# Blue 42 **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 8, 2009, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-42/495726 "2009-05-08T05:30:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FrustratedIdiot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/77aa72/32.png) [@FrustratedIdiot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrustratedIdiot)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-42/495726/1 "2009-05-08T05:30:15Z")
Why’s this the generic call for pickup football games? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-42/495726/2 "2009-05-08T05:47:31Z")
Not to be dense, but is it? Where? How would it be used? Like, you see a bunch of other guys in the park and you want to play some football, so you call out “Blue 42”? Because where I’m from, in that situation you’d say “Hey, who’s up for some football?”. ---
**Author:** ![FrustratedIdiot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/77aa72/32.png) [@FrustratedIdiot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrustratedIdiot)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-42/495726/3 "2009-05-08T05:52:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Not to be dense, but is it? Where? How would it be used? Like, you see a bunch of other guys in the park and you want to play some football, so you call out “Blue 42”? Because where I’m from, in that situation you’d say “Hey, who’s up for some football?”. I meant “Blue 42, Blue 42, hut, hut, hike!” Surely you’ve heard it. ---
**Author:** ![HongKongFooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c4cdca/32.png) [@HongKongFooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HongKongFooey)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-42/495726/4 "2009-05-08T05:54:17Z")
He means the call that the QB makes at the line of scrimmage as in, “blue 42, hut, hut, hut”. How it came to be used I don’t know though. ---
**Author:** ![HongKongFooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c4cdca/32.png) [@HongKongFooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HongKongFooey)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-42/495726/5 "2009-05-08T06:00:51Z")
[This is the best I can find using google-fu.](http://armchairgm.wikia.com/Quarterback) > [@](#): > > A common way to call an audible is to call out a color and number. One color is designated by the offense to signal a true audible, known as the “live color”, and the number tells which play will be run. An example is “Blue, 42”. If blue were the designated color, play number 42 would be run. If blue were not the designated color, no audible would be made and the play called in the huddle would be run. For strategy, the ball may be snapped on “Set” or after multiple shouts of “Hut” to catch the defensive team off guard. This is what is meant by the count of the cadence, or the “snap count”. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-42/495726/6 "2009-05-08T06:25:45Z")
I seem to remember Paul Crewe using that as part of his snap count at some point during _The Longest Yard_ (the original version). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-42/495726/7 "2009-05-08T06:31:36Z")
> [@](#): > > I meant “Blue 42, Blue 42, hut, hut, hike!” Surely you’ve heard it. Actually, no. All the games I’ve played in, it’s either been just “hut, hut, hike!”, or a set of random numbers (no colors) that didn’t mean anything to any of the players. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-42/495726/8 "2009-05-08T07:37:54Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Actually, no. All the games I’ve played in, it’s either been just “hut, hut, hike!”, or a set of random numbers (no colors) that didn’t mean anything to any of the players. The OP’s correct… it’s often heard before the snap. Google the phrase and you’ll see it come up quite a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Sincere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sincere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sincere)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-42/495726/9 "2009-05-08T12:29:39Z")
Does this predate the Madden football video games? I seem to remember hearing that on them. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-42/495726/10 "2009-05-08T12:57:32Z")
Maybe it has something to do with a computer program of which organic life is part of the operational matrix. ---
**Author:** ![BlakeTyner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@BlakeTyner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlakeTyner)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-42/495726/11 "2009-05-08T13:36:22Z")
I don’t think the call predates the Madden games, though it might predate the voice features/vocal audibles in the series. I’m 99% sure the first time I heard it was in the first Ace Ventura movie. When Ace is at the nuthouse in a tutu, he gets into his stance behind the o-line (a hedgerow) and calls “Blue 42, Blue 42”. I have a pretty distinct memory of it. FWIW. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-42/495726/12 "2009-05-08T15:41:11Z")
Further back than that. We used it in Little League back in the 70’s. I naturally assumed that it came directly from the Dallas Cowboys playbook and was rendered holy by none other than Roger Staubach himself. But I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-42/495726/13 "2009-05-08T15:51:15Z")
I do associate this phrase with Ace Ventura’s voice as well, but I think it might have been around earlier than that, in order to be recognizable in the movie. This [article](http://blog.bigdave.info/2007/11/big-daves-guide-to-football.html)describes several “blue” moves, but not their origins. [This](http://books.google.ca/books?id=giTnIHQU2wMC&pg=PA217&lpg=PA217&dq=origin+%22blue+42%22+football&source=bl&ots=fJmEG96sFH&sig=ku-7HJwnNPnVUSLwZ6WkbttooAc&hl=en&ei=lFMESum-H5ONtgf0iKCHBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3#PPA217,M1)is a football plays book which descibes a “42” play. Not very helpful, but from the [Quarterback](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarterback)wiki: “If quarterbacks are uncomfortable with the formation the defense is using, they may call an audible to change their play. For example, if a quarterback receives the call to execute a running play, but he notices that the defense is ready to blitz, the quarterback may want to change the play. In order to do this, the quarterback will yell a special code, like “Blue 42” or “Texas 29”, which informs the offense to switch to a specific play or formation.” I think there must be an original playbook out there that other teams have used over the years, and certain plays have just become well known by those names. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-42/495726/14 "2009-05-08T17:04:01Z")
I recall Blue 42 from a Brady Bunch episode with Joe Namath. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-42/495726/15 "2009-05-08T17:26:01Z")
Because it rhymes? ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-42/495726/16 "2009-05-08T20:17:11Z")
The color - number pattern of audibles is very common in football. Especially in years past where calls were simpler and quarterbacks would call all of the plays. A color number combination would be called out before every play in order to mask the times when an audible was really being called. A team would have only a few audible calls that were real to make things simple for the players. Blue might refer to the side of the field the play would be called to with a different color for the other side. 42 would be referring to a gap or blocking scheme if it was a running play or to a route combination and receiver if it was a pass play. In running plays odd numbers would refer to gaps and even numbers lineman. Blue 42 is probably used in media because if rhymes and is plausible sounding . It is probably a run to the left (blue) behind the tight end 4.