Tag Archives: sports

League Slams Players for Foul Language–Circa 1898

Posted on June 17, 2011 by languageandgrammar

By Paul Yeager, author of Literally, the Best Language Book Ever For those of you who believe that poorly behaving athletes is a modern problem, check out this yahoo.com blog: Late 19th century ball players sure used creative vulgarities. The blog highlights … Continue reading →

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Trite Trophy Winner 2010: At The End of The Day

Posted on December 26, 2010 by languageandgrammar

Gene Collier, a sports columnist for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, has awarded the “Trite Trophy” to a deserving sports cliche for the past 27 years. In the column, he mocks commonly used sports phrases and mixed cliches in what has … Continue reading →

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Interview: A New Definition, Thanks to Randy Moss

Posted on November 1, 2010 by languageandgrammar

By Paul Yeager, author of Literally, the Best Language Book Ever I love it when professional athletes talk. If it’s not a humorous mixture of mangled cliches and mixed metaphors, then it’s some outlandish, self-centered statement that only a media … Continue reading →

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Even Bing Crosby Believed in Sports Jinxes

Posted on September 25, 2010 by languageandgrammar

By Paul Yeager, author of Literally, the Best Language Book Ever and Weather Whys: Facts, Myths, and Oddities One of the funny things that sports fans do is believe that they can influence the game by attending it, watching it, … Continue reading →

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Thoughtful Sports Figure?

Posted on June 10, 2009 by languageandgrammar

We usually give examples of poor communication in the blog, but I recently heard a quote from an unusually candid and thoughtful sports figure. Since sports personalities usually answer in nothing but cliches, I thought the exception  was worth noting. … Continue reading →

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Baseball’s What Not to Say

Posted on April 6, 2009 by languageandgrammar

I apologize to all of the people I know who will read this and think I’m singling them out because they will most likely make some version of the statement during the next 24 hours. I’m not, and that’s part … Continue reading →

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Not-So-Super Advice

Posted on February 2, 2009 by languageandgrammar

Having days and days and days of Super Bowl preview shows is analogous to 24-hour-per-day news coverage. With so much time to kill, there is simply not enough good information to fill the time, and the result is quite a … Continue reading →

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Big Off-Season Move

Posted on January 26, 2009 by languageandgrammar

Winter is nearly as important to baseball as summer, when the games are played, because the foundation for the team is set during the winter off-season. With that in mind, it appears as if the Pittsburgh Pirates, the team that … Continue reading →

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A Buck Ten Left in the Game

Posted on October 13, 2008 by languageandgrammar

Oy. I don’t know if any trendy announcer-speak is more annoying than the tendency for announcers to start referring to the time left in a game in terms of money, such as There’s a buck ten left in the game. … Continue reading →

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Sporting Errors

Posted on September 20, 2008 by languageandgrammar

If you think that the monthly review of topics that we’ve covered is a thing of the past, then you’ve got another thing coming. In fact, that’s what I’m presently writing. While politics separates us at times, sports often unites … Continue reading →

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