Sports phrases - enough, already

Three phrases that make you want to train a rock salt-filled shotgun at the speaker's backside:

"Student athlete"
"The Ohio State University"
"True freshman"

The last one is a retronym, a term used by William Safire to describe the need for "corded drill" once cordless drills became common. Or, since Safire was never one to keep politics out of his On Language column in the New York Times column (sorry, The New York Times): "English-language radio." Are there others?

billhoward
Three phrases that make you want to train a rock salt-filled shotgun at the speaker's backside:

"Student athlete"
"The Ohio State University"
"True freshman"

The last one is a retronym, a term used by William Safire to describe the need for "corded drill" once cordless drills became common. Or, since Safire was never one to keep politics out of his On Language column in the New York Times column (sorry, The New York Times): "English-language radio." Are there others?

"Unanswered goals." What happened to three straight?

I thought it was three straight unanswered goals in a row.

For bonus points, the announcer can stick consecutive in there too.

"walk-off X" where X\in{"home run","hit","error","walk","hit by pitch","passed ball",...}

jtwcornell91
"walk-off X" where X\in{"home run","hit","error","walk","hit by pitch","passed ball",...}

Kinda-sorta credited to Dennis Eckersley, of all people, in 1993.
[sportsillustrated.cnn.com]

My submission to this thread is "pick six" to mean an interception returned for a touchdown. Over the past five years, It's grown so prevalent that it's annoying.

I've always sort of disliked "schneid" ("shnide"?) to describe a losing, scoreless, or hitless streak, e.g., "the Giants got off the schneid by beating Dallas." I've never been able to find an adequate description of how or where it originated.

And I wouldn't suggest reading Urban Dictionary's definition of "schneid."

Beeeej
I've always sort of disliked "schneid" ("shnide"?) to describe a losing, scoreless, or hitless streak, e.g., "the Giants got off the schneid by beating Dallas." I've never been able to find an adequate description of how or where it originated.

And I wouldn't suggest reading Urban Dictionary's definition of "schneid."

I believe the term is from gin. The multi-game, playing for money version. (Confirmed! [www.word-detective.com] Good googling, Beeeej.]

jtwcornell91
"walk-off X" where X\in{"home run","hit","error","walk","hit by pitch","passed ball",...}

Oh, I so hate that expression. Especially when it's used in extra innings.

KeithK

jtwcornell91
"walk-off X" where X\in{"home run","hit","error","walk","hit by pitch","passed ball",...}

Oh, I so hate that expression. Especially when it's used in extra innings.

You can just see hockey, overtime, and a skate-off goal.

Imagine this kind of phrasing takes hold in politics. Were it held today, Israel's six-day war might be called the walk-off war of 1967 ... in case "refudiate" wasn't enough. Think what the spawn of a Sarah Palin-Yogi Berra pairing might offer future generations.

billhoward

KeithK

jtwcornell91
"walk-off X" where X\in{"home run","hit","error","walk","hit by pitch","passed ball",...}

Oh, I so hate that expression. Especially when it's used in extra innings.

You can just see hockey, overtime, and a skate-off goal.

Imagine this kind of phrasing takes hold in politics. Were it held today, Israel's six-day war might be called the walk-off war of 1967 ... in case "refudiate" wasn't enough. Think what the spawn of a Sarah Palin-Yogi Berra pairing might offer future generations.

I've got nothing against Yogi Berra parsing because they're just Yogi-isms.

I'm tired of hearing "Golden Sombrero'"

I've always hated phrases like "do what we do," and "they/we need to just play their/our game," "go out there and execute," and "do our thing." What do those things even mean? I first noticed them in athlete interviews in response to questions like "What do you need to do to go win today?" (because those phrases really answer that question), but lately I've noticed commentators and announcers using them too, which is disappointing because I expect people who speak for a living to be able to sound more intelligent than the average pro athlete.

jtn27
I've always hated phrases like "do what we do," and "they/we need to just play their/our game," "go out there and execute," and "do our thing." What do those things even mean? I first noticed them in athlete interviews in response to questions like "What do you need to do to go win today?" (because those phrases really answer that question), but lately I've noticed commentators and announcers using them too, which is disappointing because I expect people who speak for a living to be able to sound more intelligent than the average pro athlete.

I blame the interviewers for asking pointless questions. I'd like to see a coach deadpan, "We need to score more goals than the other team." If more coaches did this, perhaps these idiotic questions would stop and sports reporters would start asking questions designed to do more than fill airtime.

Kyle Rose

jtn27
I've always hated phrases like "do what we do," and "they/we need to just play their/our game," "go out there and execute," and "do our thing." What do those things even mean? I first noticed them in athlete interviews in response to questions like "What do you need to do to go win today?" (because those phrases really answer that question), but lately I've noticed commentators and announcers using them too, which is disappointing because I expect people who speak for a living to be able to sound more intelligent than the average pro athlete.

I blame the interviewers for asking pointless questions. I'd like to see a coach deadpan, "We need to score more goals than the other team." If more coaches did this, perhaps these idiotic questions would stop and sports reporters would start asking questions designed to do more than fill airtime.

But a coach or player could also give some semi-interesting piece of strategy in response to that question without giving too much away, which is what I think the announcers are hoping for. Something like "We have to keep an eye on player X when he runs a deep route. He's quick and if you don't watch him, you're going to regret it."

These new phrases have gotten coaches away from talking about athletes who "give 110%."

"compete level"

Oh, and because I'm a hockey purist, I'll throw in the worst sports phrase ever:

Worst sports phrase ever
We're going to a shootout!

The other phrases mentioned here have earned their spot by being meaningless, or so nebulous as to be essentially meaningless. This one earns its spot because I know exactly what it means, and Idon'tlikeit!

In contrast with the insipid quote theme of this thread, here is a collection of good sports quotes. Bob Frisk, retired sports writer for the Daily Herald, has been compiling a list and publishing the best annually for quite a while. Bob Frisk's Best Sports Quotes of 2011 In keeping with the theme of the thread, one of my favorites:

Caroline Wozniaki,
top-ranked women's tennis player, responding to criticism that her press conferences were boring because she always gives the same answers: “I find it quite funny because I always get the same questions.”

(Typically the Daily Herald articles are ephemeral, so if the link doesn't work a few weeks from now, that's why.)

Something I'd like to see more of. Scoops Callahan,


1920's reporter

Sports quotes are so often meaningless because

* Media training for players and coaches teaches evasiveness and saying nothing to avoid giving opponents ammunition
* Insipid comments don't sound so insipid on TV
* There's only so much you can say about a game
* The sports figures aren't particularly clever and get plenty of opportunities to be quoted and prove their cleverness
* The athletes don't like a lot of the reporters and don't see a reason to make their jobs any easier
* Seemingly dumb questions that cover dumb questions and questions re-asked that players didn't want to answer
* Questions asked by former athletes
* Previous answers that annoy teammates, coaches, and owners and make your life uncomfortable

There was the quote by the Kentucky basketball player in reference to the team's academic inclinations, the answer was to the effect that you don't have to be Einstein to put a ball through the hoop, and the better answer would have been to add, "But just to be safe, that's why the team nickname is C-A-T."

Harold Ballard, president of the Toronto Maple Leafs upon being sentenced for tax invasion: "If you got a chance to screw the government out of a few bucks, you'd do it, too."

The stock car driver (Neil Bonnett?) explaining why his fishing boat has a 200-horsepower engine: "You hook a bass at 60 miles an hour, he stays hooked."

One of my favorite announcers is Darryl 'Razor' Reaugh of the Dallas Stars. He consistently uses an expanding vocabulary to turn the sports cliches on their head. Example, a "mastadonic save" as opposed to a "monster save".