Blaming Buckner for that debacle has completely McMahoned since any true fan knows that the blame squarely falls on Boston’s relievers. (Hmmm…can’t hold a lead against Tampa, foreshadowing?)
Constantly bringing up the “Curse of the Bambino” has completely played for the Cubs.
Doesn’t “lost his fastball” already exist in the sports world? I mean, there’s literal losing your fastball, but it still gets used metaphorically for other sports, too. Like Jordan came back to play for the Wizards, but he had lost his fastball.
The Boston Celtics bit the ear (or traded the Babe, or whatever) when Len Bias OD’d while celebrating his signing. They were a team of aging superstars, and he was a chance to continue the legacy by combining their skilled veterans with a hot up-and-coming rookie. After his death, Bird, Parrish, McHale and the rest retired, moved on or just faded out until there was nothing left. Red Auerbach also seemed to take Bias’ death very hard and very personally, and some of the spark that he always brought to the game was gone.
Kurt Warner has definetly whatever-we-come-up with. He’s done. He’ll never have that magic again.
And can we please stop blaming Buckner? I’m not even a Red Sox fan and I know there’s lots more places to put blame than on him. Remember–even if Buckner makes that play, the game was still tied and we keep playing.
Pro bowling bit the ear just recently when they came up with the idea of having the same masking unit (with a scoreboard on it) for every telecast, having showgirls escort the bowlers to the gallery, and allowing, perhaps even encouraging the bowlers to yell, whoop, bounce around, and even taunt the opponent after so much as a mark in the 2nd frame in the tradition of Pete Weber.
In an infamous match between Australia and New Zealand back in the '70s (I believe it was the World Cup Final), New Zealand were facing Australia with one ball left in the game. NZ needed 6 runs to win, a score which can only be achieved by hitting the ball over the boundary: essentially the cricketing equivalent of a baseball homer.
To begin with, it was incredibly unlikely that the NZ batsman would manage to do this. Sixes aren’t easy to hit. However, to ensure victory, Ian Chappell, the Aust captain at the time, ordered the bowler, Trevor Chappell (his brother), to bowl the ball underarm, rolling it along the ground as in lawn bowls.
Trevor Chappell did so, making it impossible for NZ to hit the winning runs (which, as I said, was pretty unlikely anyway), and Australia won the game. What Chappell did was quite within the rules of the game, but it was so exceedingly unsportsmanlike that it’s been seen as a black day in cricketing history since.
As I’m reading thru the television guide today, I see ‘Superstars, live from Jamaica’ is on before the bball games. I’d say they bit the ear many years ago.
It is not impossible to hit the ball - it is (virtually) impossible to hit it for a six, though, which was the number of runs needed to win. To hit a six, you have to clear the boundary without the ball bouncing. Imagine trying to do that to a ball rolling along the ground. So, the tactic was legitimate, but just “not cricket”.