"Struggled mightily"

I read it again in the ESPN piece today on Phil Jackson's being stunned over not getting the Lakers job----the awkward phrase "struggled mightily".

That has been popping up fairly frequently in stories over the last 2-3 years. It's too quirky for my taste and come across as a lame attempt to make a sports piece into a work of literature.

Where did this nonsense come from, and why do so many writers use it? It also looks like there's a group of writers out there trying to create a new cliche because they've overused all the old ones.

Can we please quit using this?

 

I'm struggling mightily with the thought that this is a problem.

 

Adverbs! Use sparingly!

 

And I'm struggling mightily that you're struggling mightily with the thought that this is a problem.

 

It's redundant and silly.

 

I struggled only a tiny bit. Tried to accomplish a fairly basic task and did it easily, but still, it was harder than just sitting here, doing nothing.

 

I've been grappling with this problem myself. It would take a Hurculean effort to stop using the phrase, though.

 

After that effort you would have momentum to battle through the day.

 

Only working hard to get to a high level can you overcome struggling mightily.

 

I worked for years with an accomplished veteran college writer who inserted "struggled mightily" into almost every game story he wrote, regardless of the sport.

He also used "Unfortunately" in every game story, as in "Unfortunately, Boner State could not convert in the red zone ..." Unfortunate for Boner State, yes; not so much for its opponent.

Used to drive me to the brink of insanity.

 

Someone must have wanted to differentiate between that and struggling lazily ...

 

Makes me think of this, for some reason.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/loved-ones-recall-local-mans-cowardly-battle-with,772/