Keller broke the news on his Twitter account and insists he’s “not stretching the truth one bit.” He came away unharmed after jumping on a tall fence to escape the pit bull that had broken loose from its owner.

Fenton helped organize the summit, called “Thriving in Tough Economic Times,” scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday at the Steamboat Grand Resort Hotel. Fenton is chairman of the group putting on the summit, the Steamboat Springs Economic Development Council. He said he was particularly looking forward to a presentation from Daniel Levine.

Levine is billed on his Web site as an international trends expert. His speech will focus on turning economic challenges into profitable opportunities, Fenton said.

“I think it’s safe to say he’s just an incredibly high-caliber speaker, and we don’t get that opportunity very often here in Steamboat,” Fenton said.

Levine’s Web site states that the session is “packed with brilliant examples of where culture and consumer-oriented business are headed, this essential presentation shows you how to take advantage of the new reality in ways that your competitors have yet to even imagine.”

Representatives from Levine’s company, the Avant-Guide Institute, did not return a call seeking comment Monday. His site offers credentials:

? MasterCard chose him to be the spokesman of a TV campaign.

? Deutsche Telekom AG hired Levine as a trends marketing consultant to help them understand what’s happening in the world of restaurants, nightlife and retail.

? HBO and NBC turned to Levine when they needed a trends expert to produce international segments for prime-time lifestyle shows.

Other speakers at the summit include economist Carl Steidtmann; Susan Kirkpatrick, executive director of the Colorado Department of Local Affairs; Sprig Toys CEO Craig Storey; and former Denver Bronco Karl Mecklenburg.

Breakout sessions Thursday will offer information about building Web sites, social networking and how businesses have succeeded amid the recession.

“In talking to a lot of speakers who are coming and sort of the attitude and all the panels and everybody else, I think everybody’s just excited to talk about something positive and to be in a positive environment,” Fenton said.

Mullen Towing donated a car for Pi Sigma Epsilon to use for the car smash fundraising event, which will benefit the Red Cross.

Former Lafayette Jeff and Purdue football star Dustin Keller will be on hand greeting fans and signing autographs. Keller also will be the grand marshal of the 52nd annual Purdue Grand Prix, which begins at 2:30 p.m. at the Northwest Athletic Complex.

He certainly lived up to expectations racking up over 500 yards and three touchdowns in his rookie year. Those numbers may same average but lets compare those numbers to some great receiving tight ends

Tony Gonzalez: only racked 368 yards and two touchdowns in his rookie year, compared to Keller’s 535 and 3 Td’s
Jason Witten: had 347 yards in his rookie year and 2 Td’s also started in more games then Keller
Antonio Gates: Started in six more games in his rookie year then Keller and only 389 yards and two touchdowns

So obviously Keller is off to an incredible start. But could we see those numbers start to decline?

Dustin Keller was one of Brett Favre’s favorite targets in some crucial games like the Patriots game where he had 87 yards on eight receptions and a crucial 3rd-and-15 conversion in overtime. Also in the St. Louis game where Keller racked up 107 yards on six catches.

Now that Favre is gone will Keller see the same numbers as last year?

There are arguments to both sides whether he will better and worse. Let’s look at both sides.

Why he could be better:

He is just a rookie and picking 500 yards as a rookie is phenomenal, now that he knows the ropes he could get better,
He only started in 6 games this year and averaged 40 yards a game including days he sat out. If he starts all 16 games next year could he reach over 700 yards?

Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison lined up outside left tackle Mike Gandy, faked as if he were rushing the passer before floating to the spot he anticipated Kurt Warner would throw. Warner never saw Harrison and threw the football right into his hands.

Then the player who nearly quit to become a bus driver after getting cut four times weaved his way 100 yards through Arizona traffic and into the Super Bowl record books. The NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year ran through Warner’s tackle attempt, made a nifty cut and raced down the Cardinals sideline untouched until Gandy unsuccessfully tried knocking him out of bounds at the 10. Fitzgerald attempted to strip the ball at the end zone with the help of Steve Breaston but Harrison prevailed, tumbling over the goal line to make it 17-7.

“Those last couple yards were probably tougher than anything I’ve done in my life,” Harrison said, laughing.

The previous longest Super Bowl play was Desmond Howard’s 99-yard kickoff return for Green Bay against New England in 1997.

“I would say it was the greatest play in Super Bowl history,” Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau said. “We don’t win without (that) play.”

Chefs representing the 32 cities of the National Football League will cook to raise money for hunger relief organizations at 7 tonight during the Taste of the NFL event at Tropicana Field. Chef Marty Blitz of Mise en Place restaurant will represent Tampa.

Celebrities scheduled to appear at the $500-per-ticket party include singer Faith Hill, E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg, “Top Chef” head judge Tom Colicchio and Miss America 2009 Katie Stam.

The goal: To raise tens of thousands of dollars for charity. In the 18 years since the event first took place in an office lobby in Minneapolis, restaurateur and Taste founder Wayne Kostroski and the participating chefs have raised more than $8 million for local food banks. Thirty percent of the profits from the Taste are donated to local hunger charities.

The event has evolved over the years to become one of the hottest pre-Super Bowl parties. The event has grown so much that it has its own pre-party.

On Friday night, the chefs and their staff mingled at a cocktail party at the Tradewinds resort on St. Pete Beach with former NFL players such as Karl Mecklenburg of the Denver Broncos, Earl Morrall of the Miami Dolphins and Eric Wright of the San Francisco 49ers. Spike Mendelsohn, Richard Blais and Andrew D’Ambrosi of Bravo TV’s reality cooking competition “Top Chef” signed autographs for fans.

They’ll be cooking tonight with Colicchio at the Taste.

Other than airfare and hotel accommodations, the chefs pay all their own costs to participate, including buying all ingredients and staffing their stations. (For local flavor, Ybor City’s Columbia Restaurant and South Tampa pub and bistro Mad Dogs & Englishmen will each host a tasting station).

But this is a hard year to be in the fundraising business. Even being attached to something as seemingly bulletproof as the Super Bowl has not made the Taste immune to cutbacks in personal spending. Kostroski says ticket sales are off the pace of previous seasons. “It’s a lot of money, and I understand that,” he says.

To motivate locals to participate, Kostroski is stressing the impact that the Taste can have in hunger relief in Tampa at a time when demand is skyrocketing.

“We’ve got to do well this year because the need is the greatest I’ve seen in 18 years,” Kostroski says. “On the other hand, companies are cutting back and being more efficient with their expenses. You’ve got bigger need, fewer resources and fewer dollars. Wonderfully, the thing that is up is the volunteerism. It’s amazing. I really believe the glass is overflowing, as opposed to half-empty.”

James Harrison is this season’s NFL Defensive Player of the Year, a quarterback-stalking, ball-stripping outside linebacker with a perma-scowl on his face. But four years ago, he was 26 and out of football after being cut once … twice … three times by the Steelers and once by the Ravens.

He accumulated more pink slips than Victoria’s Secret. Harrison was on the verge of calling it a career and switching to his backup plan – driving a city bus in his hometown of Akron, Ohio.

“If I didn’t get in (to the NFL),” he said this week at Super Bowl XLIII, “I was going to get a regular job like everyone else.”

Harrison’s luck changed on July 26, 2004, when he received another call from the Steelers. They needed a body to replace Clark Haggans, who had broken his hand while lifting weights. It was his now-or-never shot, Harrison declared at the time.

Now turned into wow.

This season, Harrison set a team record with 16 sacks, led the NFL with seven forced fumbles and triggered the league’s top-rated defense, a unit that is drawing favorable comparisons to its legendary ancestors – the Steel Curtain.

“He epitomizes what the Steelers organization is all about – a hard, tough-nosed guy,” teammate James Farrior said. “I definitely think he’s the most intimidating player when he’s out there on the field.”

Harrison, 30, plays angry. Heck, he looks angry, rarely letting a smile take over his face. There’s an inner rage, born of rejection, that fuels his motivational furnace.

At high school games in predominantly white communities near Akron, Harrison was victimized by racial slurs. He responded once by grabbing his crotch, and that landed him in a bunch of trouble.

No colleges wanted him, in part, because he was deemed a troublemaker. Recruiters might have been scared away by a BB gun-shooting incident in which two high-school teammates were hit with pellets, so Harrison went to Kent State as a walk-on.

No NFL team drafted him. He was only 6 feet, undersized for an outside linebacker, with a reputation for being surly. So he signed as a free agent with the Steelers in 2002, but they kept sending him away, releasing him three times in a span of 13 months.

Finally, Harrison was sent to the last-chance haven for castoffs, the now-defunct NFL Europe, where he played for the Rhein Fire.

After each setback, his anger grew hotter and hotter.

“He plays with a chip on his shoulder,” Farrior said. “He’s always been told that he’s too small, he can’t run, he can’t rush the passer. All those things combined over the years to build up such a level of discomfort for him, and he makes it uncomfortable for other people because of that.”

According to Farrior, the Steelers’ defensive players were so impressed with Harrison in 2004 that they implored then-coach Bill Cowher not to cut him again. Cowher kept him as a special teamer, and by 2007 – hardly a meteoric rise – he became a full-time starter. He made the Pro Bowl that season, and again in 2008, highlighting his remarkable “Rudy” story.

“If there’s something you tell me I can’t do, then I damn sure want to prove you wrong,” said Harrison, admitting that stubbornness is part of who he is.

He doesn’t forget.

Until this season, Harrison carried his old duffel bag from the Rhein Fire to every Steelers game, reminding him of the lean years. He kept the bag until it fell apart.

“The difference is maturity,” said Harrison, explaining why he finally succeeded after so much failure. “I handle situations a lot different now than I did when I got here in my rookie year. The way I took coaching, the way I talked to coaches … it’s all different. I had to change all that because, basically, it was the last hurrah.”

Not everything has changed. Harrison underwent anger-management counseling last spring after being accused of assault by his girlfriend, the mother of his daughter. The charges were dropped.

On Sunday, Harrison will be after one of the most famous walk-ons in league history, Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner, who worked in a supermarket before receiving his big break. Some story line: The former grocery clerk versus the almost-bus driver.

It will be a huge challenge for the Cards’ offensive line, which also has to deal with fellow outside rusher LaMarr Woodley (four postseason sacks). If the Steelers can pressure Warner with a four-man rush, not having to blitz, it could turn into a long day for the Cards.

“They’re both good rushers. That’s always been Pittsburgh football, even back in the days when I was growing up,” said Cards line coach Russ Grimm, who previously held the same position with the Steelers. “It was (Jack) Lambert and Jack Ham. Then you move on to (Greg) Lloyd and (Kevin) Greene, to (Joey) Porter and Clark, Now it’s on to Harrison and Woodley.”

None of those players traveled Harrison’s route to the Super Bowl, which sure beats the route of a bus driver.

Leveling one of the Arizona Cardinals’ receivers early in the game could narrow the field for the Steelers’ defense, Clark said on Wednesday.

“When you have guys as talented as they are a good hit can change the momentum of the game,” he told reporters. “They get a couple of big plays over the top (and) it will have us on our heels.

“But if we come out there and get a good hit early, they might go back to their quarterback and say: ‘You know, how about you don’t throw the ball in there?’”

The 29-year-old Clark is only five-foot-11-inches and 205 pounds (93 kg) but is one of the most vicious hitters in the league.

“I’m not a very big guy, that’s why I wear long-sleeve shirts most of the time,” joked Clark, whose 113 tackles this season was second most on the Steelers. “I don’t have any muscles.

“I can either be the hammer or the nail. And I try to be the hammer, the one doing the hitting. If you’re the guy sitting back, waiting for him to come to you, there’s going to be trouble.”

Clark said that when making a good hit, “you just can’t flinch.”

“It’s like playing chicken,” he said. “When two guys are running full speed, somebody has to move. When somebody has to blink, if you don’t, that’s when you get those good hits.”

CHILLING HIT

Clark’s toughness was displayed during the AFC title game two weeks ago when he crashed into Baltimore Ravens running back Willis McGahee, who had just caught a pass over the middle.

The two collided with a helmet-to-helmet hit that silenced the crowd at Pittsburgh’s Heinz Field. While McGahee lay on the field for nearly 15 minutes, Clark got up after about 90 seconds.

“I had a little blackout on impact,” said Clark. “Once I was on the ground, I came to. (Team mate Troy Polamalu) asked me about 25 questions that I had no answer for.

“He asked me if I had a concussion and I said: ‘How would I know?’ I was dizzy, a little groggy. Head injuries make you emotional. Or maybe I was just happy we won the AFC championship.”

McGahee spent the night in a Pittsburgh hospital but suffered no permanent damage. Clark underwent tests for concussion and was cleared to play in the Super Bowl.

“I’m definitely conscious of what the tradition is. If you go upstairs, you’ll see a wall full of linebackers. I’m definitely aware of it,” Harrison says.

This season, Harrison at outside linebacker and James Farrior on the inside made the Pro Bowl, just as Jack Ham, Jack Lambert, Kevin Greene, Greg Lloyd and Joey Porter did in years past. Since 1969, 16 Steelers linebackers have earned a total of 51 berths in the Pro Bowl.

Now Pittsburgh’s linebackers, in a top-ranked defense orchestrated by 71-year-old coordinator Dick LeBeau, will be tested Sunday in Super Bowl XLIII on whether they can put the heat on Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner, limit his ability to get the ball to star receivers such as Larry Fitzgerald and put the clamps on a revived Cardinals running game.

Harrison will be front and center, a typical big-play Pittsburgh linebacker. However, it took Harrison awhile to find a fit in Pittsburgh, and it took the Steelers awhile to figure out what they had in him. They cut him three times early in his career.

That he has arrived is no surprise to Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. He and Harrison played in the Mid-American Conference, Roethlisberger at Miami of Ohio and Harrison at Kent State.

“We played against each other in college, and I knew back then he was going to be something special. … He hits you hard, he’s strong, he’s fast,” Roethlisberger says.

At 6-0, 242 pounds, Harrison also uses his relative lack of height by NFL standards to his advantage. He has a knack for getting underneath taller blockers and exploding past them.

But coming out of college in 2002, that didn’t register enough with NFL teams to spend a draft pick on him. Pittsburgh signed him as a free agent.

After being on and off the Steelers practice squad and roster during his first two seasons, he was picked up by the Baltimore Ravens in early 2004. He played that spring with the Rhein Fire in NFL Europe. He was cut by the Ravens after he came home.

“I almost quit to become a bus driver. … If I didn’t get in (to the NFL), I was going to get a regular job like everyone else.”

But the Steelers called him back during training camp in 2004. When star linebacker Joey Porter left via free agency in 2007, Harrison stepped in and became another Steelers star.

“It came down to opportunity,” Harrison says. “Once I got the opportunity, it came down to getting better at my craft. … It’s a long road to go, and I just thank God that I was able to make it.”

Sunday, it will take a team effort. Defensive linemen Aaron Smith, Casey Hampton and Brett Keisel will have to tie up the blockers up front. Pittsburgh also has playmakers such as Troy Polamalu in the secondary.

But the Pittsburgh linebackers will have to deliver the punch. The four starters ranked among the top six Steelers in regular-season tackles. Harrison led the team with 16 sacks in the regular season, followed by second-year linebacker LaMarr Woodley with 11½.

“The defense is built around the linebackers,” Harrison says. “If you don’t have linebackers that can play the run and the pass, then you’re not going to have a successful defense. The 3-4 is built to let the linebackers run.”

Says Farrior: “It takes everybody on that field. … But the athletes we’ve got at the linebacker position enable us to do a lot of the things. … We’re able to cover, we’re able to blitz and we’re able to play the run.”