The Field Guide to Sports Metaphors: A Compendium of Competitive Words and Idioms

by Josh Chetwynd

Overview

A gift-worthy playbook of common and unexpected words and idioms that have their roots in sports and games. 

There are many metaphors we can quickly identify from the realm of sports: covering all the bases (baseball), game plan (football), and par for the course (golf). But the English language is also peppered with the not-so-obvious influence of sports and games, such as go-to guy (basketball) and dead ringer (horse racing). Filled with pithy entries on each idiom, plus quotes showing how big talkers from President Obama to rapper Ice-T use them, this quirky little handbook from former minor league ballplayer and award-winning journalist Josh Chetwynd is sure to be a conversation starter at tailgates, cocktail parties, and in the boardroom.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781607748120
Publisher:	Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed
Publication date:	05/10/2016
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	9 MB

About the Author

JOSH CHETWYND is a journalist, broadcaster, and author. He has served as a staff reporter for USA Today, the Hollywood Reporter, and U.S. News & World Report, and his writing has also appeared in such publications as the Wall Street Journal, the Times (of London), the Harvard Negotiation Law Review, and Variety. As a broadcaster, he has worked for BBC Radio, among other outlets. In terms of his sports bona fides, he primarily earned them on the baseball diamond, where he played at the NCAA Division I college level for Northwestern University and had professional stints in both the United States for the Zanesville Greys in the independent Frontier League and abroad for Sweden’s Oskarshamn BK in Europe. His book, The Secret History of Balls: The Stories Behind the Things We Love to Catch, Whack, Throw, Kick, Bounce, and Bat, was named an NPR best book that year. He lives in Denver, Colorado, with his wife and two children.
Visit www.JoshChetwynd.com.

Read an Excerpt

INTRODUCTION

English has relied on many performance enhancers to build its immensely rich vocabulary. Sure, Shakespeare and the Bible have led the way, but this book is a reminder that sports have also played a huge role in bulking up our language. Quite simply, the games we love and the athletic endeavors we play have been essential when it comes to developing our everyday phrases and words.

How pervasive is this gift? Look no further than the long line of presidents who have leaned on sports for linguistic assistance. For example, when Teddy Roosevelt decided he’d run for president in 1912, he relied on boxing chatter, saying, “My hat is in the ring.”

Richard Nixon’s affinity for sports idioms was well known. Many believe he popularized the expression game plan outside of its football beginnings. He was also a fan of applying the full-court press even when there wasn’t a basketball in sight. (Search Wikipedia under the heading “Watergate,” if you want additional details.)

This political attraction hasn’t diminished over the years. In 2014, Barack Obama went thoroughly sporty when discussing his approach to foreign policy. “You hit singles, you hit doubles; every once in a while we may be able to hit a home run,” he told NPR in an interview he peppered with a score of other sports analogies.
 
There’s a reason why our leaders (and everybody else from lawyers to layabouts) are drawn to this type of speech. As the longtime New York Times language columnist William Safire once wrote, politicians seek out sports metaphors because they “relate closely to many people.” Indeed, the evocative words we hear on the grass and dirt of local ball fields or around the sweat-stained canvases of boxing rings resonate because they are familiar. 

Of course, it’s not just hearing them regularly that makes them popular. (Every man is told to “turn your head and cough” each time he goes to the doctor’s office for a hernia exam, but nobody uses that as a figure of speech.) No, it’s the competitive, and often inspirational, nature of sports that’s a difference maker. Even in the best of times we’re vying for something—money, love, a good parking spot. So it makes sense that when we dig deep for words to express our personal turmoil or we want to revel in our success, we mine the world of ritualized contests for the right sentiments. 

Now there are some naysayers who believe this longstanding trend isn’t a good thing. In 1976, writer Francine Hardaway penned an article for a journal called College English titled “Foul Play: Sports Metaphors as Public Doublespeak.” She feared that sports idioms had become “language meant to manipulate its audience unconsciously.” 

But in defense of the sports words we wield, which imagery-invoking phrases or metaphors aren’t trying to sway listeners for better or for worse? As George Orwell said generally about euphemisms (language used to soften the real meaning of something): They are designed “to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable.” 
On a less depressing—yet equally critical—note, some take issue with how clichéd sports idioms and words have become. 

In 2014, the satirical doyens at The Onion ran a faux letter from a father to a son. The piece lampooned: “Son, I think it’s high time you and I sat down and touched base. As your father, it’s been difficult watching you drop the ball these past few months. . . . Your head just hasn’t been in the game, and sadly for me, I’ve had a ringside seat as you’ve repeatedly struck out.” 

It’s true that some turns of phrase have become vastly overused. Popularity has its downside. But whether you like it or not, this type of talk tends to be sticky. Nearly any conversation will include some language from this book. Appreciating a little of the history behind these expressions gives you a conversational advantage over the average metaphor-toting colleague. It means you’ll be the one deftly freshening up even the most trite sports idiom by dropping a bit of additional knowledge. 

All that said, we shouldn’t be so hard on this avenue of speech. While we may roll our eyes when a colleague says he’ll pinch-hit at a meeting, not everything in this space is thoroughly worn out. Terms like fluke, bias, and jazz have all brightened our language thanks to sports—and are all discussed in this volume. 

With that in mind, the purpose of this book is to offer a robust—and fun—survey of the origins and histories of the words and idioms we’ve taken from athletic competitions and applied to our ordinary and often sedentary lives (along with those seemingly sports-inspired terms that actually lack on-the-field beginnings . . . for instance, keep the ball rolling). 

But before we get there, a quick language explanation: an idiomatic phrase is a series of words used to signify something other than their obvious meaning. So, idiomatically speaking, when a business opportunity is a slam dunk, we’re not talking about stuffing a ball down a hoop. Instead, it means it’s a sure thing.

As a result, this book doesn’t look at memorable sports phrases that haven’t crossed over into regular conversation. So as much as I like bowling’s seven-ten split, until people start using it generically to explain a difficult situation (“Man, I’m late on that assignment; I’m sure facing a seven-ten split”), it doesn’t make the cut. 

I must also note there are some activities, like swimming, sailing, and archery, that are most certainly practiced in sports, but don’t show up here. The reason: So many of the expressions that have developed in these endeavors aren’t from the formal sporting elements of the pursuit. For instance, dipping your toe in the water definitely may happen before competing in the one hundred–meter butterfly, but the phrase comes from the recreational aspects of swimming rather than the sport. (Similarly, nautical idioms almost invariably started with the travel or trading aspects of shipping, not yachting competitions.) 

Beyond that, while this book aims to be comprehensive, it’s not exhaustive. If you don’t find a phrase or word you were sure should have been included, I suggest one of three things. First, it may be here but just not where you’d expect it (peruse the index before, ahem, jumping the gun with frustration). Second, the expression you assumed came from sports may actually have originated or been popularized elsewhere. (I’ve tried to note lots of these sayings, but it’s hard to catch all of them.) Finally, I could have just struck out (which, by the way, you can find on page 38). If it’s the latter, apologies. Nevertheless, I hope I’ve made up for it with a multitude of other interesting tales.

Table of Contents

Introduction  1

Part 1. Team Sports

1. BASEBALL  7
2. BASKETBALL  43
3. FOOTBALL  55
4. HOCKEY  73
5. SOCCER  81

Part 2. Individual Sports

6. AUTO RACING 89
7. BILLIARDS (POOL)  95
8. BOWLING  103
9. BOXING  107
10. GOLF  129
11. HORSE RACING  137
12. TENNIS  163
13. TRACK AND FIELD (RUNNING)  169
14. WRESTLING  179

Editorial Reviews

Fascinating, informative and hugely entertaining. This is a book I will return to again and again.”
—BILL BRYSON, author of A Walk in the Woods and A Short History of Nearly Everything   

""Josh Chetwynd’s study underscores the enormous influence that sports have had on our language … Chetwynd’s accomplishment is … his easy style, engaging storytelling, and charming tone, which moves from high to low culture faster than an Allen Iverson crossover dribble.”
—CHRISTOPHER J. SCALIA, The Weekly Standard

From the Publisher