Most annoying sports cliche

[Bossy Monkey]

Poll question: Most annoying sports cliche

My intention was to stick with ones by sports broadcasters, but we kind of got away from that. Sorry edit period's running out or I'd get more of the good suggestions from below on here.
Edit: Lunchpail guy replaced by #6

[davidinalameda]

1. you can't give more than 100%

no wonder our kids don't know math

[LastKnight]

the 'wanted it more' crap.

you can want something all you want, but when it comes down to it... skill is whats gonna get things done.

[Catch22Dem]

2. Other: "He takes it to another level"

What the fuck is this other level they all talk about?

[Sandpiper]

3. You forgot two big ones

1) He's got great "intangibles"

2) He's "in the Zone"

[Bossy Monkey]

5. Or on Draft Day: He's got great upside

Hell, I'll add them. I'm easy:)

[rocktivity]

4. "He came to play!"

If they've got a multi-million contract, I think that's the LEAST he can do!

:headbang:
rocknation

[Radical Activist]

18. What else did they come to do?

Sit on their butt and hit on the cheerleaders?

[DS1]

6. Scrawny commentators going on about sprinters "Shutting it down"

Fuck you, Costas

[jobycom]

7. Smash mouth football. (Only applies to one sport, but drives me insane!)

[LSdemocrat]

8. The (refs, umps, officials) should let them play

Why the hell shouldn't the rules of the sport be enforced in big games? In football, of course defense will win championships if you don't call pass interference, holding, etc.

[Zomby Woof]

9. last night

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=3494024&mesg_id=3494024

[Bossy Monkey]

12. Dammit! I saw it &, swear to Bob, I thought it was about the Hokey Pokey!

Sorry! That'll teach me not to judge from just subject lines.

[Zomby Woof]

13. LOL!

Several posters in that thread did too.

I should have picked another cliché. :D

[Southsideirish]

10. "Going to play it one game at a time..."

"Let's play two!"

[kodi]

11. "i want to thank my lord and savior, jesus christ for letting me win today

as if God, with all God has to do running the entire cosmos and all was taking a personal interest in a sporting event and directed the outcome because of the religious passion of a human being.

[Bossy Monkey]

15. It's up there now, though phrased a little differently, as choice 6 nt

[obxhead]

14. He's shooting from "downtown"

Isn't down town the center?

[catbert836]

16. Other

You can't just walk into the score zone
Coach Z

[Merrick]

17. Don't forget "We'regoing to 'Play within ourselves'"

[lpbk2713]

19. He ... could ... go ... all ... the ... way.

annoys the hell out of me.

[beanball]

20. Are you kidding me?

no you dumb cluck,I am kidding myself.?

[Bossy Monkey]

26. Yaaaaaay; I was starting to think I was the only one who hates this nt

[norml]

21. "They've got to play like a team."

How else is a team going to play?

[nickgutierrez]

22. "Intangbles"

Which I have on good authority is Latin for "bullshit".

[ReadTomPaine]

23. "Sartorial Splendor"

Howard Cosell, anyone?

[Seabiscuit]

24. "play action pass". Fuck, a "pass" is a friggin' "pass" for Chrissake!

"play" adds no meaning - it's redundant.

"action" also redundant and just plain stupid.

So WTF is a "play action". All "action" is "play" and all "play" is "action" in football.

Do those friggin' announcers mean that the quarterback faked a handoff and then passed when they start barking out that stupid phrase??? Then call a fake a fake, you fat fuck fake farking jackasses!!!

[Bossy Monkey]

25. This one isn't their fault. Though it may be stupid jargon, it is correct

football jargon. While I'm the last to defend jargon, it's these guys' job to sound like they know what they're talking about, and unfortunately that means using football-speak.

[Seabiscuit]

30. That's strange. When I grew up playing football *no one* ever talked

about something called a "play action pass". It's only been jargon since the announcers started using it about 15 years ago.

It's an annoying, meaningless phrase, and a very stupid misuse of the English language.

[Telly Savalas]

35. It's not meaningless

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Play_action_pass

[Seabiscuit]

36. Well, that's internet stuff - the fact is it's just gibberish for faking a

handoff to a runner, then passing to a receiver.

It's not as if it's a new play or anything. Announcers used to say the quarterback "faked a handoff". Then everyone know what they were talking about.

I still say it's an atrocious use of language. The language used gives no clue as to what the play is.

[Telly Savalas]

37. It's not internet gibberish.

It what the play is called.

[Seabiscuit]

38. I didn't say it was "internet gibberish".

I said it was "internet stuff". To expound, I should say that the internet definition you located is only as old, at most, as the internet, which is not very old, and probably not even as old as the phrase itself, which is relatively recent considering the history of football.

For most of the life of football, this phrase did not exist. The play had always been called "faking a handoff". Why some announcers relatively got together and started calling it a "play action pass" is beyond me. That's what "the play is called" today, but it's not what the play was called prior to relatively recently. I'm merely stating my objection to this lousy use of language by announcers.

The phrase itself communicates no meaning whatsoever. That's why I object to it.

[Bossy Monkey]

39. And what we're telling you is that that is what it's called, not by

announcers but by coaches. It isn't necessarily a fake, it's an option either to hand off or to pass. Unfortunately, the word "option" was already taken, referring to an entire offensive scheme, so some coach coined "play-action," which I've already agreed with you is deadly awful jargon, to refer to this other option. To convey the same idea, the announcer would have to say, "And he takes the snap, and he fakes, or doesn't, the handoff, and he's going back to pass, or not." I dunno, might be more entertaining.:)

[Rabrrrrrr]

27. "He's playing <sport> like Zombywoof swinging a dead cat in Lederhosen"

Goddamn, I hate that one. I can hear John Madden saying it in my head.

Repeatedly.

[Robeson]

28. "Bringing it all to the table".

[Melynn]

29. "If we do the little things right,"

"the big things will take care of themselves".

Coaches say this when they are talking about fundamentals of their sport.

Just once I would like to hear a coach say, "We're going to do the big things right, screw the small stuff."

[Serial Mom]

31. watching golf - "that was a great golf shot"

What kind of shot do they think it could have been?

[KamaAina]

32. He has tremendous natural athletic ability

always, but always, said about a black player.

[billyskank]

33. Anything about it being a game of two halves

in any game which is habitually played in two halves.

[Telly Savalas]

34. When players use these in interviews, it's part of the Zen of the sport

but it is pretty damn irritating to the commentator, a person who is paid to give the viewer extra insights into the game, fall back on the crutches.