The 2017 Canada Summer Games start this weekend in Winnipeg.
In other words, for the competing athletes, “This is for all the marbles.”
Yes, Sports Cliché Week has concluded for another year, but this doesn’t mean we won’t hear them again until next July.
On the contrary, sports enthusiasts have been accustomed to hearing clichés for many years, and they are solidly embedded in the fabric of sport culture.
After all, “There is no tomorrow!”
According to a poll on the Sports Cliche website, the five most overused cliches are:
- “We are taking it one game at a time!” (39%)
- “We have to give 110 percent!” (24%)
- “We have to stay focused!” (19%)
- “We have to go out and execute” (7%)
- “We have to take it to the next level” (7%)
Next time you watch a game, take notice if it’s a real “pressure cooker” that goes “down to the wire.”
Of course, it is certain each team “will control its own destiny.”
Keep in mind when a team is winning “they can’t afford to get lackadaisical” “because no lead is safe,” even if they’re “hitting on all cylinders.”
On the other hand, when a team is losing they look “out of sync.”
However, as long as they “maintain their composure,” and keep that “never say die attitude,” “it ain’t over ’til it’s over,” especially since “stranger things have happened.”
After the game, the winners are “tickled to death” because “they came to play” and “brought their “A-game” to prove they were the better team.
In other words, “they knew what they had to do” and went out and did it, although “it wasn’t pretty.”
Naturally, the losers are the first to say “the final score is the only statistic that matters,” and “it’s a bitter pill to swallow.”
In addition, “nobody is going to point fingers,” it’s just “they wanted it more than we did.”
Once playoffs start, most teams will “face a must-win situation,” especially if they have been “behind the eight ball.”
Yes, “they may be down, but they’re not out” as they try to “stave off” elimination.
“At the end of the day,” the lengthy list of sport clichés we hear “time and time again” also include:
- “You can’t stop him; you can only hope to contain him!”
- “Records are made to be broken!”
- “He’s really been in the zone!”
- “This team must rise to the occasion!”
- “This team has overcome a lot of adversity!”
- “This team sent a message!”
- “They play within themselves!”
- “We have the utmost respect for them!”
- “There is no ‘I’ in team!”
- “He thrives under pressure!”
- “He’s the first one in the building and the last one out!”
- “You could hear a pin drop!”
- “They have unbelievable chemistry!”
- “He does all the little things!”
- “He’s just a natural born leader!”
- “It’s do or die!”
- “On paper, they’re the team to beat!”
- “It’s all about winning!”
- “Defense wins championships!”
- “He took one for the team!”
- “It’s a game of inches!”
… AND …
- “They’re backs are against the wall!”
No question about it, I will be the last one to “make excuses” about the “pros and cons” of sports clichés.
Monday is the MLB non-waiver trade deadline; some teams will be “adding pieces” to try and “put them over the top.”
Enough already!!
All I ask is my comments “were not taken out of context.”
FROM THE QUOTE RACK:
Chicago bears linebacker Jerrell Freeman reportedly saved a man from choking with the Heimlich Maneuver. To which Atlanta Falcons fans are saying “Where was this guy during the Super Bowl?”
*Comedy writer Jim Barach of WCHS-TV in Charleston, W.Va., http://jokesbyjim.blogspot.ca/
President Trump attended the U.S. Women’s Open Golf Tournament, so just to be safe, the golfers got changed in their cars.
*Late Night host Seth Meyers
Maybe Donald Trump can hire OJ Simpson to look for the real hackers.
*Comedy writer Janice Hough of Palo Alto, California www.leftcoastsportsbabe.com
China has banned Disney character Winnie the Pooh due to comparisons made to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Look for America to follow suit, when the White House will ban the Disney character Pinocchio.
*Comedy writer Tony Chong of Vancouver
Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch is buying Scend’s Restaurant and Bar, an Oakland soul-food joint, to keep it from closing. Lynch vehemently denies he plans to rename it Feast Mode.
*Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times http://www.seattletimes.com/author/dwight-perry/
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
Is anybody buying all the talk about the Orioles possibly trading Manny Machado to the Red Sox? If Shakespeare were alive, he’d call it Machado About Nothing.
*Comedy writer RJ Currie www.Sportsdeke.com
—————————————————————————————————————————–
Hartley Miller is the sports director and morning news anchor for 94.3 the Goat.
He also is the 94.3 radio color commentator for P.G. Cougars home games.
His column appears Fridays on myprincegeorgenow.com.
Send along a quote, note, or anecdote to [email protected]
Follow him on twitter: @Hartley_Miller