check your sources?

espn put out a "crash course" for caps-pens game 7--that is, it's a collection of "top 7" lists tangentially related to the game, among which was "SEVEN WACKY NAMES TO REMEMBER."

normally, i'd love a section like this. it's useful, so you don't sound like an idiot (i've heard "MIL-lan juhr-SEE-nah" at a game. i don't actually hold it against the speaker, because it was a fairly young kid, and he happened to know name vs. number for the entire team. pronouncing a couple of names wrong in that context isn't bad at all). without reports like these, i'd still be calling michal neuvirth "NEW worth" (à la bebe neuwirth, aka lilith frasier). for the record, i'm still not completely clear on the second syllable, but it seems to be agreed that the stress is on the first (which rhymes with "soy"), and the second starts with a v, not a w. see? good things to know...

BUT

shouldn't espn be checking these...? or something?

5. Shaone Morrisonn: OK, now you're just messing with us. For the record, Shaone rhymes with "plane." Think Jim from The Doors for the last name.

i confess: i originally had it wrong. i thought it sounded like "shown" (you know--past tense of "show"), but i've heard him introduce himself; it's "shawn." (aka "sean," "shon," etc.) he's also flat-out said it:

It’s tough to pronounce. I’ve heard every name in the book, but it is pronounced "shawn." It’s Gaelic. But I think people are starting to learn it now.

in fact, other than a few play-by-play announcers (namely: the pittsburg radio guys), i don't think i've ever heard any reference to him as "shane."

***

on a separate note, i still have a tough time with "josé théodore." i know he wants us to say "JOE-zay THEE-uh-dohr," but it looks french; i wanna say "TAY-uh-dohr." i avoid the issue by calling him "teddy," which i guess really should be "theo," but... it messes with my mind...

i guess i may have skipped out on the whole VAR-la-mov vs. var-LAM-ov problem similarly: by calling him "varly."

gnarly...

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update: page 2 has changed "plane" to "fawn." while it's nice that they factually corrected the entry, i'm pretty sure that, having been mistaken in the first place, they should know better than to leave in the "now you're just messing with us" part. It's obviously not that obvious.

i know, i know... humor. kudos for the correction.