Mike ditka press conferences with eleanor

Their visits to the office are universally welcomed.

When they step through the door, faces brighten and happy hellos are shouted from every corner.

In one of my early years at the York County Coast Star, Eleanor Burnley commented on a photo of "Iron" Mike Ditka that used to hang near my desk at the old office.

Eleanor's casual comment about my fondness for the feisty, combative coach of the Chicago Bears, led to an ongoing discussion between Eleanor, who for years lived in the Pittsburgh area, and myself, who spent my first three years of school in Waynesburg, Pa., about 50 miles south of Pittsburgh.

Ditka, you see, hails from Aliquippa, Pa.

Here at the newspaper, where there's a certain rhythm to each day and week, the visits from Burnley and Stuart Nudelman always brought with it a certain spirit - whether it is Eleanor's parking acumen or Stuart's "life is good" wonder-of-it-all attitude.

No matter the deadline and/or the hot issue du