Does Angelique Chengelis know something we don't?
Every time she's on 1050 WTKA (and presumably also when she's not) she insists on pronouncing Boubacar Cissoko's last name as SISS'-a-KOH, with a heavy emphasis on that first syllable. I couldn't find a pronunciation guide on MGoBlue (like they have for hockey), but all the similarly named dudes playing soccer in Europe all pronounce their names siss-O'-koh, and that's how Brian and Brandstatter (et al.) have been pronouncing his name. You would think someone would give her a heads up. Anybody else noticed this?
[Yes, very bored. Lay off.]
October 7th, 2009 at 10:29 PM ^
Random new ESPN reporter keeps calling Justin Verlander "Justin Ver LAN der"
That drove me nuts the past week.
October 7th, 2009 at 10:33 PM ^
Here is a sentence:
"SISS'-a-KOH has issues in pass coverage."
Yes, that is correct. Angelique has it on the money.
October 7th, 2009 at 10:43 PM ^
ESPN announcers are idiots. In the 2006 playoffs all we heard was Craig MON-roe. No one pronounced it that way, least of all Mario and Rod. But there were the ESPN & FOX guys calling him MON-roe. It was so annoying.
October 7th, 2009 at 10:39 PM ^
FWIW: When I was in Guinea, Boubacar's country of birth, I met a number of Cissoko's and they all pronounced it siss-O-Koh.
October 7th, 2009 at 10:58 PM ^
I love this blog. KBLOW has been there and talked to Boubacar's uncle. This place is a bottomless pit of information.
October 8th, 2009 at 12:13 AM ^
A bottomless pit of bullshit.
No matter what someone says, there will be at least one guy who says something like that.
I live in Omaha--the home of the College World Series (UM wins in 1952 & 1963 IIRC)--and on another Michigan board (one you pay for)--one guy posts that at a game at this year's CWS involving LSU--HE sat "right behind" Les Miles!...chatted him up...he's a nice guy... Mmmkay...
I'm sure that if Jessica Alba was spotted at a UM game, some guy would be on here telling us how he fucked her back in 'ought four.
October 8th, 2009 at 8:03 AM ^
Moral of your story is believe nothing anyone says?
October 8th, 2009 at 9:34 AM ^
Take it or leave it. I was just trying to shed a bit of light on something I actually know anything about. Cissoko is a really common name family name in Guinea. In the month I was there, I heard it a lot.
October 8th, 2009 at 11:13 AM ^
pronunciations of many of these African names, especially from hearing the players say them on shows like Sunday Night Football, the O and U vowels are usually long not short. So I would have to agree with you that it would be Ciss-OH-ko rather than the Americanized Ciss-a-ko.
October 7th, 2009 at 10:51 PM ^
calls craig roh craigh RAAAAAAWWWWHHHHHHHHHHH
October 7th, 2009 at 10:57 PM ^
and Craig Roth made a number of appearances specifically in the EMU game.
October 7th, 2009 at 10:58 PM ^
Ryan Van Bergen turned into Ryan Van Buren
October 7th, 2009 at 11:24 PM ^
Troy Woolfork. Great player.
October 8th, 2009 at 7:19 AM ^
driving me insane with the "Woolfork" thing. They finally got it right, I think in Q2, then went back to Woolfork again after that. Very pathetic, considering the bloodline involved...you'd think a network dedicated to covering B10 sports would have a clue. Apparently not.
October 8th, 2009 at 11:16 AM ^
if these announcers have emails or if their producers have emails where one could contact them to express dissatisfaction with the accuracy of information as simple as "getting a player's effing name right?"
October 7th, 2009 at 11:16 PM ^
...know something we don't. I'm pretty sure she has been working the UM beat since before there was an internet, or at least before the general populace had access to it. I'm guessing she knows more about the program than most of the reporters in this market, too.
October 7th, 2009 at 11:47 PM ^
The weekly game notes have a pronunciation guide (page 21 on the attached link)... his name is listed as "Boo-ba-car Sis-soko".
Game Notes
October 8th, 2009 at 12:28 AM ^
I know this isn't a huge priority, but if you're going to provide one you might as well make one that's usable. I don't need the International Phonetic Alphabet or anything but it's still unclear how to pronounce a lot of those names if you've never heard them before.
October 8th, 2009 at 1:26 AM ^
I love the idea of Ward/Bentley puzzling over an IPA guide, though. Hee.
October 8th, 2009 at 7:50 AM ^
Speaking of which, is Sagesse's name really pronounced "Sa-GAY-say?" I thought it had the French pronunciation (which would be sa-ZHESS).
October 8th, 2009 at 11:20 AM ^
Also from the game notes link above it has Dorrestein's name as Dooris-STINE.
October 8th, 2009 at 8:01 AM ^
You guys are cracking me up. Woolfork, assisted on the play by Van Buren. Ward and Bentley are awful and will never graduate past the BTN.
"Is this heaven?"
"No. Iowa".
October 8th, 2009 at 8:07 AM ^
Actually, those two work for ESPN2.
October 8th, 2009 at 8:23 AM ^
Steve Clark calls Tate For-see-ay...Tate Forsear...I don't get it...everyone and their mom (including Tate himself) says it's For-see-ay.