Sports phrases - enough, already

[ftyuv]

"compete level"

[ftyuv]

Oh, and because I'm a hockey purist, I'll throw in the 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!

[David Harding]

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:

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.)

[css228]

Something I'd like to see more of. Scoops Callahan,1920's reporter

[billhoward]

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."

[billhoward]

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."

[Luke 05]

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".