The Devil's Dictionary of Sportswriting

I don't think I have ever had that takeaway from one of those scout-talk boxes.

 

Always loved how Tom Waddell, a receiver for the Bears back in the early 90s, put it:
"I'm a 'possession receiver.' That's a nice term for 'slow white guy.'"

 

Seems like a good place to bring up this old piece by Steve Rushin. Fourteen years later, it's still one of the most brilliant takedowns of sports writing conventions I've ever read.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1016470/index.htm

 

I'm almost ashamed to admit that I've actually come around to liking "long" as a useful basketball description. It's a player who may or may not be real tall, but who is lean, usually has long arms and can get up and down the floor. A slow 7-footer with a wide butt on him would not be described as "long."

 

Just to continue with our TV pals: "Score the basketball."

 

Yeah, he'd just be a "big." I would love to know who birthed that term.

 

Probably the same guy who plated new baseball jargon.

 

"Long" vs. "tall" has become a pretty clear delineator of who's paying attention and who is just old. Kevin Durant is long. There are a lot of other 6-foot-9 guys who are just tall.

Long is a very useful descriptor.

 

Longer than he is tall:

 

It's ESPN-era jargon for "lanky"

 

There's probably some difference.

Regardless, "lanky" is pretty jargony in its own right.

 

Lanky is not some coined word, it's been around for more than 400 years. And tho this might not be the precise dictionary definition, lanky is commonly thought to mean "long-limbed."