sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Welcome to Spoonerism Day!
Today is the birthday of the Reverend William Archibald Spooner, born in London in 1844. Spooner lectured in history, philosophy, and divinity at Oxford University. He was small in stature and an albino, but it was his words not his appearance that made him famous.
Spooner has been immortalized in the dictionary by what we call todayspoonerisms: slips of the tongue where the initial consonant sounds of words are reversed, as in one of Spooner's famous flubs -- he was officiating a wedding and after pronouncing the couple man and wife said to the groom: "Son, it is now kisstomary to cuss the bride." The error, of course, was reversing the sounds of the c in customary with the k in kiss (1).
Reverend Spooner is certainly not the only person to make this kind of error. In fact, it is quite common, and, as explained by Richard Lederer, more common in English than any other language:
The larger the number of words in a language, the greater the likelihood that two or more words will rhyme. Because English possesses almost four times the number of words of any other language, it is afflicted with a delightful case of rhymatic fever. A ghost town becomes a toast gown. A toll booth becomes a bowl tooth. A bartender becomes a tar bender. Motion pictures become potion mixtures. And your local Wal-Mart becomes a Mall Wart!
More rhymes mean more possible spoonerisms. That’s why English is the most tough and rumble of all languages, full of thud and blunder. That's why English is the most spoonerizable tongue ever invented. That's why you will enter this discussion optimistically and leave it misty optically.
SU News
Shafer Optimistic for SU Football in 2015 (cnycentral.com; Malnoske)
Excitement for the 2015 football season is at a fever pitch in Pinehurst, North Carolina for ACC media day.
Tuesday, the coaches of each respective squad took the podium to discuss this upcoming season, including Syracuse head man, Scott Shafer. Shafer, who is in his third year, was excited about this upcoming season, stressing the importance of improving every day.
"We look forward to a challenging schedule, a challenging season," said Shafer. "We have some great people coming into the Dome, like LSU, so it will be a great challenge. The whole goal is to win the day, one day at a time."
Other ACC coaches, such as Boston College's Steve Addazio, who coached the Offensive Line and Tight Ends at Syracuse from 1995-1998, stressed how teams will be scared to head up into Orange country this fall. "Having spent four great years myself in that dome, I know how hard it is to play in that Dome. It's a difficult environment, it's just when you walk in there, it's just got this deal, and it's a great challenge for us," said Addazio.
Shafer's squad opens up the season with four straight games in the Dome, vs. Rhode Island, Wake Forest, LSU and Central Michigan.
ACC News
Wrapping Up Day 2 of the ACC Kickoff (ESPN)
Two storylines dominated Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher's morning media session: off-field incidents and the ongoing battle to replace Jameis Winston.
The first 23 minutes of Fisher's session involved the coach discussing the recent arrests of De'Andre Johnson and Dalvin Cook and the negative perception around his program. But then the attention turned to the Seminoles’ starting quarterback competition, which recently added another player to the fold in Notre Dame transfer Everett Golson.
Fisher repeated that he has no timetable for a decision, which will come down to Golson and redshirt junior Sean Maguire.
"I’ve been in many many quarterback battles -- many, many, many," he said. "I let them play out and let the facts of what they do and the performance of what they do make that decision."
Though Golson has yet to practice with Florida State, he has been lifting weights with the team and running 7-on-7 drills. The early reviews of Golson, who started for the Fighting Irish in the 2012 national championship game, are positive.
"He and the team have done a really good job of being really cohesive," Fisher said. "He likes the players and likes the guys there. The guys have spoken highly of him."
Maguire was the No. 1 quarterback throughout spring practice and started the spring game. He was forced to start for the Seminoles last season against Clemson after Winston’s suspension, and Florida State won in overtime.
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Five Things We Learned from ACC Media Days (nfl.com; Goodbread)
Any college team with famous football alums can use those great players to their advantage in recruiting, but Duke coach David Cutcliffe can call on a couple of high-profile quarterbacks who played their college ball elsewhere when he tries to reel in a prospect.
Yes, it sure can't hurt Cutcliffe's case with recruits when he mentions Peyton Manning and Eli Manning come to Duke to work out with Cutcliffe each year.
"They're our advantage," Cutcliffe said Tuesday at the ACC Football Kickoff event, per ESPN.
The bond between Cutcliffe and the Mannings goes back to the college days for each, as Cutcliffe was Peyton's offensive coordinator at Tennessee and Eli's head coach at Ole Miss. Receivers from theDenver Broncos and New York Giants joined Peyton and Eli for workouts at Duke this spring.
"What's great is for our players, they see this work ethic, see not only Peyton and Eli, but the receivers and how they're running routes, and they just soak it all up," Cutcliffe said. "It's fun for me, but it's meaningful for our team."
And for recruits that might one day join that team, too.
Here are four other things we learned from the ACC Football Kickoff event:
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Notre Dame's First Year with ACC a Success; Coaches Call for Full Membership (sportingnews.com; Thomas)
Notre Dame loves its football independence. The rest of college football wishes the Irish would join a conference.
“I prefer them being all the way (in the ACC), but that’s just not the way it is right now,” said North Carolina head coach Larry Fedora on Tuesday at ACC Kickoff.
The Fighting Irish have resisted fully joining a conference — they are full ACC members in all sports except football and hockey — but have agreed to schedule five ACC games a year.
In 2014, Notre Dame played Syracuse, North Carolina, Florida State and Louisville and has Virginia, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Pittsburgh, Wake Forest and Boston College on the slate in 2015.
That also puts them in a unique situation when it comes to vying for a spot in the College Football Playoff. And that doesn’t please Missouri coach Gary Pinkel.
So will the Fighting Irish add more ACC games to their schedule or fully join the conference? Not according to ACC commissioner John Swofford.
“The five is where we settled in a very long and extended negotiation,” he said. “I think it gives us what we felt like we needed bringing them in without football and it gave them the opportunity to schedule the way they want to schedule.
“They cherish their football independence and I understand and respect that. It gives them an opportunity to play coast to coast and that’s important to Notre Dame.”
One year into the agreement, Swofford likes what he sees.
“It’s gone extraordinarily well, and I think you’d get the same answer from Notre Dame,” he said at ACC Kickoff. “They’re a great addition, they’ve been terrific around the table, great to work with.
“As (Notre Dame athletic director) Jack Swarbrick told me as we walked off the floor after they won the basketball championship in Greensboro, N.C., he said, ‘Now I feel like we really belong’ and I understood what he was saying. It’s a great place, unique place and I’m pleased they’re a part of our league.”
