strange sports terms

[wyzgy]

it's crazy where some of these terms had their origins, but can be very creative.  one of my all time favorites is when a player looks to be getting pretty tired or GASSED then the coach will pull him out and sub for him so he can get a BLOW?? and the announcers will be like, yeah the big fella looks like he really needs a blow bob.   now this could be up for debate, but that blow could either re-invigorate you or tire you out even more-what do ya think?

[🏀]

Worst. Thread. Attempt. Ever.

[MU B2002]

Worst. Thread. Attempt. Ever.

But not at all unexpected.

[wyzgy]

you guys have no sense of humor   bars not open yet??

[lab_warrior]

"ball handling",  "penetration"

[ZiggysFryBoy]

from New York City

[wyzgy]

when something is really good, i.e. a curveball it's nasty or filthy-this is fun !!
a home run is going yard

[MauraDay]

that phrase "getting a blow" on the bench has always bothered me.

[4everwarriors]

that phrase "getting a blow" on the bench has always bothered me.

Only if you're the pitcher. Could be a good relief measure if you're the receiver. Better than Gatorade.

[Doctor V]

Buldges the old onion bag

Thats always been a favorite of mine. For those that don't follow European soccer, it means scoring a goal

[mugrad99]

he is playing like a warrior

[wyzgy]

madden always refers to football helmits as hats
guys getting in to each others grills
eddie doucette had a whole vocabulary when he did radio for the bucks from the beginning until...?   the cyclops(center jump circle) the toaster(the area under the basket) nicknames for all the players that he made up-he did stuff before berman

[HouWarrior]

1
Top of the key is a term from when the old old lane (pre george mikan days) was very narrow and the free throw/jump circle on top made it look like a key....
O===
2
Others saw the same shape as a "post" (think fence post with carved ball on top), so terms such as low post , high post referred to locations viz the lane
3
A pick is said to come from very early basketball days (before 3 second lane rules), when it was typical for one or more players to form a picket fence (remember "Hoosiers"?) ... so one one player doing it came to be callled setting a "pick"
4
the clutch , clutch play, etc. comes from  "coming through in the clutch"....from boxing, where a boxer fighting  his opponent who is trying to get him into a body clutch to eliminate arm movement, keeps his arms boxing despite the opponents clutching...the fighter who keeps punching was admired for his "clutch"  efforts
5
alley oop comes from  the French expression "Allez! Houp!" (or "Allez! Hop!"), which means roughly, "Go on! Jump!" or "Off you go!" (Pronunciation note: In French, the initial 'h' of many words is not aspirated, similar to the typical US pronunciation of 'herb'.) Circus acrobats, would be heard to yell the term to their acrobat partner to let them know when to jump....the BB move is a timed jump for the lobbed ball ...an" allez Houp"
6
Al mcGuire, the new yorker, saw a great prospect like a really good stock investment, known as blue chip stock(...bec., blue chips, are the highest color value in poker)...so the great BB prospect was a "blue chipper"

When announcing games he'd harken to stock market terms that have also stuck...a rising stock has its price increase on the ticker, so Al would say the improving team is on the "uptick"
To Al, close games were "white knucklers", and to get a good record as an independent, esp. early in the season, a team should play easy teams, he'd call "cupcakes"

Other Mcguire terms havent caught on, but they are fun to remember:
 
McGuire phrase / Translation  
go barefoot in the wet grass  /enjoy the moment  
congratulate the temporary  /live for the moment  
carnival gates are closed  /game's over  
salt and pepper coach  /X's and O's coach  
cupcakes  /easy opponents  
white knuckler  /close game  
French pastry  /a showy move  
cracked sidewalks  /bad part of town  
sand fights  /hard-fought games  
yellow ribbons and medals  /success in recruiting  
tailenders  /walk-ons or complementary players  
Dunkirk  /an extremely poor performance  
dance hall player  /short on talent, but long on effort  
memos and pipes  /university administrators and professors  
two loaves of bread under their arms  /good jobs  
seashells and balloons  /victory and happiness  
curtains  /game's over  
tap city  /game's over  
aircraft carrier / big center  
cloud piercer / player who jumps well  
ballerina in the sky  /player who jumps well  

[wyzgy]

excellent post house-a lot of great stuff-need to blow the dust off of that otherwise they become forgotten words that help those who missed the privilege of growing up with coach al.  another thing al would say was the first thing he would do when walking in to the arena(now u.s. cellular) was look up to the four corners to see if they were filled.  if they were, then he would say that he was doing his job.  and if the waitress had dirty ankles-the chili must be really good...?? 
side note to some old-timers-remember when the first basket was made, there would be a blizzard of toilet paper falling from the sky-nothing was said, they would just have a bunch of people ready to quickly remove it from the floor without needing to stop play.  they tried to remove all the excess rolls from the dorm room bathrooms but it continued until...?  but it was amazing the initial reaction was to allow it to continue on as a tradition like standing until the first basket was made.  anyone remember when it stopped?   

[4everwarriors]

Anyone else remember Goose Brell looking away from the American flag during the anthem in protest of the Vietnam War?

[jaybilaswho?]

like a curveball that 'fell off the table'.
a golfer that 'pulled the string' on that one.

[wyzgy]

Anyone else remember Goose Brell looking away from the American flag during the anthem in protest of the Vietnam War?

if they did a pee-in-the cup on brell back then he would have made keith richards proud

[HouWarrior]

Doucette had an interesting term set also, including the two survivors to this day:
"sky hook" (lew alcindor's hook dropped the ball downward, as if from the sky) and twin towers (no not Sampson/Olajuwaon)

The other ones are below:
1. Skyhook – I came up with that one during the double overtime win in Game 6 of the ’74 Finals. Back in the old Boston Garden, the broadcasts were done from the first balcony and the balconies kind of hung over the lower loge and actually almost hung over the floor. So you were looking straight down over the floor. They were great seats. On that night, I can very vividly recall when Kareem came to that baseline, Hank Finkel was playing defense – he was the center for the Boston Celtics – and the Bucks needed someone to score to force that second overtime. I remember Kareem getting the ball down on the low post and then swinging back into that right baseline, and he launched what was probably a 15-foot hook, but when he turned into the baseline, he went up with the right hand and it was fully extended. It almost felt like I could reach out and touch it. It almost felt like I could see it at eye level, and it just came to me at that time. That hook was so high that it was coming out of the sky, and I gave it the name sky hook.
2. Twin Towers – Everyone associates the term with Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon, but the original twin towers were Bill Cartwright and Marvin Webster of the New York Knicks. I picked that up one night when we were driving to Chicago to play the Bulls. We had been beaten by the Knicks the night before and as we drove by Marina City, they had two twin towers, and I was sitting on the bus looking out the window and talking about the game and it just came to me how Cartwright and Webster were like those towers.
3. The Cement Mixer – My nickname for Dick Cunningham.
4. Speed Bump – My nickname for Paul Mokeski, which his wife hated me for. He wasn’t the most handsome guy, but I wasn’t talking about the way he looked, but the way he played. I called him “Speedbump” because he wouldn’t stop you, but he’d slow you down.
5. Jonny Mac – Of course my nickname for Jon McGlocklin with the rainbow jumper.
6. The Toaster – The area in front of the basket where the players pop up and down.
7. The Boulevard of Broken Dreams – When a guy drives to the basket and has it rejected.
8. Broadway – I used that initially way back in ’68 to describe the lane.
9. The Equator – The midcourt mark.
10. Cyclops – The center jump circle.
11. The Bullseyes – The free throw area and the center jump circle.
12. Bango! – My legacy to the Bucks. When Jonny Mac hit the rainbow jumper, my cry was “Bango!” Everybody picked that up. When I left that city to move to the West Coast, they had a mascot naming contest and Bango is what won. That was a fan pick and became kind of the rallying cry.
13. Downtown – It was either a “parking lot jumper” or a “downtown J” for the three-pointer. I used the “homerun ball” too.

[wyzgy]

bob dandridge was the greyhound
flynn robinson was the electric eye
mcCoy mcClemore was the real mcCoy

[romey]

bob dandridge was the greyhound
flynn robinson was the electric eye
mcCoy mcClemore was the real mcCoy

Billy "Scooter" Zopf (Zoph?)
Gawd, I'm embarrassed I remember that.

[4everwarriors]

"Lucky" Lloyd Walton

[HouWarrior]

sudden sam worthen
gary goose brell