B'ball question
While everyone is wondering whether Texas or Davidson can crash the all number 1 seed Final Four, here's something i was wondering about after having watched more hoops in the past 10 days than in most of the rest of my life.
Which phrase coming out of the announcer's mouth is more likely to provoke the gag reflex for you: "putting up a floater," or "getting dribble penetration?"
Whatever happened to "put it in the books and take it to the line," anyway?
Which phrase coming out of the announcer's mouth is more likely to provoke the gag reflex for you: "putting up a floater," or "getting dribble penetration?"
Whatever happened to "put it in the books and take it to the line," anyway?
Labels: basketball
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6 Comments:
I find those to be useful terms to describe certain offensive moves, personally. On the other hand, I like Dickie V., too.
By
Anonymous, at 4:20 PM
I'm with Celeste (except for the Dickie V thing, although he's gotten better since he's lost his ability to scream) on the terms. What does "put it in the books" mean anyway? Count the basket after a foul?
Getting "untracked" is one of the most idiotic ones. Several people have gone looking for what the hell that metaphor is supposed to refer to (in most cases, getting off the tracks you'd think would be a bad thing). The best conclusion I've seen anyone come to is the one I always suspected -- they're repeating a rather moronic misunderstanding of getting "on track."
"Came to play" is really stupid sounding, but I think it actually has a meaning, roughly the opposite of "mailing it in."
In sportswriting, I hate it when writers describe a key shot as "settling into the net." I've never seen a shot where the ball did anything remotely conjured by that image. "Sank through the net" would seem to carry the same finality without the inaccurate descriptive language.
I think maybe the all-time worst, though, is "stick-to-itive-ness." What's so tragic here is not just how silly a word it is, but that there's a very good word that works very well as an announcers' word with almost exactly the same meaning: tenacity. Thank goodness in basketball you don't have to worry about "escape-ability."
By
Unknown, at 9:24 PM
i don't watch a lot of basketball, so "floaters" and "dribble penetration" create some vivid, non-sports related images in my mind.
I'll take English soccer announcers any day of the week.
By
Barry, at 10:21 PM
oh, and Michael - that's exactly what "put it in the books" means. Count the basket, shoot the free throw. It might have been something that Marv Albert used to say back in the day when i did watch basketball occasionally. I think they had a rule called "three to make two" back then too. If you were in the bonus, and fouled in the act of shooting, you got an extra free throw to make the two points if you missed one.
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Barry, at 10:23 PM
One of the tv announcers today said that Stephan Curry of Davidson had a "platinum package."
Of course, it had been "raining threes" and Davidson's team was trying to put itself "in a position to win."
By
Durham Bull Pen, at 10:54 PM
pretty much anything Billy Packer says makes me gag.
GO HEELS!!
By
®™©, at 1:27 PM
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