# Football terminology **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 4, 2009, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-terminology/519956 "2009-12-04T05:35:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-terminology/519956/21 "2009-12-07T15:33:19Z")
> [@Rucksinator](#): > > I’m just chiming in to say that, while I’ve watched college football for years, I don’t remember hearing the term “pick six” prior to this year. Now it seems I hear it all the time. It’s also a type of wager. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-terminology/519956/22 "2009-12-08T02:04:01Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > I hate that one. Shuffle? What would “shuffle” have to do with that play? There are actually three choices: shovel, shuffle, and shuttle. I saw a whole segment on one of ESPN’s Sunday Countdown shows, though it could have been a Rich Eisen satire spots. I don’t think it satire, though, because everyone came up with reasonable justifications for their position and how they’d always called it that since forever. Shovel is obvious and almost certainly the “real” term, what with the throwing motion itself resembling a shoveling motion. But they gave halfway decent justfications for both shuffle and shuttle, neither of which I remember. If I had to make them up, shuffle pass as in the ball gets shuffled forward in an awkward manner. You have to squint on that one, though, since shuffling means to drag your feet, not move awkwardly. Still, sorta maybe defensible. Shuttle pass is tough. Maybe they mean the ball gets safely and reliably moved forward like on a shuttle? Because it is definitely rare to see an incomplete shovel pass. I don’t know. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-terminology/519956.md?page=1)