Cliche alert: breaking down the jargon

[inthesuburbs]

Alert: When your headline says, "Breaking down the Yankees," many of your readers think Jeter and Posada have been traded. And "Red Sox breakdown" means Youkilis must be injured.

Seriously, when did this bit of sportswriting jargon, to "break down" meaning to analyze a team or game or performance, gain such currency?

 

[mustangj17]

You know what cliche I hate? Pay dirt.

 

[MonsterLobster]

You know what cliche I hate? Pay dirt.

I don't think the phrase breaking down is going to confuse anyone, but I too hate pay dirt.

 

[Liut]

You know what cliche I hate? Pay dirt.

I don't think the phrase breaking down is going to confuse anyone, but I too hate pay dirt.

Agreed. And adding drew first blood.

 

[DisembodiedOwlHead]

Makes me think of the Tom Petty song.

 

[SoCalDude]

You know what cliche I hate? Pay dirt.

We've moved on to "happy grass."

 

[spnited]

pay dirt is awful. taking it to the house is worse!

 

[slappy4428]

Makes me think of the Tom Petty song.

AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH

 

[Batman]

You know what cliche I hate? Pay dirt.

We've moved on to "happy grass."

Sadly, many of today's players have too.

 

[DanOregon]

On track, untracked, scuffling, shuffling, struggling, "xxxx-wise,"

 

[Sic semper tyrannis]

"throw under the bus"

is the most over-used of 2010

 

[CR19]

I have never heard of someone thinking that "Breaking Down" refers to injuries and redoing a team rather than analysis. I've heard of break-downs with swearing car owners, but never for sports teams.

 

[HanSenSE]

You know what cliche I hate? Pay dirt.

We've moved on to "happy grass."

Sadly, many of today's players have too.

But enough about Tim Lincecum.

 

[Starman]

Can't touch this,
Can't touch this!
Break it down!
Stop, Hammer time!

Go with the funk, it is said
That if you can't groove to this, then you probably are dead
So wave your hands in the air,
Bust a few moves, run your fingers through your hair
This is it, for a winner
Dance to this and you're gonna get thinner
Move, slide your rump
Just for a minute let's all do the bump, bump, bump

 

[MonsterLobster]

pay dirt is awful. taking it to the house is worse!

Someone who has been doing this for a while tell me something: Has "taking it to the house" had a revival as of late? I remember hearing that phrase as a kid in the '90s but for years thought it had gone the way of other sports icons of the era, like Dan Cortes and that House of Pain song that seemed to be THE sports anthem. But then I began covering sports while in college in the early mid-2000s and somehow it's back. Did it ever leave?

 

[BB Bobcat]

I hate when someone uses kickoff for anything other than football.

"The Yankees kicked off their season on opening day" = fingernails on a chalk board.

 

[Smallpotatoes]

A few weeks ago, a co-worker asked me if base knocks was one word or two.
I told him I never heard the expression before, nor have I ever used it.

 

[Steak Snabler]

On track, untracked, scuffling, shuffling, struggling, "xxxx-wise,"

"Off the schneid" is 10 times worse. When did sportswriters/sportscasters become Borscht Belt comics?

 

[Baron Scicluna]

I used to think pay dirt was really stupid when you would see it in references to a touchdown on Astroturf.

 

[jlee]

Don't really see a problem with "breaking down," but I'll shoot a man for using "trey" to refer to a 3-pointer.