sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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April 29th is the date of Zipper Day because the design for the zipper was patented on the date in 1913. There were a few inventors who had a hand in creating the zipper in the decades that preceded this patent, and it took a number of years for the zipper to catch on, before and after the patent. The first to craft a fastener similar to a zipper was Elias Howe, Jr. Best known for being the first to patent the sewing machine, Howe received a patent for an "Automatic, Continuous Clothing Closure" in 1851, but didn't pursue his zipper-like invention much beyond this.
In 1893, Whitcomb Judson of Chicago patented a similar item that he called a "clasp locker." Because he was the first to market such an item, he is often known as being the inventor of the zipper, even though the name "zipper" wasn't used for his fastener. The clasp locker debuted at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, and the following year Judson and Colonel Lewis Walker started the Universal Fastener Company in order to manufacture it.
SU News
Syracuse Basketball: 2024 prospect Derik Queen lands top national honor (itlh; Adler)
A few months back, we detailed how Syracuse basketball was showing interest in elite 2024 player Derik Queen, and he just wrapped up a monster freshman campaign for his high school in Baltimore.
Queen, a 6-foot-8 power forward out of the Saint Frances Academy in Baltimore, recently was named the National Freshman of the Year by MaxPreps for the 2020-21 stanza. He also received inclusion on the MaxPreps freshman All-America first squad.
In an article by Jordan Divens, the MaxPreps national basketball editor, Divens wrote that Queen in 2020-21 averaged 16 points, 10 rebounds and four assists per contest. In one game during the recently concluded term, according to Divens, Queen tallied a ridiculous 56 points.
Divens says that selections to the MaxPreps freshman All-America group were made by considering a variety of factors, such as team accomplishments and individual production.
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Syracuse Basketball: Kamari Lands prep team a national-title contender (itlh; Adler)
Syracuse basketball recently landed a verbal commitment from 2022 four-star wing Kamari Lands, a huge first pick-up for the Orange to kick off this class.
The 6-foot-8 Lands, a versatile scorer and defender who can suit up at small forward, shooting guard and point guard, is a junior at Prolific Prep in Napa Valley, Calif.
Prolific Prep is one of the top prep-school squads around the country, and Lands played a key role in how this group performed in the recently concluded stanza.
During the 2020-21 term, Prolific Prep finished with an impressive 31-4 record and was ranked No. 10 nationally in the final top-25 rankings from MaxPreps.
According to MaxPreps, Prolific Prep has earned top-10 overall ratings across the country in two-consecutive seasons, and it appears that the upcoming campaign could also prove a stellar one for Lands and his teammates.
Syracuse basketball commit Kamari Lands is primed for a special senior year.
MaxPreps recently unveiled its early pre-season top-25 rankings for the 2021-22 term, and Prolific Prep checks in at No. 5 nationally. In an article on these ratings, MaxPreps national basketball editor Jordan Divens notes that Prolific Prep is “expected to return the majority of their rotation,” which of course includes Lands.
If you’d like to dig a little deeper into Lands and Prolific Prep, check out his bio on the MaxPreps Web site. This includes team results for Prolific Prep in the most recent season.
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Syracuse Basketball: Donovan Clingan, Quadir Copeland wow at Jam Fest (itlh; Adler)
This past weekend, a bunch of excellent high-school prospects across a variety of classes competed at the Hoop Group’s Pitt Jam Fest in Pittsburgh, and those players included Syracuse basketball 2022 targets Donovan Clingan and Quadir Copeland.
I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’m really high on both four-star center Clingan and three-star point guard Copeland, and I hope that the Orange remains in the mix for both of them as their recruiting processes carry onward.
Paul Biancardi, the national recruiting director for ESPN and one of the top analysts in the business, recently put out a tweet where he listed a handful of guys who caught his attention at the 2021 Pitt Jam Fest, which took place from April 23 to April 25 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh.
Among the prospects that Biancardi mentioned in his tweet are Clingan and Copeland, and that’s really cool. Another high-school player noted by Biancardi is 2023 five-star forward Kwame Evans Jr., who I think is a total star in the making.
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Newton Lost Trust in SU. Should You? – Orange Fizz – Daily Syracuse Recruiting News & Team Coverage (orangefizz.net; Klein)
The mass exodus from Syracuse basketball makes it pretty clear. Seven departed players after a Sweet 16 run screams a lack of trust in where the program is going. So when Woody Newton told the Oklahoman that he transferred to Oklahoma State because he couldn’t trust the Orange coaching staff, it’s important to ask how many other players feel like that.
We’ll never know the exact number. But a lack of trust in the locker room could mean a lack of trust in the stands. Newton appeared in just five games last year after his COVID-pause.
“It messed with me because I know that I can be out there contributing, helping my team win,” Newton said. “Games I see us losing by five points, we’re down by 20 — maybe I can change that. Who knows.”
Now, if Newton’s feelings turn out to be a motif in the program then Jim Boeheim and the entire staff are victims of circumstance. Immediate eligibility for transfers mean that SU can’t afford to develop players the same way that they have in years past. Boeheim’s “doghouse” might as well be called the transfer portal.
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Ryan Blackwell transforms Liverpool basketball program into title contender (DO; Rivera)
Liverpool High School’s athletic director Ari Liberman knew it was time for a coaching change. It was the end of the 2014-15 season, and then-head coach Matt Jacob had secured one winning season in his four-year tenure with Liverpool boys basketball.
Liberman, a new hire himself, had only witnessed the most recent 8-12 season during 2014-15. But with the program’s results declining, and the most recent Section III title in 1999, he wanted new leadership. Liverpool didn’t renew Jacob’s contract in April, and the process to hire his replacement began during the 2015 summer.
That summer aligned with former Syracuse basketball player Ryan Blackwell’s search for a coaching job. He’d played professionally in Japan from 2006 to 2010, later becoming the coach of the team he played on, and worked a varsity coaching gig at IMG Academy upon his return to the U.S.
Blackwell had plans to coach a newly jumpstarted semi-professional team — the Syracuse Shockwave — but the program disbanded before players stepped on the court. That’s when Blackwell met Liberman.
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Jeff Capel Pursuing Duke Transfer Henry Coleman (DBR; King)
According to PittsburghSportsnow.com, Jeff Capel and Pitt are very interested in picking up Duke transfer Henry Coleman.
Coleman left Duke recently for the transfer portal hoping for a bigger role with his new team. Given the defections Pitt has seen since season’s end, he’d get it there.
He’s apparently also heavily considering another ACC school, Virginia Tech, and his hometown team Virginia Commonwealth.
Pitt and Virginia Tech pursued him out of high school and we’re sure VCU did as well. He’s a wonderful kid and we know people who follow Duke were really sad that he decided to enter the portal.
Of those three possibilities, Virginia Tech seems to be the worst fit although maybe Mike Young’s free flowing offense might open up the inside a lot for a guy like Coleman.
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Other
Utica’s .X. Matt / Saranac Brewery completes $35 million expansion, adds jobs and new products (PS; $; Cazentre)
The .X. Matt (Saranac) Brewing Co. has been making beer in Utica for 133 years.
“We hope to be here for another 100 years,” company president Fred Matt said Wednesday while announcing the completion of a three-year, $35 million expansion project. “We are a company that’s fueled to grow.”
But a lot of that growth may not be beer. The brewery founded in 1888 is poised to boost its existing production of products like hard seltzer, wine and spirits beverages in cans, soft drinks and more.
By the end of this year, those kind of products could comprise half the total output of the plant at Edward and Varick streets, Matt said.
The $35 million expansion gives the brewery dozens of giant new brew kettles and fermenting and storage tanks, along with a new digital/computer-operated control system. That will enable it to nearly double its total beverage production by the end of this year.
But Fred Matt had more news: The company is now investing another $11 million to improve and expand its packaging lines as it adds more variety to its beverage line-up.
“We will be the world’s most flexible brewery, or one of the most flexible,” he said. “We were the first to do hard seltzer (with Spiked Seltzer) so we have the knowledge and the experience and now the facilities and the capability.”
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