I just love walk off homers!!!

[MaineDem]

Patriots Day (the real one, not the one Bush ordered) and early day baseball in Red Sox Nation.

A close game all day and the Sox win it with a Loretta walk-off to the monster seats.

And now the Marathon is finishing. Good times in Kenmore Square! :)

[LisaM]

1. When did this phrase, "walk off homer" start?

I don't remember hearing it till about two years ago. Before that, it was "game winning homer". Another phrase that's vanished is "odd man rush" from the NHL. Now they say, "numbers!" They do that in the NBA, too, where they used to say "3 on 2" or "4 on 1" or whatever it was.

I was in Boston one Patriot's Day when the marathon was on, and it was a fun fun time. Lucky you.

[meow2u3]

2. Some idiot on ESPN wanted to sound cool

In 2001, some asshole on ESPN started calling the game-winning homer a 'walk-off homer' on SportsCenter. So instead of questioning that moron, the other imbeciles followed and started renaming the game winner a "walk-off". I'd like to walk him off the face of the earth :mad:

[JohnKleeb]

3. Actually it was Dan Shaughnessy the Boston Globe writer

who coined it after Kirk Gibson's home run against Dennis Eckerseley in the '88 series. I don't mind the term honestly. Walk-off is more attention getting than game-winning and that's what journalism is all about to an extent.

[LisaM]

4. Then he should have called it a "limp off" homer

Gibson basically hopped his way around.

Sorry, I don't care for the phrase, and I don't like "Numbers!" either. Odd man rush sounds way better.