What's your least favorite sports cliche or statement?

[PeoriaAZCards]

"Wait till next year"!!!!

 

[Ryanwb]

Armpit of the NFL

 

[KingLouieLouie]

"He's a gamer" is excessively used..... Typically when the player lacks talent and skills.... Also, anything that Dick Vitale says!

 

[Northern Card]

Mental mistakes verses physical mistakes...

The day there's a difference we'll be witnessing the first headless half-back scoring a touchdown

 

[Derm]

I obviously copied this one...

"The quarterback is staring at the receiver too long."
When you hear this during a telecast, chances are it might be true one out of every five times. Most of the time, the quarterback is throwing into man coverage where the defender is running with the receiver and not even looking at the quarterback. So whether the quarterback is staring at one receiver has no bearing on the outcome of the play. The only time staring too long could be a problem is when the receiver is going across the field and there is a safety or linebacker who is free in the middle and goes where the quarterback looks. But, generally, when you hear this phrase, disregard it.

"He threw into double coverage."
Yes, sometimes quarterbacks do throw into double coverage. But most of the time, it's a matter of the ball being in the air and a safety or some other defender reacting to it. It's almost always not double coverage. You must remember that you're dealing with extremely gifted athletes in the NFL. When the ball is in the air, defenders leave their receiver and run to where the ball is thrown. So sometimes there just happens to be more than one defender in the area when the ball gets there. It looks like maybe he was covering the guy, but that's not always true.

"The safety didn't get there in time."
When you see a long pass down the sideline, and it's completed over the cornerback with the safety coming over to make the tackle, or just miss knocking down the ball, you'll hear broadcasters say, "Well the safety didn't get over there in time." Well, the safety wasn't supposed to be over there. The safety was in the middle of the field helping protect the corner from inside routes. It was the corner's responsibility to cover deep over the top. Almost always, it's not true when they say that.

"The quarterback isn't being asked to win the game, just not to lose it."
This is my favorite cliché of all. I want to turn off the TV when I hear that. Being an ex-quarterback, that is a slap in the face! They're saying that, no matter what I do, I can't get credit. But if anything goes wrong, I'll take the blame.
I've played in a wide-open offense and I've played in a very controlled, measured offense. And I can say this: The controlled, measured offense is much, much harder to play. Because when you get less throws and are asked to manage the game -- run it at a slower pace -- the quarterback has to be much more precise.
When the quarterback is asked to play a more conservative style, that means he's generally going to run the ball more and be asked to pick up more third-down passing situations. And throwing on third down is the hardest thing to do in the National Football League. It's like a basketball player -- if he gets to shoot 20 times a game, he has a much better chance of being in rhythm. If he's asked to shoot just five times a game and expected to make three out of every five, that's hard to do.
So if a broadcaster tells you that a team is playing a conservative offense because it has a young quarterback and you just want the quarterback not to lose the game, keep this in mind: A conservative offense, believe it or not, is harder for a young quarterback to run.

"The offense is too predictable."
What offense isn't predictable? You can only do two things: run or pass. So that's a 50-50 proposition. And if it's third down and more than a couple of yards, you know it's a pass. But that's always the first phrase uttered out of anybody's mouth as soon as a team doesn't score enough points.
When you're not physically capable of getting things done against a defense, it does make you look very predictable. But who are we to question the play calling? The coaches sat in film sessions all week and spent about 95 hours getting ready for the game, and you're going to second guess every call you didn't like in a football game? I watch plenty of film and talk to the coaches every week, yet I still know next to nothing compared to the coaches who are preparing the game plan. If it's not working, it's not because it's too predictable.

On running quarterbacks -- "That's what they bring to the table."
So you're going to differentiate a quarterback based on his ability to run and pick up three yards? Maybe the most so-called "pocket passer" in the league right now is Drew Bledsoe. The fact that he's not running for first downs on a consistent basis is really hurting the Buffalo offense, isn't it? Case closed.

"He's a players' coach."
I'm happy to report this cliché has pretty much died off. It was a hot phrase about two years ago. Somehow, it became fashionable to think that a coach had to be tuned in and hip with the players. Everybody realizes now that it's not a good phrase. It's demeaning to the coach, really. I think we're learning that pro football is such a difficult world, and discipline, organization and hard work is the name of the game. There are no exceptions.
It's gotten to where it is almost derogatory to call a head coach a "players' coach." To me, it describes a coach who doesn't have complete control of his football team. And I know a lot of head coaches who take it the same way. They would get insulted to be called a players' coach because the connotation is that they are easy and soft.
The comparison is to being a father. Do you want to raise your child properly or do you want to be his best friend? If you're going to be his best friend, then you're going to let him get away with keeping his room messy, not doing well in school, and just being a spoiled brat. Or are you going to be his father and make him work hard and make him be courteous to people? What's the difference between that and a pro football coach?

 

[First Down Guy]

"If they hadn't tackled that guy, he could have gone all the way."

 

[KingofCards]

"That was a game saving tackle."

 

[Metal Militia]

Originally posted by seesred
THe one that gets me is after a 2-2 or 3-2 count and 1 or 2 foul balls they say " This guy is having a great at bat". I always thought a great at bat was a hit, move the runners, HR or a hard hit ball somewhere. A great at bat is just not getting up there or is it?

GBR

Well, the above could describe a good at bat. It all depends on who is pitching. If it is a good pitcher, you want to get that pitch count up. If a batter fouls a whole bunch of balls off, that could certainly be a good thing.

 

[jw7]

"I need to make better decisions with the football"

 

[Stout]

"You just can't say enough about what this guy has done"

All right, then...shut up about it!

 

[denverbirdfan]

you just gotta give the other guy credit...

*no you don't, you just got waxed and you're trying to take the attention off of that*

anytime when baseball announcers claim to know what the coaches are saying to the pitcher during a meeting on the mound

*like they have any idea at all what the heck is going on*

he's a really good fastball hitter...

*who isn't? if you can't hit a fastball, my guess is that you won't make it to the bigs*

 

[BACH]

2-0 is the most dangerous lead in a game(soccer).....

I'll admit that I don't follow soccer that much, but wouldn't 1-0 be more dangerous than 2-0???

 

[AZ1766]

when an announcer explains "exactly" what a player, be it any sport, is doing wrong and how to fix it....... if the announcer is that good, why the heck is he not coaching and training?????

 

[AZ1766]

Oh, and "circus catch"? what the hell does this mean and how do you define it???????

 

[JeffGollin]

- "Focus."

- "One game at a time."

- The fat lady.

- "Fiery Pepperpot" (definition of light-hitting 2nd baseman who strikes out a lot)

 

[CT Card Fan]

just too many

I used to live in Pittsburgh and Gene Collier ,one of the writers for the Post-Gazette, does an annual piece on the worst cliches. I still check it out every year. Here are the two most recent ones from 2002 and 2001.

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/page3/20021229trite1229p3.stm

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/page3/20011230trite1230p3.shtm

 

[BIGDADDY_REDBIRD]

"winning ain't everything".........

 

[WisconsinCard]

The walk off anything. That just gets to me.

 

[PDXChris]

Originally posted by AZ1766
when an announcer explains "exactly" what a player, be it any sport, is doing wrong and how to fix it....... if the announcer is that good, why the heck is he not coaching and training?????

Isn't that what got Brenly the D-acks job. If I am mistaken, it got him to the world series in his first year.

 

[Russ Smith]

Originally posted by Metal Militia
Well, the above could describe a good at bat. It all depends on who is pitching. If it is a good pitcher, you want to get that pitch count up. If a batter fouls a whole bunch of balls off, that could certainly be a good thing.

Any time they call a sacrifice bunt(not in the 9th inning of a 1 run game) a good play drives me nuts.

Baseball is the rare sport with no time limit, the only limit is number of outs, if you have more runs after 27 outs, you win. Sacrifice bunts, in the words of Bill James, should be called intentional outs because that's exactly what they are, you're voluntarily reducing the number of accidental outs you get in the game.


The only time it makes sense is 9th in a 1 run game where scoring either ties or wins the game. In that scenario playing for 1 run is somewhat smart, in any other sense giving up an out just reduces your chances to score multiple runs in an inning, which is how you win.

 

[Alan]

"He just made an impossible shot." - CBS golf guy, every five minutes.

 

[Ryanwb]

"He's a North/South runner" (what if the goal lines face the East and West???)

"He went Big Fly" (stupid Jim Traber)

"Wouldbe Tackler" WTF does that mean?

 

[Stallion]

Great thread.

For baseball I'm tired of "Quickly in a hole, oh and two," whenever the batter gets 2 straight stikes. How come no one is ever "Quickly ahead in the count, 2 and oh"?

Then, in every sport, I'm sick of people "stepping up." Someone injured? His backup better step up. Big game? Time for the whole team to step up. Do they give athletes a list of 8 or 9 phrases that have to be used in every interview?

 

[Brian in Mesa]

"The New York football Giants." :roll:

 

[PeoriaAZCards]

Originally posted by Brian in Mesa
"The New York football Giants." :roll:

AMEN!!!!