Sports cliches and other sayings

[MFer 0]

I was thinking about how the media keeps using the saying "throwing someone under the bus" so much in the last couple years. When the fuck did that phrase come out? I first starting hearing it when T.O. was doing his antics. Now I hear it every damn week! And another thing I keep hearing is a team that "wins going away." What the hell is that supposed to mean? Post any cliches that you love, hate, or have no clue about here.

[Brett Favre 0]

We're taking it one game at a time." - I'd like to know which player and/or team takes it four or five games at a time?

 

In remember in the Dan Patrick show, they were talking about this, and they mentioned "He's a good first ball hitter." Are there any guys who are good third or fourth ball hitters?

[naiwf 0]

"No loss hurts anymore than any other." Umm, yeah that loss in the preseason and one in the championship game/series are pretty much equal.

 

"Big time players make big plays in big games." Firstly it's just redundant, but more importantly a lot of those games are won by a kicker, pinch hitter who isn't good enough to be an everyday starter or some bench guy who hits a 3 and no one sees those types as big time players.

 

"This is the NBA, everybody makes a run." The runs usually happen because the team that was up 20 pulled their starters, and their scrubs couldn't hold a lead. You usually don't see big deficits made up against the starters of the team up by a huge amount.

[tominator89 0]

It is what it is.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

In remember in the Dan Patrick show, they were talking about this, and they mentioned "He's a good first ball hitter." Are there any guys who are good third or fourth ball hitters?

 

Yes actually. Some players are patient and wait, while some batters will jump on the first pitch if it was a good one. Wade Boggs was notorious for almost NEVER swinging at the first pitch.

[Brett Favre 0]

Yeah, but no one says "Well, the count is 1-1..better throw this one out of the strike zone, because he's batting .589 when he swings at the third pitch!".

[Just John 0]

I don't like the phrase "Backed into the playoffs."

 

The fact that all regular season games are interchangeable can create this illusion, but I still don't like it. Take the Chiefs this year for example. A lot of things had to go right in Week 17 to get them in, so people said they backed in. However, if all the things that needed to happen (Broncos loss, Bengals loss, Titans loss) happened on other weeks over the course of the season, no one would notice. Hypothetically, if the Broncos lost an extra game in Week 5, the Bengals in Week 7, and the Titans in Week 10, the Chiefs could've been "win and in" on the last week of the season and no one would've ever thought of them "backing in."

 

The phrase "stumbling into the playoffs" is fine if a team loses a lot of games before the playoffs start. The Giants would be a good example of it being ok to use this expression.

[2GOLD 0]

Yeah, but no one says "Well, the count is 1-1..better throw this one out of the strike zone, because he's batting .589 when he swings at the third pitch!".

 

Actually, if the scouting report says he is a third ball hitter and the count is in the pitcher's favor or even...yeah, pitchers will throw the ball out of the strike zone to try to get the guy to chase a ball he tends to make the most contact with. Baseball is extremely situational like that.

[strummer 0]

"clutch"

 

"intangibles"

 

"heart and soul"

 

"gets it done when it matters"

 

"emotional leader"

 

"winning player"

 

"not ready for the big stage"

 

"gritty"

 

"gets his uniform dirty"

 

"doesn't assume anything"

[JHawk 0]

I find the basketball expression "taking it into the hole" to be really perverted and disgusting for some reason. There are children watching for crying out loud!

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

OPS

[Guest Princess Leena]

"Clutch".

[JHawk 0]

"control pitcher". I would hope so if he made it to the major league level.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

"The game wasn't as close as the score would indicate"

[JHawk 0]

"This game could have gone either way."

[bob_barron 0]

He's the first one there and the last one to leave.

 

JakBauer- why do you hate statistics so much?

[Vern Gagne 0]

"This game is going to be won in the trenches".

 

"They left it all on the field".

 

"Throw the records out when these two teams meet"

[Slayer 0]

I don't like the phrase "Backed into the playoffs."

 

The fact that all regular season games are interchangeable can create this illusion, but I still don't like it. Take the Chiefs this year for example. A lot of things had to go right in Week 17 to get them in, so people said they backed in. However, if all the things that needed to happen (Broncos loss, Bengals loss, Titans loss) happened on other weeks over the course of the season, no one would notice. Hypothetically, if the Broncos lost an extra game in Week 5, the Bengals in Week 7, and the Titans in Week 10, the Chiefs could've been "win and in" on the last week of the season and no one would've ever thought of them "backing in."

I disagree with the first statement about the interchangability of games

 

I kind of agree with you about the use of backing into the playoffs. I think the term has merit though. Say you have teams A and B. If A wins, they make the playoffs. If they lose and B wins, B goes and A is out. I say A backs in to the playoffs if they lose and then B loses, allowing A to make the playoffs in spite of losing.

 

It doesn't even need to apply to just making the playoffs. I remember in '00 when the Vikings had a solid division lead through most of the season, then dropped three straight at the end of the season and only won the division and #2 seed because Tampa lost their last game of the season

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Re: specific golfers.

 

Adam Scott - "Great Scott!"

Ted Purdy - "That was a purdy shot!"

 

I'll think of more as tonight's PGA tour coverage on the Golf Channel progresses.

[2GOLD 0]

"They play to win the game"

 

Well of course they do. I certainly hope they aren't playing to lose the game.

[Guest Vitamin X]

"Throw the records out when these two teams meet"

 

Being NFC North fans, we tend to hear this one a lot. I always hear it applied to Packers-Vikings and Packers-Bears.

 

I don't like the phrase "Backed into the playoffs."

 

The fact that all regular season games are interchangeable can create this illusion, but I still don't like it. Take the Chiefs this year for example. A lot of things had to go right in Week 17 to get them in, so people said they backed in. However, if all the things that needed to happen (Broncos loss, Bengals loss, Titans loss) happened on other weeks over the course of the season, no one would notice. Hypothetically, if the Broncos lost an extra game in Week 5, the Bengals in Week 7, and the Titans in Week 10, the Chiefs could've been "win and in" on the last week of the season and no one would've ever thought of them "backing in."

I disagree with the first statement about the interchangability of games

 

I kind of agree with you about the use of backing into the playoffs. I think the term has merit though. Say you have teams A and B. If A wins, they make the playoffs. If they lose and B wins, B goes and A is out. I say A backs in to the playoffs if they lose and then B loses, allowing A to make the playoffs in spite of losing.

 

It doesn't even need to apply to just making the playoffs. I remember in '00 when the Vikings had a solid division lead through most of the season, then dropped three straight at the end of the season and only won the division and #2 seed because Tampa lost their last game of the season

 

Or in 04 when the Vikings made it despite losing the last week of the season, which gave them a game at Lambeau, which they inevitably won either ways. Or in 03 when the Vikings lost the last game of the season at the last second to help the Packers into the playoffs. Why do these sorts of things always seem to involve the Vikings??

[Art Sandusky 0]

We hear a lot of these cliches because athletes are instructed and tutored at the professional level on how to talk to the press.

[Star Ocean 3 0]

Re: specific golfers.

 

Adam Scott - "Great Scott!"

Ted Purdy - "That was a purdy shot!"

 

I'll think of more as tonight's PGA tour coverage on the Golf Channel progresses.

 

This is about sports cliches.

 

Clutch is probably the worst, but I never liked it when people pretend that games early in the season are less important. Maybe there's less pressure on a baseball team for a game in June than there is in September, but the wins and losses count the same. If a team misses the playoffs by one game it's not just because of how they played at the end of the season.

 

And what's with all of these new terms that come up, and everybody acts like they've been around forever? When did "walkoff" become an actual term?

[Guest "Go, Mordecai!"]

We hear a lot of these cliches because athletes are instructed and tutored at the professional level on how to talk to the press.

You know, as much as we gnash our teeth over Terrell Owens and Chad Johnson, at least they shake things up. Sure beats the usual navel-gazing mumbles we get from athletes. Communications major, my foot.

 

Not sure it's the most annoying cliche, but certainly the weirdest, in the vein of Star Ocean's walkoff mention, was when the word "struggling" was replaced with "scuffling" in baseball coverage. "He's really been scuffling at the plate." "I'm scuffling a bit to find my pitches." What the hell was THAT about?

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Re: specific golfers.

 

Adam Scott - "Great Scott!"

Ted Purdy - "That was a purdy shot!"

 

I'll think of more as tonight's PGA tour coverage on the Golf Channel progresses.

 

This is about sports cliches.

 

 

Just like the other thread we post in is called the "NHL Thread".

[Just John 0]

I don't like the phrase "Backed into the playoffs."

 

The fact that all regular season games are interchangeable can create this illusion, but I still don't like it. Take the Chiefs this year for example. A lot of things had to go right in Week 17 to get them in, so people said they backed in. However, if all the things that needed to happen (Broncos loss, Bengals loss, Titans loss) happened on other weeks over the course of the season, no one would notice. Hypothetically, if the Broncos lost an extra game in Week 5, the Bengals in Week 7, and the Titans in Week 10, the Chiefs could've been "win and in" on the last week of the season and no one would've ever thought of them "backing in."

I disagree with the first statement about the interchangability of games

 

I kind of agree with you about the use of backing into the playoffs. I think the term has merit though. Say you have teams A and B. If A wins, they make the playoffs. If they lose and B wins, B goes and A is out. I say A backs in to the playoffs if they lose and then B loses, allowing A to make the playoffs in spite of losing.

 

Say Team A finishes 10-6, losing on the last week. My thought process is that if they lose that game at any other point and win on the last week, no one would make a fuss about "backing in." Regular season games could fall in any order, and sometimes it happens that teams need things to happen in the last games of the season.

 

He's the first one there and the last one to leave.

 

Good call. I was watching a basketball game on ESPN, and over the course of the game, I think the announcers claimed that 3 different players on the same team were the first ones at the gym every day.

[Guest]

"Defense wins championships."

 

That's a load of horseshit. I'm speaking in football terms, not basketball, where it really is the end-all-be-all.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

"Defense wins championships."

 

That's a load of horseshit. I'm speaking in football terms, not basketball, where it really is the end-all-be-all.

No, that's horseshit anywhere. The only way the defense succeeds is if the offense fails, and vice versa. It's a self-fulfilling prophesy. Except in golf, where defense has never won a championship.

[Guest Legalise Drugs and Murder]

My favorite is "Lunchpail Guy"

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

"Defense wins championships."

 

That's a load of horseshit. I'm speaking in football terms, not basketball, where it really is the end-all-be-all.

No, that's horseshit anywhere. The only way the defense succeeds is if the offense fails, and vice versa. It's a self-fulfilling prophesy. Except in golf, where defense has never won a championship.

 

The ONLY reason the Ravens won the Super Bowl was because of their defense. Without that defense and their crappy inept offense, they wouldnt have even won 3 games that year. The offense didn't score a TD for 5 straight games and they still managed to win 2 of the 5 because the defense only allowed 44 points including a shutout.

 

for cliches I was thinking "I need to step my game up" (before a game) "I stepped my game up" (after a win) and "Give it 110%"..