Steelers-Ravens haiku contest winner
We had lots of good entries for this week’s haiku contest. Patrick came into this week as a two-time winner, looking for a three-peat. Did he defend his championship?
While we had lots of good entries, there were two that stood out to me. Both had excellent concepts, but both also had flaws. The first entry was by our reigning champ. Patrick’s entry was as follows:
Paper towels for Suggs
To wipe the tears from his eyes
I’d suggest Bounty
The second noteworthy entry was by Eric Wagner. It went as follows:
Was it in or out?
Doesn’t really matter for
Ninety-one reasons
Patrick’s entry was very creative, and I loved the play on the word “bounty”, since the Ravens have been known to put out bounties on Steelers players. Unfortunately, Patrick used the word “towel”. “Towel” has two acceptable pronunciations. The first, and most commonly accepted pronunciation has two syllables. That would give Patrick’s first line 6 syllables rather than five.
Eric’s entry was also very creative, but it too had a flaw. The final drive was 92 yards, not 91 yards. Therefore, the last line should probably have been “Ninety-two reasons”.
In my judgment, an error in game statistics is less egregious than an error in syllables, since an extra syllable would disqualify the poem from being a haiku. Patrick’s entry, though recognized for it’s creativity, is being disqualified. Therefore, Eric Wagner is this week’s winner.
Congratulations Eric. It took some serious haiku jiu jitsu to defeat Patrick. Patrick has already established that he has a black belt in haiku, so defeating him was no small task. I expect Patrick to bring a full can of whoop @$$ next week to win his title back, so everyone had better start preparing for a serious rumble next week.
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I take issue with your reasoning. You accept that there are more than one pronounciation of the word “towel”, and then state that the word has more syllables than required. Say the words “Terrible Towel”. I’ve never heard anyone say “Terrible Tou-el”.
Losing is cool, but losing on an opinion-based technicality when in fact the dictionary gives alternate pronounciation is crap.
1Congrats as well to Eric, the new true-blue haiku guru.
2Objection noted, Patrick. I did acknowledge that it can be pronounced with one syllable, but when I thought about it, the two syllable pronunciation is far more prominent.
I don’t disagree with your objection. That is why I acknowledged that it can be pronouced with one syllable (although it is far less common).
I hope you noticed that I did acknowledge the quality of your offering though. The “bounty” play on words was brilliant.
I expect you to bring that can of whoop @$$ next week and win back your title.
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