In the last couple of years, I’ve noticed a certain subtle but pervasive change in the terminology used by NFL sportscasters. Everyplace where they used to just say “ball”, they now say “football”.
For example:
Before: “The running back fumbled the ball.” Now: “The running back fumbled the football.”
Before: “The ball gets really slippery in the rain.” Now: “The football gets really slippery in the rain.”
Before: “They got the first down by half the length of the ball.” Now: “They got the first down by half the length of the football.”
Before: “The ball only has to break the plane for it to be a touchdown.” Now: “The football only has to break the plane for it to be a touchdown.”
Isn’t it obvious if you’re watching a football game that the type of ball they’re using is a football? Are players resorting to using baseballs or basketballs or beach balls on the field nowadays? Why was this all-pervasive change instigated?
Well monosylabic words are much easier to mishear than multisylabic ones. I might mistake “ball” for hearing something else, but “football” - I know what that is for sure. And youre watching a football game, so conceivably your mind’s ear isnt going to miss that word.
The “golf shot” thing annoys me to no end, but saying “football” instead of “ball” doesn’t bother me much at all. I can’t reconcile those two things, but what the hell.
Basketball announcers who regularly substitute slang terms irritate the hell out of me. It’s the free throw line, not the “charity stripe”, and the round hoop through which you throw the ball is a basket, not a bucket. It isn’t necessary to vary the vocabulary if you actually have something interesting to say.
I attribute most of this to the influence of John Madden, who never says just “ball”. BOOM!
I don’t like the nicknamey stuff during the game. In other pieces it doesn’t matter. I agree that it happens a lot with basketball, it seems mostly pro basketball to me. It would seem to be part and parcel of the oppressive, aren’t we cool disneyfied PR machine of the NBA.
But I could just be biased because I hate everything the NBA stands for.
It MAY have started with the Masters- everybody knows how the higher-ups at Augusta got Gary McCord removed from covering the tournament, but quite apart from that, they always had strict rules about words and phrases CBS commentators have to use.
Any CBS commentator who said something as innocuous as “those flowers are beautiful” received a reprimand, and was told, in no uncertain terms, “those are NOT flowers- they are AZALEAS, and you will refer to them as such.” There are a host of terms that the Augusta big shots insist must be used, and CBS was only too eager to roll over and do as they were told.
After that, small wonder that various sports leagues decided the networks were pushovers, and started giving them new words and phrases they had to use.
It’s not just when they’re talking about the ball. Notice this weekend during the Super Bowl how many times the announcers will refer to the “football field” or the “football team” or the “football player” or the “football coach”, etc. I guess it gives the field, the team, the player and the coach more gravitas.
It’s not the end of the world; it just annoys me. But not as much as the use of “untracked” to mean “on track.” You know, the team is struggling and an announcer will say,“the Smashers just can’t seem to get their running game untracked.” WTF??
Or the most irritating of all, biscuit. I always thought this trend started with ESPN and their attempts at “cool” lingo to appear hipper. Now that every sportscaster does it, it just sounds lame.
There are many terms which I enjoy hearing - for the basket, there’s tin, rim, rack; for the ball, there’s rock and pill; window or glass for the backboard. These are terms that IMHO find their origins on the court. Is it coincidence that most of the announcers that use such terminology (Walt Frazier and Bill Rafftery come to mind) are former players?
Rim, hoop, and glass don’t bother me, they’re long established standard terms for the things they describe. “Charity stripe”, on the other hand annoys the hell out of me because it is just plain wrong. Drawing a foul is a skill that takes practice, and making the free throws is also a skill that takes practice. Calling the free throw line a charity stripe implies that the defense has given something away rather than the offense earning the points.
I suppose I want announcers to sound like professionals–articulate speakers with a knowledge of the sport. Things that sound fine when used on the court by players sound jarring to me when used by professional speakers.
It’s just my WAG, but the increasing use of “football” may be the result of corporate policy, as formulated by a marketing guru, that NFL broadcasts need to reinforce the NFL “brand” as much as possible.
The problem with “ball” is that it’s been standard lingo for baseball and God knows what else; whereas “football” is unique.
What about when there’s no actual foul although maybe there appeared to be one? It’s the refs that provide the charity to the offensive player; and as nearly any coach will tell you, it’s the second easiest shot in basketball (after an uncontested layup).
Bad calls by referees can apply to every aspect of the game. If announcers used the term charity stripe to distinguish between free throw attempts that have been earned and those that haven’t, you might have a point, but they don’t. The term is used indiscriminantly for variety.
The shot iteself may be easy (for some players) but getting there frequently and making the shots reflects two different skills on the part of the player making the shots. Free throw points are earned just as much as shots from the field.
I think that “charity stripe” is slang for “free throw line” and likely goes back to the 1920s or 1930s. It sound very much like a term of the sportswriters of that era.
Many announcers (and even people like me) like to use very old slang when referring to sports.
The football field hasn’t been a “gridiron” since Teddy Roosevelt was president. And you aren’t going to find many other people referring to extra innings in a baseball game as “added stanzas” or “bonus frames”.
