Stacy Innerst, Post-Gazette Click photo for larger image.

Once again, it's Caption Contest Sunday, second only to Steelers Sunday in religious significance.

The rules are simple. Come up with a funny caption for Stacy Innerst's drawing and send it to: Page2@post-gazette.com or Portfolio, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 34 Boulevard of the Allies, Pittsburgh 15222. Please mark your submission "Caption Contest." Include your address and neighborhood or municipality. Deadline is midnight next Sunday, Sept. 18. Results will be revealed in two weeks.

Before we get to the winners of Caption Contest 9, we share a letter from Sarah May Clarkson, our nominee for Educator of the Year:

"I have followed with interest the caption contest these past couple of months. Page 2 often brings a smile to my face, which can only be a good thing. In the fall I teach a section of freshman writing at Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pa. My class had as its first assignment to write a caption for submission to caption contest 9. We expect you will be well pleased with our creativity. Thanks very much."

Well pleased we were. There were no winners in the Juniata submissions, but the competition is tough. This week, our crack committee had to sift through almost 200 entries. So we encourage these young people to keep at it. Older people, too. Our three winners will receive a copy of "Sports Town: A Look at the Famous Sports Pages of the Post-Gazette."

-- Peter Leo
Portfolio editor

WINNERS:

	Stacy Innerst, Post-Gazette Click photo for larger image.

1. J. Edgar Hoover had grown tired of the Kennedys playing touch football on his lawn.
Jerry Spehar, Baden

2. It took perseverance, but after standing eight hours a day in front of a south-facing window, Dorothy's fruit seed basket hat finally paid off.
Raymond Olson, Sacramento, Calif.

3. One of the rare photographs of Carmen Miranda's reclusive father, Berry.
Stanley C. Napierkowski, Allison Park

HONORABLE MENTION:
Alice had to admit the side effects of the Santa Fe Seed Diet seemed to be outweighing the benefits.
Gail James, Plum

Although the fruit was heavy and her scarf a bit too tight, Carmella stood in the front window. She knew she looked good.
Carol Constantine, Shadyside

Larry liked most everything about going back to college in his 50s, except the fraternity initiation.
Anne Thomasmeyer, O'Hara

Without the rest of his Carmen Miranda outfit, Max could only glare at the Mardi Gras revelers below.
Fay Rohm, Green Tree

Angry that one of his neighbors had taken his decorative arrangement, Dave was embarrassed later to find it on his head.
Margot Callahan,

Mount Washington

Even Jamie Farr hates living in a nursing home.
Katelyn Rushe, Bethel Park

A decade of obscurity has allowed Mikhail Gorbachev to develop several unusual habits.
Mac Booker, Highland Park

A bad fruit day always made Gert grumpy.
Al Taffoni, Brownsville

As Sheila gazed out the window, she thought to herself, "With no neck to speak of and a fruit garden growing out of my head, my chances of dating are greatly diminished."
Shawn Keenen, Morgantown, W.Va.

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