# Nicknames for sports plays or games **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 19, 2009, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-sports-plays-or-games/518161 "2009-11-19T16:22:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [November 19, 2009, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-sports-plays-or-games/518161/21 "2009-11-19T21:07:26Z")
[“Do you believe in miracles?!?”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_on_Ice) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-sports-plays-or-games/518161/22 "2009-11-19T21:33:47Z")
[The Ice Bowl](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL_Championship_Game,_1967), likely the most memorable game in Green Bay Packer history. ---
**Author:** ![Enniaunus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b2d939/32.png) [@Enniaunus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enniaunus)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-sports-plays-or-games/518161/23 "2009-11-19T23:41:13Z")
For an Alabama fan, [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHcxx5uPAcQ&feature=related) is THE Catch. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-sports-plays-or-games/518161/24 "2009-11-20T03:29:16Z")
I wonder if that 4th-and-2 play by the Patriots will become “The Call”. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-sports-plays-or-games/518161/25 "2009-11-20T03:39:00Z")
How about [the Snow Plow](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpRtHXc2J9w). Or the [Leon Lett](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2kcpTmheM4). ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-sports-plays-or-games/518161/26 "2009-11-20T04:00:52Z")
Just remembered one: “The Bay of Pigs”: according to Chris Berman, any game between Green Bay and Tampa Bay, esp. in a season when both teams are playing poorly. ---
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-sports-plays-or-games/518161/27 "2009-11-20T04:05:17Z")
Funny how it seems its mainly NFL and Baseball plays that have been given specific names. Is that an Amercian thing? (‘Hand of God’ aside obviously) It doesn’t have a name as such apart from maybe ‘The Miracle Try’, or ‘That Try’ but got to share this rugby League one [Miracle Try](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0YDW-_kIGM&NR=1) ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-sports-plays-or-games/518161/28 "2009-11-20T04:21:46Z")
[Miracle of Bern](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_FIFA_World_Cup_Final) ETA: and, of course, [The Rumble in the Jungle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rumble_in_the_Jungle) ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-sports-plays-or-games/518161/29 "2009-11-20T04:52:18Z")
The 1988 [Fog Bowl](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fog_Bowl_(American_football)) in Soldier Field. The [Called Shot](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fog_Bowl_(American_football)) in the 1932 World Series. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-sports-plays-or-games/518161/30 "2009-11-20T04:57:26Z")
The [Sneakers Game.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sneakers_Game) The New York Giants won the NFL Championship over the Bears in 1934 by switching from cleats to sneakers to play on an ice-covered field. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-sports-plays-or-games/518161/31 "2009-11-20T05:46:29Z")
There was Gabby Hartnett’s famed \*\*Homer in the Gloamin’ \*\*back in 1938. > **[Homer in the Gloamin'](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_in_the_Gloamin%27)** > > The Homer in the Gloamin' is one of the most famous home runs in baseball folklore, hit by Gabby Hartnett of the Chicago Cubs near the end of the 1938 Major League Baseball season. The expression was a play on the popular song, "Roamin' in the Gloamin'" and was used in the lead paragraph of a story about the game written by Earl Hilligan for the Associated Press. > The Pittsburgh Pirates had led the National League for much of the 1938 season, but when the final month of the season came, the Pira... There was the **Invisible Punch** , in the Ali-Liston fight. There was the famous **Long Count** , in the Dempsey Tunney rematch. ---
**Author:** ![TheBoltEater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheBoltEater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBoltEater)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-sports-plays-or-games/518161/32 "2009-11-20T06:33:07Z")
> [@KennerTheGreat](#): > > There’s [The Holy Roller](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Roller_(American_football)) in football. Great call from play-by-play guy Bill King > > “Madden is out on the field! He wants to know if it’s real! They said yes, get your big butt out of here! He does!” Even as a die-hard Chargers fan I can admit that the play-by-play call was fantastic (and very funny…now… many years later). What I can’t understand is how that play was ever allowed to stand in the first place. Raider fans will tell you that “fumbling forward” wasn’t made illegal until the next year - precisely because of this play. But if the same play happened today, the correct call would still not be an illegal forward fumble, _because he didn’t fumble the ball._ It was then, and would be today, nothing more than an incomplete pass. When you throw the ball forward, overhand OR underhand, and the ball hits the ground, it’s an incomplete pass. The referees _really_ blew it with that one. The fact that it was the Raiders just makes it that much more galling. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-sports-plays-or-games/518161/33 "2009-11-20T07:09:39Z")
Well, here in Minnesota Viking country, some of us still remember Jim Marshall’s [Wrong Way Run](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Marshall_%28American_football%29). ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-sports-plays-or-games/518161/34 "2009-11-20T09:23:32Z")
Two more Raiders plays: [The Ghost to the Post](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9vap_cUAnM) [The Sea of Hands](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cfj9d7nUAp0) ---
**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:** [November 20, 2009, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-sports-plays-or-games/518161/35 "2009-11-20T13:36:33Z")
Refs in the Big 10 Conference get a lot of grief these days for being terrible, but nothing as egregious as the Big Eight’s refs allowing a [Fifth Down for Colorado](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Down_Game)against Missouri to score a touchdown. Colorado would then go on to win the National Championship later that season. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-sports-plays-or-games/518161/36 "2009-11-20T13:54:23Z")
Buffalo sports fans all know Wide Right and No Goal. I’d provide the requisite youtube links, but they’re too painful. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-sports-plays-or-games/518161/37 "2009-11-20T13:58:11Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Any Browns fan can tell you about “The Drive” or “The Fumble”. Huh. Don’t forget [Red Right 88](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Right_88). I was on my way home from a _baby shower_ :eek: and had to stop for gas. It was about 10 degrees below zero and I was standing there at the pump listening to it happen on the radio. I damn near dropped the hose. Shitshitshit. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-sports-plays-or-games/518161/38 "2009-11-20T14:37:12Z")
[Wide Right](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide_Right_I) and [Son of Wide Right](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide_Right_II) will forever haunt Florida State fans. Possibly the greatest game ever by an NFL player: [The Kellen Winslow game](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Epic_in_Miami). ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-sports-plays-or-games/518161/39 "2009-11-20T14:45:45Z")
There are also several current threads about “Fourth and Two”, about which you might hear more come playoff time. ---
**Author:** ![TheBoltEater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheBoltEater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBoltEater)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-sports-plays-or-games/518161/40 "2009-11-20T15:58:59Z")
How did we get this far without The Music City Miracle? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-sports-plays-or-games/518161.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicknames-for-sports-plays-or-games/518161.md?page=3)