sunday morning wedding to Shawn Kelley, a Steelers fan who grew up in Pittsburgh, when the couple learned the Bears were playing their season opener against Pittsburgh, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

"I know people are going to think this was forced on me," Huetson said. "We were spinning around ideas for a casual, fun wedding, and this just popped into my head."

Huetson wore the jersey (white -- with pink numerals) of Bears wide receiver Devin Hester during the ceremony while Kelley wore the jersey (black) of Steelers strong safety Troy Polamalu. The bridesmaids wore pink Bears jerseys and the groomsmen wore the jerseys of their own favorite teams.

ESPN Zone sales manager Randy Hajduk said the event was the venue's first wedding.

"We'd love to see it become a trend," Hajduk said. "But I'm not sure many wives would agree to this."

Coffee maker causes $200,000 in damage

ST. LOUIS, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Missouri's St. Louis Community College said water damage from a coffee maker left running overnight is expected to cost more than $200,000 to repair.

Officials said the Board of Trustees is expected to approve a $143,494 contract with disaster relief company Catco at its meeting next week, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Monday.

The officials said the school's insurance company is expected to cover the sum, about half of which represents the cost of restoring 115 damaged computers, except for a $25,000 deductible. However, the school must also pay $54,000 for costs including overtime labor, supplies, air quality inspections, furniture, drywall and ceiling materials.

Officials said the coffee maker that released an estimated 10,000 gallons of water into four floors of the building in July had been connected to a faucet by a hose and was left on overnight. They said new rules prohibit faculty members from having coffee makers without automatic shut-offs in their offices.

Ky. man wins pipe smoking contest

JEFFERSONTOWN, Ky., Sept. 22 (UPI) -- A Kentucky man smoked a pipe of 3.3 grams of tobacco for 71 minutes and 30 seconds to win the Gaslight Festival pipe smoking contest, organizers said.

Coy Howard, 37, of Springfield, Ky., smoked the pipe with a single light longest to best five competitors Sunday at the annual contest in Jeffersontown, the Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal reported.

Gorden Vogel, 71, took second place by making his pipe last 70 minutes and 45 seconds on a single light.

Competitors said pipe smoking contests are a fading tradition.

"Politics," said Dan Griffin, 67, of Jeffersonville. "It is not as big as it used to be. We used to have 15 contests locally. The season began in March in Springfield and crescendoed until the world championships in October."

Man arrested without pants at Laundromat

EAST NAPLES, Fla., Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Authorities in Florida said a homeless man arrested outside of a Laundromat told deputies he wasn't wearing pants because they were inside being washed.

Collier County Sheriff's deputies said James Lowe, 59, was spotted outside of the coin-operated laundry Saturday in East Naples with nothing on below the waist but a jean jacket that "was not completely covering his genitalia," the Naples (Fla.) Daily News reported.

"At this time, there were several adults and small children walking around the plaza and in and out of the coin-operated laundry," the deputies' report of the incident states.

The report said Lowe, who deputies said appeared impaired and had been drinking from a glass of what smelled like alcohol, told the investigators his pants and personal belongings were being cleaned inside the Laundromat.

Deputies said Lowe had previously been charged with trespassing on the property and attempted to walk away while he was being handcuffed. He was charged with indecent exposure in public, trespassing, having an open container of alcohol in a public area and resisting an officer without violence.