# Chick Hearn "He blew the cripple!" **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [June 6, 2009, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-hearn-he-blew-the-cripple/498904 "2009-06-06T03:26:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-hearn-he-blew-the-cripple/498904/1 "2009-06-06T03:26:02Z")
I liked Chick Hearn. I listened to him broadcast the Laker games beginning when West and Baylor were playing. And I continued to listen to him until his untimely death. I thought he was a truly gifted broadcaster. But one of the many “sayings” he used to use was, “He blew the cripple!”. He said this when a player missed an easy lay up. (You guys remember this?) Anyway, was he saying that the shot was so easy that a “crippled” person could have made it? I don’t think I heard him use this saying during the later years of his Laker broadcasts, but I am sure he did use this for many years. Maybe times were different then, but it sure sounds rather hurtful to a disabled person. (How about when he said, “Fall back baby, fall back” when Hot Rod Hundley used to make a shot. And who can forget, “Slam Dunk, Camberlain!”.) ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-hearn-he-blew-the-cripple/498904/2 "2009-06-06T03:49:07Z")
In pool, a “cripple” is a ball that is sitting right on the edge of a pocket. Those are balls that are very easily sunk, so I would guess the Hearn was just extending the term to basketball. So it isn’t that even a cripple could make that shot, it was that the shot was so easy it was like a cripple in pool. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-hearn-he-blew-the-cripple/498904/3 "2009-06-06T04:52:12Z")
“Nah, that’s just ice cream.” ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-hearn-he-blew-the-cripple/498904/4 "2009-06-06T05:23:09Z")
I’ve been a Laker fan for as long as the OP. I really miss Chick. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-hearn-he-blew-the-cripple/498904/5 "2009-06-06T11:00:22Z")
I am given to understand that it is an extension of the phrase _(Shooting) a sitting duck_. A duck that is not flying, but is sitting in the water is easy to shoot. Shooting a _crippled duck_ is even easier. I am not sure where I heard that explanation or even if I made it up (not impossible), but that is how I have always thought of it. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-hearn-he-blew-the-cripple/498904/6 "2009-06-06T14:44:53Z")
God I loved Chick. I have so many memories of being in the car with my dad, listening to the simulcast of the Lakers game on the radio when I was a kid (didn’t Chick pretty much invent the simulcast?). I was listening to Chick Hearn for years before I actually watched a game. I liked the version I “saw” listening to Chick better. 😉 “The Jello’s jiggling…” 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2009, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-hearn-he-blew-the-cripple/498904/7 "2009-06-07T03:23:03Z")
Not the complete Chick-ism here, but I find myself muttering it frequently: “No harm, no foul. No blood, no ambulance. No cute nurses.” ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2009, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-hearn-he-blew-the-cripple/498904/8 "2009-06-07T03:59:37Z")
How about a Jack Chick Hearn Tract? Would that be funny? ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-hearn-he-blew-the-cripple/498904/9 "2009-06-08T18:07:54Z")
I think he should have kept those comments out of the broadcast. Just because these players make a lot of money doesn’t mean that they don’t have the right to keep their sexual habits private. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-hearn-he-blew-the-cripple/498904/10 "2009-06-08T18:43:21Z")
The picture that comes into my mind is kind of ugly. Like when a player is described as having really good speed. I wonder where they get it and how much it is.