One I've already heard a lot this year but didn't remember hearing much before is "hat-on-hat."
The Official Thread of Sports Cliches
- Thread starter Hungry Jack
- Start date
That was a real slobberknocker.
(as opposed to all those pseudoslobberknockers)
(as opposed to all those pseudoslobberknockers)
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Sort of related, from Casey Stengel about two players:
See that fella over there? He's 20 years old. In 10 years, he's got a chance to be a star. Now that fella over there, he's 20 years old, too. In 10 years he's got a chance to be 30.
It wasn't exactly Chuckles the Clown in there.
I didn't just get off the pickle boat yesterday.
Ya gotta keep the main thing the main thing.
You get the most improvement between week one and week two.
(Well, one out of four, anyway, maybe.)
I didn't just get off the pickle boat yesterday.
Ya gotta keep the main thing the main thing.
You get the most improvement between week one and week two.
(Well, one out of four, anyway, maybe.)
We’ve had the same staff together for _x_ number of seasons. That continuity is what great organizations, great football teams have.
"Offense wins game, but defense wins championships."
Awfully hard to win a championship without winning games. The actual cliche goes something along the lines of "Offense sells tickets, but defense wins games".
Awfully hard to win a championship without winning games. The actual cliche goes something along the lines of "Offense sells tickets, but defense wins games".
There are billboards all over the Twin Cities about that. I have not been able to figure out why they have been spending so much money to promote Crew. I think it must be a Scandinavian thing--you know, Vikings and all, and rowing their Viking ships across oceans to conquer foreign peoples. Just goofy, like the Goofers. It's actually kind of sad that the Gophers are getting better in football, and no longer live up to their past goofiness. They may well even beat us this year, but their announcers will still be spouting the cliches of yore. "That should have been a first down" except for the fact that their RB was tackled five yards short.
(Some of these are borrowed from The League)
White players:
"He's a real coaches player" OR "Coachable"
"Gym rat" OR "lunch pail player"
"Has a high [insert sport] IQ"
"More athletic/faster than he looks"
"Plays the game the right way"
Black players:
"Freak athlete"
"A physical specimen"
"Plays with physicality"
"Wears his emotions on his sleeve"
"Class act" (specifically for black coaches)
Hispanic players:
"A real fire-cracker" OR "fires up the clubhouse"
"spark plug"
"Scrappy"
"Goes after you"
"Outspoken"
White players:
"He's a real coaches player" OR "Coachable"
"Gym rat" OR "lunch pail player"
"Has a high [insert sport] IQ"
"More athletic/faster than he looks"
"Plays the game the right way"
Black players:
"Freak athlete"
"A physical specimen"
"Plays with physicality"
"Wears his emotions on his sleeve"
"Class act" (specifically for black coaches)
Hispanic players:
"A real fire-cracker" OR "fires up the clubhouse"
"spark plug"
"Scrappy"
"Goes after you"
"Outspoken"
This one is invariably followed by one or more of the following:
"We just did not execute."
"We did not win our one-on-one match-ups."
"We did not make the plays."
White guys are scrappy. Always white guys. Like Eckstein.
On the other hand, the phrase "hot Latin temper" was uttered more than a dozen times during Carlos Zambrano's starts. I always thought Ryan Dempster had a hot Canadian temper, but that never stuck.
"Class act." I'll pay attention to that one. Have never made the association, but it might be true.
I go along with "class act." Not used as often as "well-spoken" for black players.
"He can really score the ball."
There's so many things wrong with these six words. My regular question is whether an athlete can score WITH another object. Maybe a puck, but this is never a hockey quote.
One more, and I may get in trouble for this one.
Interviewer asks a question about topic A, and the response begins with, "I just want to thank (fill in higher power here) for ..."
There's so many things wrong with these six words. My regular question is whether an athlete can score WITH another object. Maybe a puck, but this is never a hockey quote.
One more, and I may get in trouble for this one.
Interviewer asks a question about topic A, and the response begins with, "I just want to thank (fill in higher power here) for ..."
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Ha, yeah. White guys are very smart, black guys are great athletes (courtesy of Billy Packer.)
The nerd in me just shrieks when I hear "mano y mano."
I mean, "hand and hand"?! Come on, that doesn't even make sense.
"Mano a mano": hand to hand (in Spanish for Stream), or, effectively, unarmed combat. (is what I think they're trying to say)
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1. After every interception: "He would like to have that one back"
2. The inability of broadcasters to grasp the difference between "unanswered" and "consecutive". As in "Illinois scored first then Northwestern reeled off 21 unanswered points before Illinois scored again." For some reason, this one really bothers me.
2. The inability of broadcasters to grasp the difference between "unanswered" and "consecutive". As in "Illinois scored first then Northwestern reeled off 21 unanswered points before Illinois scored again." For some reason, this one really bothers me.
They have to learn to play for 60 minutes
or
It is up to us as coaches to have our team ready to play for 60 minutes
(As many times as I have heard the 60 minutes mantra in one form or another, I have yet to see any football team walk off the field with a minute or more left in the game to take a team gatorade break while the clock continued to run.)
or
It is up to us as coaches to have our team ready to play for 60 minutes
(As many times as I have heard the 60 minutes mantra in one form or another, I have yet to see any football team walk off the field with a minute or more left in the game to take a team gatorade break while the clock continued to run.)
I believe that's the Spanish phrase.
(In response to every inane pontification by any clown who emits gas.):
No doubt about it.
I once heard somebody utter at a BlackHawks game "That's 5 straight, consecutive goals in a row...without the Hawks scoring".
Never laughed so damn hard once I got over the shock and awe of the redundancy...
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