Sports terms that have fallen out of favor in the last 60 years

Moon shot
"The blitz is on!"
Harriers
Circus catch
Speedball (Ugh--somoene needs to explain proper baseball terms to Bruce Springsteen)
Sudden death (I can still remember Curt Gowdy asking why they didn't call it "sudden victory" instead---look at it as glass half-full)
Red dog
pancake block

On the other hand, there are some terms I wish they would introduce back into sports lexicon:
i.e., Screwball (one that breaks in opposite direction of a curve---let's give pitchers credit who can throw this)

 

Sudden death is still very much used in hockey, if nowhere else.

 

Yes, yes it is ...

 

Hunters have been referred to as Nimrods for a long time. It's in the Bible, in Genesis. Nimrod was a hunter. In fact, a "mighty hunter."

But then the Bible was trumped by a higher authority: Bugs Bunny. He mocked the hapless hunter Elmer Fudd as a Nimrod, and now we all associate "nimrod" with a silly person.

As they say, you can look it up.

"Bugs used Nimrod to refer to his adversary, poor old Elmer Fudd. Bugs was being facetious. Calling Elmer Fudd, the hapless hunter, Nimrod, was like calling your duffer golf buddy Tiger or the barely competent quarterback of your flag football team Peyton. The trouble was that a lot of people didn't get the joke, but they still thought it was funny because it was a funny name. Nimrod." And more, "Anybody familiar with New York Jewish culture and folklore would have 'got' the reference to Nimrod. That excludes a lot of people. In these people's minds, Nimrod must mean stupid because that's the way Bugs said it."


http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1566649/the_story_behind_the_term_nimrod.html?cat=47

 

While you're thinking about that, think about this ... when was the last time you called someone "Einstein" and meant it as a compliment?

 

Do we work together?!? Those are old standbys at my shop. Same with caroms, which someone mentioned before.

Another gem -- tallies -- seems to be interchangeable for any measure of scoring in any sport.

 

I wrote this last year for the 115th anniversary of the Monon Bell (Wabash vs. DePauw) game. Tried to write it like it had been 80-90 years ago.

http://file050a.bebo.com/5/original/2009/12/18/20/902449a11988095328o.jpg

 

my favorite, used when somebody goes top shelf, er scores a goal in hockey just under the crossbar, Johnny Savard wristed the puck on net, depositing it in the sock draw. Even worse was a parent sending in a youth writeup that described a similar goal as Jimmy put the puck where momma keeps the cookie jar. MINGYA!

 

Wonder what it would be like if someone tried to project forward and write a gamer from the future. Probably a lot of "boo-yahs" and "biotches" used.

 

One sports guy on TV in Toronto used to frequently call it "top shelf, where they keep the peanut butter."

 

As is pancake block and circus catch, I'd say.