sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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- Aug 15, 2011
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Welcome to Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day!
National Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day is observed annually on the last Monday in January. The primary purpose of bubble wrap is to protect fragile items either in shipping or storage. People also get enjoyment from popping the bubbles in bubble wrap.
Engineers Marc Chavannes and Alfred Fielding sealed two shower curtains together in 1956 in the town of Hawthorne, New Jersey. This technique created a smattering of air bubbles which the engineers initially thought would make a great wallpaper! Sales for the wallpaper never materialized, so they moved to selling the product as greenhouse insulation.
The Sealed Air Corporation was founded in 1960, but Air Cap (name before it became Bubble Wrap) wasn’t used for shipping until IBM starting shipping the 1401 computer in 1961. Bubble Wrap is a trademarked brand of Sealed Air Corporation.
SU News
Top 2018 UNC lax commit offered by SU football (TNIAAM; Simmons)
The lacrosse world has reveled in the recent success of Chris Hogan in the NFL. Hogan, a wide receiver with the New England Patriots (author note: GO PATS!), played lacrosse at Penn State before getting on the football field at Monmouth as a fifth year senior. However, there is another player who is gaining attention on both the football and lacrosse fields as a high school junior. Ricky Miezan is one of the top-rated lacrosse recruits for the class of 2018, but the North Carolina Tar Heels commit recently received his first football offer from the Syracuse Orange.
Proud to announce that I have received my first division 1 Football offer from Syracuse University. pic.twitter.com/r5c7HHBBxr
— Ricky Miezan (@rickymiezan) January 27, 2017
Miezan is rated as the No. 3 player in the 2018 class by Inside Lacrosse while Recruiting Rundown has him as the top player in the class.
Ty Xanders of RR had some great things to say about the midfielder:
“In many ways, Miezan was a no-brainer to overtake the No. 1 spot. He’s always passed the eye test with a 6’3, 220-pound build and remarkable athleticism reminiscent of a young Myles Jones. Looking less and less raw as time goes on, the Alexandria native has polished his game a noticeable amount over the past year to get to where he is, developing his ability as a feeder and on defense. Miezan put up 35 goals and seven assists last year, also standing out in soccer and track.”
If you are into lacrosse recruiting give Xanders a follow (@tyxanders). He runs RR and does a heck of a job following the recruiting movement and goes in depth with a lot of the high school players.
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Area Sports Briefs (dailystar.com)
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Football clinic to start in February
The NYSHSFCA will hold its annual football clinic at the Turning Stone Resort from Feb. 2-4. The clinic's keynote speaker will be Dino Babers, head coach of Syracuse football.
For more information, contact George Mangicaro at gjmangica@twcny.rr.com
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Football: Former St. Anthony standout followed JUCO route to University of Missouri (nj.com; Bernstein)
On Wednesday, former St. Anthony football star Rashad Brandon will sign a National Letter of Intent to play at the University of Missouri. Such an accomplishment seemed impossible a little more than two years earlier.
In the fall of 2014, Brandon was in his family’s Jersey City home, not enrolled in any college and unsure if he would even play football again.
“It was pretty hard. I don’t know how to say it. I wasn’t really thinking about football when I was home for that first semester,” said Brandon, who is now studying at ASA College, a junior college in Brooklyn. “But my mom was behind me and I had a whole team behind me that encouraged me to go back to school.
“I was kind of down. I didn’t really have anywhere to go. When I went to ASA it gave me hope again that I could still make it.”
The 6-foot-3, 295-pound Brandon said he became aware of ASA thanks to former St. Anthony teammate Darius Roper, who went there before moving on to Georgia Southern. When Brandon arrived at ASA, he was promised nothing but a chance to participate in the team’s spring practices.
Once there, he quickly established himself as an elite defensive tackle. Soon after, Brandon earned a scholarship and was a Third Team, All-Northeast Conference Football selection in 2015. His sophomore season was even better, as he was named Defensive Player of the Year after recording 34 tackles, 3.5 sacks and a fumble recovery.
“I’m very physical, I’m very good with my hands, I have a really good pad level. I got a good motor and I run to the ball,” he said.
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Gophers recruiting class continues to grow – Twin Cities (twincities.com; Greder)
The Gophers recruiting class increased by four players Sunday.
With national signing day coming Wednesday, Minnesota received oral commitments from New Jersey cornerback Ihmir Smith-Marsette, Iowa defensive lineman Austin Schirck and Georgia cornerback Justus Harris. The U later added Iowa Western defensive tackle Royal Silver.
Smith-Marsette, who is 6-2 and 175 pounds of Newark, N.J., de-committed from Rutgers last Monday. He also received scholarship offers from Iowa and Boston College.
“Thanks for everybody that has invested time in me during this process but after my visit I decided this is my new home #gogophers,” Smith-Marsette tweeted.
Harris, who is 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds of Roswell, Ga., flipped his commitment from Cincinnati on Sunday. He had other offers from Rutgers, Vanderbilt and Western Michigan.
Schirck, who is 6-5 and 265 pounds of Carroll, Iowa, de-committed from Northern Iowa on Sunday and pledged to the Gophers. He was recruited by new Gophers defensive line coach Bryce Paup, who previously was an assistant coach at Northern Iowa.
“EXCITED to announce that I have received a scholarship offer from THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA!” Schirck tweeted before changing his bio to read “University of Minnesota Football ’21.”
Silver, who is 6-foot-4, 290 pounds of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, had other offers from Memphis, Syracuse and Central Michigan. He is believed to have two years of eligibility remaining.
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Commit Alert: Rutgers Football Adds Alabama Safety Syhiem Simmons (onthebanks.com; Hunt)
Syhiem Simmons, an athlete from George Washington Carver High School in Alabama, is coming home.
COMMIT ALERT #Rutgers adds 3rd commit today. This one from DB Syhiem Simmons - Syhiem Simmons Commits to Rutgers #ChopNation #AshEra #RFootballpic.twitter.com/DOE917EnvT
— Rutgers247 (@TheChopNation) January 29, 2017
The 3-star safety earned a scholarship offer as a junior at Hudson Catholic in Jersey City, NJ before moving down south for his senior season. While Rutgers always seemed to be the front runner to land Simmons, he also attracted offers from the likes of West Virginia, Mississippi State, Syracuse and Temple.
Simmons was a hard-hitting linebacker in high school as well as a running back, but he projects as a safety at the next level. Listed with good size at six-foot-one, 200 pounds, Simmons is a 3-star safety, according to At their request, this network is being blocked from this site..
Whether Syhiem Simmons ends up as a linebacker of safety remains to be seen, although his “tweener” size and skill set could play as a weakside linebacker in a 4-3 defense. Simmons’ versatility is so impressive that, according to NJ.com’s Todderick Hunt, contributing on the offensive side of the ball may not be out of the question.
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Fowler talks AusOpen, top assignment of his career (si.com;
Deitsch; includes podcast on Mike Tirico)
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3. Episode 100 of the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast features NBC Sports broadcaster Mike Tirico, who works on a variety of sports for that company, including the NFL, golf, college football (Notre Dame) and the Olympics.
In this podcast, Tirico discusses which sport is the toughest to prepare for as a broadcaster and why; the legacy of Brent Musburger; the advice he would give college broadcasting students on how to succeed in 2017; how he gets evaluated by his bosses; which aspect of football play-by-play is the most difficult; why he left ESPN for NBC; whether he was frustrated by Monday Night Football’s schedule in relation to Fox, CBS and NBC’s NFL schedules; how critical a network broadcaster can be of coaches, players or the league; the comments made by Bill Simmons that Tirico failed Tony Kornheiser while both worked on Monday Night Football; his current relationship with Kornheiser; whether a woman will call the NFL in the near future; how he balances calling a game in which his alma mater (Syracuse) is playing; what it was like working with Hubie Brown; the broadcaster he would most like to meet; his NBC golf schedule in 2017; his connection to the University of Buffalo; whether SportsCenter’s new format will be successful and much more.
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Michigan Football Recruiting: Offer Roundup (Week of Jan. 23) (maizeandbrew.com; Petzold)
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2019 WR/CB Kameron Brown
Brown has offers to play for Baylor, East Carolina, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Oregon, Oregon State, Penn State, SMU, Syracuse, Texas, Texas Tech, and UCLA.
During the 2016 season with Colleyville Heritage High School (TX), Brown made 46 receptions for 758 yards and 12 touchdowns. He earned 1,160 all-purpose yards.
The 6-foot-0, 165-pound athlete helped lead his team to a 10-4 record this past season. The Panthers, believe it or not, made it to the 2016 5A UIL Football State Championship before losing to Ryan High School, 24-10.
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Pack's 2017 class nearly complete after three additions (rgi.com; Murray)
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The 6-foot, 265-pound Peterson, from Harbor City, Calif., was a wrecking ball last season on the defensive line. He was named the area's player of the year by the Daily Breeze newspaper after he stacked up 109 tackles, 28 tackles for loss, 17 sacks and forced three fumbles for Narbonne High, one of the top football programs in Southern California.
Peterson, a three-star recruit, also had offers from Syracuse, Sacramento State and West Liberty. The only thing holding him back from Pac-12 offers is his size, but Peterson is a constant performer who has racked up back-to-back 100-plus tackle seasons from the defensive line spot.
Defensive line wasn't a position of need for Nevada, but the Wolf Pack couldn't pass up Peterson, who it offered about a week before he committed.
“He plays so hard all the time and is so versatile,” Narbonne coach Manuel Douglas told the Los Angeles Times in December. “He’s unblockable inside. He’s so quick off the ball.”
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Other
SAG Awards 2017: 'Hidden Figures' adds top trophy in shocking upset (PS; AP)
The cast of "Hidden Figures" rocketed to the Screen Actors Guild's top award Sunday night at a fiery, protest-laden ceremony that was dominated by defiance over President Trump's sweeping immigration ban.
An uplifting drama about African-American mathematicians who aided NASA's 1960s space race, "Hidden Figures" was the surprise best-ensemble winner at the SAG Awards held at Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium. With the Oscar front-runner "La La Land" not nominated in the category, most expected a contest between "Moonlight" or "Manchester by the Sea."
"This story is about unity," said Taraji P. Henson, who stars alongside Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monae in "Hidden Figures." ''This story is about what happens when we put our differences aside and we come together as a human race. We win. Love wins. Every time."
.@TheRealTaraji on Hidden Figures: "This story is about what happens when we put our differences aside" Redirecting...#SAGawards pic.twitter.com/G6P23iY3nn
-- Hollywood Reporter (@THR) January 30, 2017
Several Oscar favorites further cemented their front-runner status at the awards show, including Emma Stone, who won for best film actress for her role in "La La Land." Best actor went to Denzel Washington for his performance in "Fences," an upset over Casey Affleck.
From the first remarks by presenter Ashton Kutcher, the ceremony was peppered with speeches that argued passionately for inclusion. In a very well dressed version of the demonstrations sparked nationwide over the weekend, most award winners spoke in some way -- either through personal anecdote or a call to arms -- against Trump's halting of immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim nations.
