FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[matblake]

It took me a long time to find an article with anything negative with Cardinals on it.  Most sites are either like the Audubon Society that likes birds and doesn't really have anything negative to say or simple descriptions of the Cardinal as a state bird.

[ncc58]

LOL... taking good-natured banter to another level.

A comment from the article that struck me was:

The cardinal lays from two to five eggs, with three or four most often forming the set.

Here's hoping the naperville school lays a few more than 5 "eggs" on Saturday.

Most likely, the egg is the football. And, if NCC lays the football in the endzone after scoring more than 5 TDs, I'll be happy.

Mugsy, It's good to see that you'll be cheering for your other alma mater. Let's see, more than 5 eggs. So, at least 6 TDs for NCC, or 42 points. Nice!

[ncc58]

Midwestfb-- are you implying that Elmhurst doesn't have morals and attempts to keep a "clean" atmosphere on campus
I can't speak for Carthage, but for Elmhurst I know the campus holds a high level of esteem and has certain rules and regulations that try to keep the "nonsense" from getting out of hand.
Looking at your comment I would think you meant it to be, Wheaton's religious ties has them in a different grouping than the other 7 schools, but the way it is written and the context of the phrase, has a connotation that you think EC/Car are dumps, which they are not.

I'm not meaning to offend Elmhurst or Carthage. When you play schools other than Wheaton, it's just football. Sometimes mean, sometimes nasty. But good hard football. Wheaton, at least in the past, has worn the religious ties on their sleeves.

[Mugsy]

Most likely, the egg is the football. And, if NCC lays the football in the endzone after scoring more than 5 TDs, I'll be happy.

Mugsy, It's good to see that you'll be cheering for your other alma mater. Let's see, more than 5 eggs. So, at least 6 TDs for NCC, or 42 points. Nice!

Nice try... unfortunately "laying an egg" is most commonly associated with abhorrent results or performance.  It is quite a stretch to imply it's mean to excessive TD's scored by the naperville school.  

'Lay an egg' is an Americanism. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition, defines it as 'to fail or blunder especially embarrassingly.' The phrase is used especially when there's an audience to witness the fiasco, as in the theater, where it means 'to flop, to bomb, to leave the audience totally cold.'

It's uncertain how laying an egg came to mean what it does, but there are a couple of theories about the phrase's origin. One is that it comes out of World War I when to 'lay an egg' meant to drop a bomb, hence, to bomb. (It's interesting to note that in British English a 'bomb' is a big success, while in American English it's a major failure.) Another theory about the origin of 'lay an egg' has the phrase growing out of the sports term 'goose egg,' which refers to a failure to score, a zero. It's not clear which of these, if either, is the true origin of the phrase.


A famous usage of 'lay an egg' may have been an understatement. A headline in Variety after the 1929 stock market crash read, 'Wall Street Lays an Egg.'

[matblake]

LOL... taking good-natured banter to another level.

A comment from the article that struck me was:

The cardinal lays from two to five eggs, with three or four most often forming the set.

Here's hoping the naperville school lays a few more than 5 "eggs" on Saturday.

Most likely, the egg is the football. And, if NCC lays the football in the endzone after scoring more than 5 TDs, I'll be happy.

Mugsy, It's good to see that you'll be cheering for your other alma mater. Let's see, more than 5 eggs. So, at least 6 TDs for NCC, or 42 points. Nice!

Funny, most of the time that the football is placed on the ground by someone other than the official it is called a fumble.  I will take 5 fumbles from the Cardinals, especially since they have lost 5 of their 10 fumbles so far this year.

[matblake]

Mugsy's comeback was much better than my lame attempt

[Mugsy]

Mugsy's comeback was much better than my lame attempt

You can always delete your posts... particularly if it is done quickly before anyone can respond.   I've done so several times to avoid additional ridicule.   

[Gregory Sager]

LOL... taking good-natured banter to another level.

A comment from the article that struck me was:

The cardinal lays from two to five eggs, with three or four most often forming the set.

Here's hoping the naperville school lays a few more than 5 "eggs" on Saturday.

Most likely, the egg is the football. And, if NCC lays the football in the endzone after scoring more than 5 TDs, I'll be happy.

Mugsy, It's good to see that you'll be cheering for your other alma mater. Let's see, more than 5 eggs. So, at least 6 TDs for NCC, or 42 points. Nice!

Funny, most of the time that the football is placed on the ground by someone other than the official it is called a fumble.  I will take 5 fumbles from the Cardinals, especially since they have lost 5 of their 10 fumbles so far this year.

Ironically, a player used to have to put the ball on the ground in the end zone in order for the touchdown to count. In fact, that's where the term "touchdown" comes from. Football's immediate ancestor is rugby, and on a rugby try (that sport's analog to a touchdown) the rules still say that the ball has to be placed on the ground by the scoring player. The act of putting the ball to the ground when a try is accomplished is still called the "touchdown" in rugby.

When linebacker Chris Spielman was playing for the Buffalo Bills a decade ago he once intercepted a pass and successfully ran it back into the end zone. He leaned down and triumphantly thumped the ball on the ground in the end zone with both hands without letting go of it. When asked about this strange touchdown celebration after the game, he noted that in the early days of football it was required for the scoring player to do this in order for the six points to count. He said that he was bored by all the spiking and silly dances that usually accompany a touchdown, and he wanted to do something that was truly "old school" in the literal sense of the term. I still think of it as one of the coolest things an NFL player ever did during a game. How many pro athletes have that keen a grasp of their sport's history?

[Mugsy]

How many pro athletes have that keen a grasp of their sport's history?

4

[Mugsy]

Ironically, a player used to have to put the ball on the ground in the end zone in order for the touchdown to count. In fact, that's where the term "touchdown" comes from. Football's immediate ancestor is rugby, and on a rugby try (that sport's analog to a touchdown) the rules still say that the ball has to be placed on the ground by the scoring player. The act of putting the ball to the ground when a try is accomplished is still called the "touchdown" in rugby.

When linebacker Chris Spielman was playing for the Buffalo Bills a decade ago he once intercepted a pass and successfully ran it back into the end zone. He leaned down and triumphantly thumped the ball on the ground in the end zone with both hands without letting go of it. When asked about this strange touchdown celebration after the game, he noted that in the early days of football it was required for the scoring player to do this in order for the six points to count. He said that he was bored by all the spiking and silly dances that usually accompany a touchdown, and he wanted to do something that was truly "old school" in the literal sense of the term. I still think of it as one of the coolest things an NFL player ever did during a game. How many pro athletes have that keen a grasp of their sport's history?

Every time Mr. Sager posts I am reminded that I really need to change my profile quote.  The depth and breadth of my history knowledge pales in comparison.

[matblake]

I don't know many high school kids that look as old as Spielman does on the Wheaties box. http://chrisspielman.com/bio.html

[matblake]

Mugsy's comeback was much better than my lame attempt

You can always delete your posts... particularly if it is done quickly before anyone can respond.   I've done so several times to avoid additional ridicule.   

As long as I can continue to be able to admit my mistakes and it doesn't violate the TOS then I figure what the heck.

[washdupcard]

For the record...I have held the brass bell.  So i'm pretty sure that CardAlum's picture isn't any older than 9 years.

Wait, that doesn't sound as good as it did in my head.

[washdupcard]

Some quotes about Cardinals I got from the following article.

Chapman (1912) refers to the cardinal as "rather a clumsy fellow. His body appears to be stiff, as if it were made of wood, different in every way from the pliant, lithe body of the Catbird, for example. He hops about on the ground with tail held well up out of harm's way, and comes heavily down upon his feet, as if his body were really very solid. In fact, he is not at all a graceful bird."

Thomas S. Roberts (1932) says: "It is a rather restless, uneasy bird, moving constantly about, and when disturbed, registers its annoyance by elevating the crest to the fullest extent and accompanying its rather feeble chip by quick jerks of the long tail."

Some observers have stated that cardinals seldom bathe, or that the male rarely does so.

http://home.bluemarble.net/~pqn/ch31-40/cardinal.html

You can only say this because Wheaton finally changed their mascot to the Thunder from a reference to a medieval slaughter of thousands of innocent people.

Wait, that also doesn't sound as good as it did in my head.  What is with me today?

[TitanBacker]

T-I-T A-N-S  Titans! Titans! Are the best.  GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO TITANS!

I'm trying feebly to change the board back from Wheaton vs NCC to a CCIW board.  I really don't think it's gonna happen this week tho.  But a man can try! 

RedmenFB44-

You still around or have your hamstring injuries hampered you from getting online?  What do you think of the game this weekend?