11 Comments
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Nato Coles's avatar

Thank you for not retiring the Stefanski bit. Sincerely!

Dave Edgar's avatar

"“EN-joke-oo” and “NUH-joke-oo.” I prefer the first, it sounds cooler, but I’m actually really curious which one is right. Don’t the announcers ask?" I'm pretty sure it's the first one. And I'm also pretty sure they don't. Yesterday afternoon, they were calling Nyheim Hines "Nie-heem", and I've previously mostly heard it pronounced as "Nee-hime". And I have heard some truly heinous pronunciations of players' names in college games I have watched. I really think part of prep should automatically be looking over rosters, and finding out the correct pronunciations of any names that are even a little bit not Tom, Dick, or Harry, Smith, Jones, or Johnson. It is a matter of respect. It matters. Thus concludeth my pedantic rant for the day. 😁

Chris Hammett's avatar

As for Njoku, best source I've been able to find:

https://twitter.com/Browns/status/894626105470197760

(One thing that occurred to me as I was researching this is that there might be a discrepancy between the name would be pronounced by someone in Nigeria or a recent Nigerian immigrant, and someone who grew up in the United States.)

Dave Edgar's avatar

Huh. I wonder if that's been updated at all, as that one contains players who haven't been here since 2019. And, yeah - I'm pretty sure that either way, that'd sound way different out of the mouth of a native Nigerian.

Chris Hammett's avatar

Oh, this totally struck a nerve with me - I watch/listen to far more baseball than football, most of it of the Cleveland variety, and for the last few years when the team had TWO players named "Pérez" - there's even a helpful accent mark on the uniform for heaven's sake - they couldn't be bothered to say it right. Really, that's the job. Saying things correctly is the job. Not doing that is like being a car mechanic who can't be bothered to figure out what weight of oil to put in the engine. Add to that announcers who never learned that "Frankie" Lindor prefers "Francisco" - if I had an employee I was desperate to pay nine figures to, I would ask him what he likes to be called - and they were getting more than 10% of the team's names wrong.

This year Cleveland only has one Pérez, plus Andres Gimenez whose name for some reason comes out "Andre-uh-s", so I guess that's improvement?

Rob Smith's avatar

I recall Curt Gowdy, Hall of Fame announcer Curt Gowdy, butchering a name on a live broadcast. It wasn't the first time, since Gowdy was known for the occasional gaffe. But Gowdy lost his major gigs over that. People even referred to mistakes & mispronunciations as "Curt Gowdy disease". Standards sure are a lot lower these days for announcers. Probably because there are no longer the iconic announcers that we once had. Good announcing is definitely missed.

Llarry's avatar

But punting on Third and long almost always makes sense.

In Canada.

Sean's avatar

Or when you have SEC refs screw up the number of downs.

Ernie Polazzo's avatar

I think accepting the penalty to make it 3rd and 10 and then punting would be the only thing that made that call worse.

Andrew's avatar

The coach apologized for not taking the penalty and said, if he could do it again, he would take the penalty. Breaking: the Houston Texans' coach is human.

Rob Smith's avatar

I've never been a football coach, but I know that there were three options. (1) take the penalty and it's 3rd and 10. I don't know the exact conversion rate, but it's something like 25%. Still, it's almost no risk. If you don't make it, you can punt. (2) Decline the penalty and it's 4th and 2. The conversion rate, I believe is just under 60%. So, it's a definite option. But there is the risk of not making it and giving the other team good field position. Still, as an underdog, you'd think the coach would have to give this serious consideration. (3) Decline the penalty and punt. 0% conversion rate. How the "F" does a professional NFL coach not know this.... or not have somebody in his ear telling him these things? What a dope.