sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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- Aug 15, 2011
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Welcome to Groundhog Day!
Groundhog Day (Canadian French: Jour de la Marmotte; Pennsylvania German:Grundsaudaag, Murmeltiertag) is a traditional holiday celebrated on February 2. According to folklore, if it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day, then spring will come early; if it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly see its shadow and retreat back into its burrow, and the winter weather will persist for six more weeks.[1]
Modern customs of the holiday involve celebrations where early morning festivals are held to watch the groundhog emerging from its burrow.
In southeastern Pennsylvania, Groundhog Lodges (Grundsow Lodges) celebrate the holiday withfersommlinge,[2] social events in which food is served, speeches are made, and one or moreg'spiel (plays or skits) are performed for entertainment. The Pennsylvania German dialect is the only language spoken at the event, and those who speak English pay a penalty, usually in the form of a nickel, dime, or quarter per word spoken, with the money put into a bowl in the center of the table.[3]
Groundhog Day was adopted in the U.S. in 1887. Clymer H. Freas was the editor of the local paper Punxsutawney Spirit at the time, and he began promoting the town’s groundhog as the official “Groundhog Day meteorologist.”[4]
SU News
DeVaughn Cooper to Pick Between UA, ASU and Syracuse (tucson.com; Rosenblatt)
DeVaughn Cooper has been committed to the Wildcats for a while, dating back to July when Arizona reeled in seven recruits in the span of a couple of days.
Recent events indicate it was really more of a soft verbal commitment than a full one. Cooper took an official visit to Arizona State this past weekend, and a couple weeks ago took an official to Syracuse.
Then, on Monday, Cooper tweeted this:
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Orange Watch: The ACC Mixes Up Tradition for Syracuse Football's 2016 Schedule (the juice; Bierman)
Item: We had three belated thoughts related to the 2016 Orange football schedule, released last week by the ACC in conjunction with the 13 other league schools.
1. So much for the traditional end-of-season ACC game annually being against northeast ‘rival’ Boston College each November. This year the league moved the Orange to face Pitt, in its even year road game at Heinz Field, to be the regular season finale, with B.C. instead drawing Wake Forest, and Duke, last year’s season-ender for the Demon Deacons, moving on to face Miami, which was Pitt’s opponent in last year’s final game.
Got all of that?
We welcome a rotation of the games against longtime opponents B.C. and Pitt, which are always going to be on each year’s schedule with the Eagles a division foe and the Panthers SU’s primary crossover opponent. The change provides some newness to the order in which the conference games are played, and Syracuse fans traditionally love making the trip to Boston on an autumn weekend, with the Oct. 22 game this season offering a better chance of nice weather more so than Thanksgiving weekend.
Other than those changes noted above, all other ACC teams will continue to face traditional rivals to close out the season, Clemson-South Carolina, Florida State-Florida, Georgia Tech-Georgia, Louisville-Kentucky, North Carolina-N.C. State, and Virginia-Virginia Tech.
2. For the second straight year there will be three straight home games to begin the season (in 2015 there were four straight home games to begin play for the first time in 80 seasons), and only one game in the Dome in the month of October.
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Negative Recruiting Doesn't Work on Adrian Killins; He's 100% CFU (orlandosentinel.com; Hays)
Adrian Killins said Monday morning that he never considered wavering from the commitment he made in December to attend UCF.
Even though the Daytona Beach Mainland running back was taking recruiting trips to Syracuse and Iowa State, his UCF loyalty was strong and he said the more he got recruited from other coaches, the more he felt compelled to keep his commitment to the Knights.
"There was a lot of negative recruiting," Killins said of coaches, whom he did not name, trying to belittle his UCF choice. "A lot of schools were selling me on what they can do and what UCF can't do. Some would ask me things like, 'Why UCF? They were 0-12 last year,' stuff like that.
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Scott Frost's first commitment, was grateful to get the opportunity to explore some new places with his official recruiting visits. This past weekend he spent time getting a tour of Syracuse with the new coaching staff of Dino Babers.
"I had never been to New York and I had never been to Syracuse," Killins said. "I learned a lot about the culture of the school and so much history that it has. It was great going there and seeing what they have to offer."
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4-Star OG Stewart Reese Picks Mississippi State Over Orange (TNIAAM; Cassillo)
While it may have started out as a long shot, the Syracuse Orange had worked their way to be favorites to land a commitment from 4-star offensive guard Stewart Reese. Then, unfortunately, Mississippi State became the clubhouse favorite following an in-home visit last week and the talented Florida product never looked back.
Reese announced his commitment to the Bulldogs today at 2:15 p.m. ET, listing Syracuse as the other finalist.
Considering his size (6-foot-5, 330 pounds), he certainly appeared ready to step right in for an Orange squad that could always use some more help on the line. But it just wasn't meant to be.
After Josh White picked Georgia Tech (SU never offered), Reese's decision and Adrian Killin's comments that heavily indicate he's staying at UCF, it doesn't look like there are many options left for the Orange to make an addition before National Signing Day. The class currently stands at 21 for Dino Babers and his staff, who've done an awesome job overhauling the class of 2016 in a very short amount of time.
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3-Star DE Josh White Picks Georgia Tech (TNIAAM; Keeley)
As National Signing Day approaches, there are only a handful of uncommitted recruits that the Syracuse Orange seem to have in play for the remaining spots in the Class of 2016. One of them was expected to be three-star defensive end Josh White out of Georgia. White instead is staying in-state and will play for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
As we mentioned last week, White visited Syracuse this past weekend. However, he did not receive an offer from the staff for whatever reason and that likely helped make his decision for him.
SU is in critical need of defensive line help but for whatever reason they didn't think White was a guy to help fill the void. For now we can assume there's a good reason for that.
Syracuse now waits to hear what four-star offensive guard Stewart Reese says today as he decides between SU and Mississippi State.
Other
AHL's All-Star Classic: A Work in Progress, But Fun Along the Way (PS; Kramer)
Under the AHL's new All-Star Game format, Monday night's tournament in the War Memorial could have ended any number of ways.
As it turned out, it concluded with the most painful memory possible for the hometown Syracuse Crunch fans:
Central forward Jeff Hoggan was handed a title trophy at center ice from AHL president Dave Andrews.
In his day job, Hoggan plays for the Grand Rapids Griffins. The last time Hoggan skated on War Memorial ice, his team clinched the Calder Cup with a Game 6 victory over Syracuse.
"I think I might move here and stay here,'' Hoggan joked. "Who would have thought? The history of this place, to have a couple great memories. I'm getting a little more older and sentimental. This was special. It was a fun weekend.''
While the All-Star Game trophy paled slightly in comparison to the significance of the Calder Cup, Hoggan and his Central teammates did earn a piece of history in claiming the championship.
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