Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Stepping up with sports cliches

If you've ever listened to 20 minutes of ESPN, 20 minutes of any football game, or even 10 minutes of The Golf Channel, you've heard dozens if not scores of sports cliches.

Perhaps the most common of these is the word "hey," which is used to begin paraphrased or quoted comments from athletes or sports figures, as in,"He said to me, 'Hey, it's up to you to perform.'"

Also, athletes like to "dig deep." Apparently they can't dig shallowly and expect to compete and win.

Another common
cliche is "I mean," which is also a sentence starter or phrase starter. It's become more of a fall-back phrase as well, similar to "you know." The LPGA's Michelle Wie, as an example -- and nowhere near a unique one -- uses "I mean" a great deal. Rather than saying "I mean," just say what you mean to say and trust this will suffice.

"Much maligned" is another popular
cliche. No one says "often criticized" or "frequently castigated." Rather, you usually hear the alliterative "much maligned," which seems to be the "overwhelming favorite," another cliche phrase you hear quite often.

"Step up" is being used increasingly more frequently, bordering on constantly. This term generally refers to an athlete needing to perform above a usual level in a tight situation. To "step up" one's game seems the most common context, with the phrase "step your game up" falling out of the Snoop Dog song "Step Yo Game Up." (No point in worrying about the dangling preposition.)

Frank Gifford, formerly a color commentator on Monday Night Football (MNF) and one of my favorites, was responsible for so many sports cliches, but the one that sticks in my mind most is "good quickness," which is used to this day. It's an odd expression because the qualifying adjective "good" implies that the opposite might exist: that is, someone might have "bad quickness," quickness that might imply evildoing or wrongdoing. To my mind, quickness in any athlete is a good thing all round. Now you hear "great quickness" as well; apparently this is quickness that has over-achieved.

Although not unique to sportscasters, another sports cliche is the segue, which some talking heads use to distraction, such as Kraig Kinn on The Golf Channel. Mr. Kinn can't put three sentences together without a segue between two of them. It's like an addiction: he can't help himself. But he's not alone in this affliction and, to be fair, I'm sure most Broadcasting 101 courses teach the segue as a valid tool. (And speaking of this, "101" has become a cliche as well.)

Another concept, similar to the segue, that has become a cliche is stating the obvious, which you hear all the time during pre-game shows. The most common example of stating the obvious comes in response to a question about what a team needs to do to win: "They have to put lots of points on the board and keep the other team out of the end zone." Really? You're being paid a great deal of money to be on the pre-game show: this is the best you can do? Perhaps you should pick up the phone and let the coach know this gem.

A term you'll commonly hear from golf commentators is "putting on a clinic," as in "He's certainly giving us all a putting clinic today." But it's not limited to golf: certainly the Sixer's Dr. J put on clinics all the time.

When describing some trend in an athlete's recent performance or reputation, "of late" (a favorite of The Golf Channel's Kelly Tilghman, along with "much maligned") is regularly used, as in "He's been driving the ball well of late" or "Her game has been resurgent of late."
(And why do you hear "resurgent" far more than "coming back," "revived," or "rejuvenated?" Hmmm...)

Along with the $2-word resurgent, "adversity" is another cliche you hear regularly. Athletes love to talk about "facing adversity" or "handling adversity." It would appear the words "misfortune" and "difficulty" are insufficient, as if something bad, wrong, difficult, unfortunate, or challenging can only be "adverse."

"Dig deep" is used often as well: it indicates an athlete's need to call on inner resources of speed or strength or willpower.

"At the end of the day" has become so common that you'll hear both interviewers
and interviewees saying it a couple of times in a single interview. "When all is said and done" is a typical alternative. But at the end of the day they're both cliches.

You can also get combinations of cliches, as in...
  • "He's stepped up his game of late,"
  • "At the end of the day she stepped up and dug deep in facing adversity."
  • "Her performance has been much maligned of late,"
  • "Hey, I mean we faced adversity and stepped up our game."
  • "I decided hey, I'll put on a clinic with my running game.
That's it for now, with more to come I'm sure.

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