“Double-barreled action in the bullpen.” Every single baseball announcer in history uses this stupid phrase.
“He just finds a way to win!” Yes, it’s called scoring more runs/points/goals than the other team.
“The score is tied at 3 to 3.” Once you say the first three? The second three is unnecessary! GAH!
“Every batter gets one pitch to hit every at bat.”
I’m sure one guy said this once, another repeated it, and then it became a fact.
“Everyone was a winner today”. Except that one (person, team) actually won, and the others didn’t.
I don’t really have any particular cliches I hate, but I’m gonna try and remain focused and give 110% and see if I can’t get in the zone and come up with some, because that’s what a team leader and a true competitor would do but when I do come up with some, it won’t just be because of me, it will have been a team effort, because that’s what this cliche thing is, really, is a team sport, and there’s no “i” in “team”.
Most annoying jock expression, though not a cliche as such:
“… the game of basketball;” as in “I love playing the game of basketball.” (or football, or what have you.)
Most annoying sportswriter cliche:
“The _______ era.”
Sheer laziness.
That was a clutch post.
We just need to go back to basics and take it one game at a time.
As Bill Simmons always points out, “upside” annoys the hell out of me. Really, is anyone drafted into any pro sport that the drafters feel have no potential? NBA drafts are clearly the worst offender with the afore mentioned term.
“…here comes Mariano Rivera…” 
Pretty much any nugget of cliche that exits Tim McCarver is one that I hate.
I hate the phrase, “no score” to mean no one has scored yet. As in, “It’s the bottom of the 5th and still no score.” IMO, if the game has started, there’s a score. If no one has scored, the score is 0-0.
This is a widely used phrase and it will continue to be used, and I will continue to be mildly annoyed by it.
John Madden used a business-Advertising buzzword in describing some football play a while back that still bugs the living poo out of me everytime I hear this word ( which is often.)
This player has to honor his position.
WTF.
With what, a sacrificed sheep?
In contusion, though he knows his football, John Madden is a troll. Have you seen how little the camera actually is on him. He’s frightening.
In contusion?
Contusion=conclusion. Me so funny. nevermind.
There’s one line that I hear from analysts on a regular basis which absolutely drives me nuts.
Let’s say there’s a game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts are famous for having a high-powered offense that usually puts a lot of points on the board. So, before the game, an analyst will pronounce sagely,
“If the Cowboys hope to beat the Colts, they’re going to have to outscore them.”
Uh… yeah, I think the DEFINITION of beating a team in football is outscoring them, genius!
But it didn’t take it to the next level.
Hey, I’m just glad to be here, hope I can help the message board.
I absolutely cannot stand to listen to Tim McCarver. I honestly wonder how that man continues to be employed. I’ve decided that the head of Fox Sports must have a broken TV and therefore cannot hear the inane, asinine ramblings of a senile old man who couldn’t announce his way out of a wet paper bag.
“The basketball game is deadlocked at two all.”
You doofus, it’s a deadlock if it’s tied with three minutes left in the game. If the game has just started, quit trying to make a tied score somehow dramatic.
“We got out there, and we played.” Bah.
Hey, I came to play, and I brought my A-game. I knew what I had to do, and I went out there and I did it. It’s tough to win in a hostile environment; I knew this wasn’t going to be a cakewalk, and I feel fortunate to come away with the win. It wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win, and this was a huge confidence booster for me. I’m going to use this post as a building block. I’m not going to rest on my laurels, I’m going to use this momentum and show everyone that I’ve got the monkey off my back. I had to overcome a lot of adversity, but I wasn’t just going to roll over. I knew that I could find a way to win, and I think I sent a message and made a statement that this was no fluke. Snowboarder Bo is here to stay. #1! Hi, Mom!
And we PLAYED OUR GAME, staying within ourselves while so doing.