Sports phrases - enough, already

[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?

[Al DeFlorio]

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?

[heykb]

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

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

[jtwcornell91]

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

[RichH]

"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.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1019718/index.htm

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.

[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."

[ugarte]

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! http://www.word-detective.com/122099.html Good googling, Beeeej.]

[KeithK]

"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.

[billhoward]

"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.

[KeithK]

"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.

[NancyfromNJ]

I'm tired of hearing "Golden Sombrero'"

[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.

[Rosey]

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.

[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."

[billhoward]

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