# Sports cliches you hate **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 23, 2005, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-cliches-you-hate/318207 "2005-08-23T01:15:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [August 23, 2005, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-cliches-you-hate/318207/21 "2005-08-23T04:26:59Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > _This player has to honor his position._ As in, don’t overcommit or overpursue, or you’ll be vulnerable to cutback run, QB scramble, or reverse. The better word would have been…? > [@Marley23](#): > > And we PLAYED OUR GAME, staying within ourselves while so doing. That’s actually a meaningful statement. A running team that gets behind and then abandons the ground game to start slinging it through the air is doomed to fail because they didn’t play their game. Quite a bit of defensive scheming is focused on preventing a team from being able to play their game. (The Colts might very well have owned the Pats in any of their recent contests if they’d run 40+ times and passed fewer than 10, but they are locked into their game no matter how badly Peyton plays.) ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-cliches-you-hate/318207/22 "2005-08-23T04:54:09Z")
It’s time for someone to step up and make a play. And if I hear one more person talking about how much fun Brett Favre is having, I’m going to scream. I don’t care if he’s having fun or not, he’s paid more money in a week than I’ll probably see in my entire life to not screw up and make stupid passes. Get it right or pay the price, as Mr. Lee once said. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-cliches-you-hate/318207/23 "2005-08-23T04:56:00Z")
> [@Hung Mung](#): > > I don’t care if he’s having fun or not, he’s paid more money in a week than I’ll probably see in my entire life to not screw up and make stupid passes. And he gets the money even if he screws up… ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-cliches-you-hate/318207/24 "2005-08-23T05:54:57Z")
Pretty much all of them. Sports are a regular petri dish for clichés, because we associate them with simple, common values. ---
**Author:** ![shelbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@shelbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shelbo)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-cliches-you-hate/318207/25 "2005-08-23T06:05:06Z")
> [@Ellis Dee](#): > > As in, don’t overcommit or overpursue, or you’ll be vulnerable to cutback run, QB scramble, or reverse. > > The better word would have been…? Honor connotes dignity or privilege (which, knowing Madden, is probably what he means to convey by the use of the word). A better phrase for your use would be “he needs to be careful not to overcommit”. Or, “he needs to stay in position”. Or, “did you see the look Warren Sapp gave him? I wouldn’t want to go back to that huddle!” Or, “wow, the defensive coordinator is going to rip him a new one after that play!” Or, “god what an idiot.” ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-cliches-you-hate/318207/26 "2005-08-23T06:10:31Z")
It’s not quite a cliche - more like a word coined by Frankenstein - but I loathe it when commentators talk about a quarterback’s “escapeability.” ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-cliches-you-hate/318207/27 "2005-08-23T11:03:49Z")
It’s a game of two halfs. NZ sports commentators, please stop saying that! We know it usually means Australia won. Even if they didn’t win it is still a stupd thing to say! ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-cliches-you-hate/318207/28 "2005-08-23T11:56:37Z")
Then there was the new hockey commentator that said “it’s a game of two halves…” ---
**Author:** ![Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f19dbf/32.png) [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-cliches-you-hate/318207/29 "2005-08-23T12:10:36Z")
Most commonly heard in basketball, but awful no matter what the sport: “The score is all knotted up at…” Knotted, tied! GET IT? Then there’s always the D |-|-|-| signs. It’s a fence. D-Fence! GET IT? A lot of these cliches are just awful little memes that somebody was mildly clever in saying for the first time, then very quickly lost their cleverness as they caught on and became unavoidable. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-cliches-you-hate/318207/30 "2005-08-23T12:19:15Z")
> [@Only Mostly Dead](#): > > Most commonly heard in basketball, but awful no matter what the sport: “The score is all knotted up at…” Knotted, tied! GET IT? Yes, but is it knotted up at 10 or at 10 to 10? Because that makes all the difference! ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-cliches-you-hate/318207/31 "2005-08-23T12:47:26Z")
The one that drives me nuts is “team X has their biggest lead of the game” This is allowed in a low scoring game like soccer. It is allowed in a game with moderate scoring potential where the points come in clumps (football). It is allowed late in the game in any sport. But it is extremely obnoxious three minutes into the basketball game when the Wildcats are up 6-3 for their biggest lead of the game! Look, basketball games usually end up with each team having more than fifty points, and the usual way things happen is Team X scores, then Team A has the ball and they score, then Team X scores. If one team makes more of their opportunities to score than the other, you eventually end up with a significant differential. If the difference is enough that Team X is leading by 20 or more points, I will permit you to say the “biggest lead of the game” -ON ONE CONDITION, If the next team to score is Team X so that the new score is Team X 22 or more points beyond Team A, please do not repeat the biggest lead of the game. It gets incredibly tiresome- especially due to the tendency of basketball announcers to start commenting on the biggest lead of the game when the first basketball goes through the hoop. (If I’m exaggerating, it isn’t by much). ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Goob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-cliches-you-hate/318207/32 "2005-08-23T15:51:14Z")
In football you hear it more about the “battles” “heros” and the ilk. It’s a GAME, yes a violent painful game, but still a game, STFU. _whew_ sorry, I’ve been know to yell that at a TV. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-cliches-you-hate/318207/33 "2005-08-23T16:07:18Z")
This thread has heart. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-cliches-you-hate/318207/34 "2005-08-23T16:38:26Z")
Whenever a hockey commentator says “physicality”, I want to scream at them. Stop making up words! ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-cliches-you-hate/318207/35 "2005-08-23T16:56:39Z")
“The frozen tundra of Lambau field…” There is no tundra in Wisconsin! ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-cliches-you-hate/318207/36 "2005-08-23T16:57:02Z")
Pretty much any time anyone opens their mouth, talking in reference to sport, it bugs the livin’ Sh\*t outta me. The guy can catch. He’s atheletic. He MAY be articulate. But it’s movin a friggin BALL around a big flat grassy area for Metric Dollar$. That’s _it_. Moving a ball. around. for. money. Wanna talk incredible intestinal fortitude in the face of insurmountable odds? Talk Lance Armstrong. But geesh, how many examples like that ARE there? (hint: it doesn’t happen two dozen times every weekend.) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-cliches-you-hate/318207/37 "2005-08-23T16:57:13Z")
We’re getting low on cliches, but this thread ain’t over till it’s over. The fat lady hasn’t sung yet and anything could still happen. ---
**Author:** ![Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunshine_and_Smiles)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-cliches-you-hate/318207/38 "2005-08-23T17:18:12Z")
Well, I think we can still pull it together. We just gotta dig deep, and give it all we got. We’re gonna be trying some new things, really going to get it done. 100%, lots of heart, we just got to show everyone what we came here to do. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-cliches-you-hate/318207/39 "2005-08-23T17:20:40Z")
> [@Snowboarder Bo](#): > > 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”. While there is no I in team, there is a “me” if you look for it hard enough. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-cliches-you-hate/318207/40 "2005-08-23T17:44:53Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > Whenever a hockey commentator says “physicality”, I want to scream at them. Stop making up words! Actually, according to the _Oxford English Dictionary_, “physicality” is a word meaning: > [@](#): > > 1. Physical condition; also humorously as a title for a medical man. > > 2. The quality that pertains to physical sensation or to the body as distinct from the mind. For definition (1), the _OED_ offers quotations dating from 1593, 1660, 1944, 1948, 1953. For definition (2), there are quotes from 1849, 1930, 1964, 1972, and 1977. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-cliches-you-hate/318207.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-cliches-you-hate/318207.md?page=3)