Watching announcers rip a team for committing a foul (to prevent a layup) with <2 minutes to play and a lead made me think. You often hear about not letting another team put points on the board with no time on the clock, which really only applies if you commit a non-shooting foul.

How many times do you hear announcers repeat a saying/concept that becomes conventional wisdom but is actually a false/bad idea? Post other common sayings ITT.

2/21/2011 9:06:42 PM

2/21/2011 9:37:37 PM

Quote :

"Watching announcers rip a team for committing a foul (to prevent a layup) with <2 minutes to play and a lead made me think. You often hear about not letting another team put points on the board with no time on the clock, which really only applies if you commit a non-shooting foul."

There are times when you want to foul and times you don't want to foul. <2 minutes doesn't matter unless you're down by like 6ish. If you have the lead, and it's >3 you absolutely do not want to foul.

There are times when you would rather them score without taking time off the clock (when you want to extend the game to give you a chance to match whatever they would put up and keep a lead, or so that they can maybe miss some shots and give you more time to score baskets and cut the lead)

It's really all situational.

2/21/2011 9:42:46 PM

This is a very specific thread and I honestly can't think of any right now.

2/21/2011 9:46:24 PM

Is this about chicks digging the long ball? Because I know a few girls that love a good pitchers duel.

2/21/2011 9:47:32 PM

Oh, I know. Whenever an NFL team meets a division rival in the playoffs that they've beaten twice already, the ESPN talking heads say "It's hard to beat a team 3 times in the same season"

In fact it's the opposite. The vast majority of the teams who have already beaten a team twice win a third time as well.


This doesn't happen that often I guess, but I heard "It's hard to beat a team 3 times in the same season" a whole lot when the Cowboys and Eagles met last year in the playoffs. Then the Cowboys went on to beat the hell out of the Eagles for the 3rd time.

2/21/2011 9:52:17 PM

"Play to the whistle" is terrible advice. You play till the ball is dead. If you hit someone out of bounds before the ref blows the whistle, it's still a late hit.

2/22/2011 9:29:15 AM

^ I think some common sense has to be used there...that's not really what that saying is aimed at.

2/22/2011 9:36:38 AM

Right but if you're teaching that to Pop Warner players, or even high school kids, they don't have much common sense.

2/22/2011 9:51:53 AM

It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game?

2/22/2011 9:55:13 AM

next year is the year our basketball team turns it around

[Edited on February 22, 2011 at 10:01 AM. Reason : ]

2/22/2011 10:01:37 AM

^

2/22/2011 10:11:03 AM

"You need a running game in the playoffs"

With an elite passer, short passes become long handoffs, negating the need for balance

2/22/2011 10:36:18 AM

"It ain't over till it's over"

Not true. If State's down with under 4 minutes to play, it's over.

2/22/2011 10:47:01 AM

Quote :

"Not true. If State's down with under 4 minutes to play, it's over."

or if we're winning and it's close.

or in football if we are up by less than a TD and the other team gets the ball with 2:00 left

2/22/2011 11:03:43 AM

The whole "a QB needs to have a short term memory" thing has always made me wonder...wouldn't a good QB learn from his mistakes? I understand the idea of not lingering on a bad throw and not becoming gun shy, but you should probably figure out what you did wrong (reading coverage, or whatever) and correct it. Granted, I've never played organized football besides Pop-Warner, so what do I know...

[Edited on February 22, 2011 at 11:08 AM. Reason : ]



[Edited on February 22, 2011 at 11:11 AM. Reason : ]

2/22/2011 11:08:31 AM

"a tie goes to the runner" is explicitly not the rule in baseball.

2/22/2011 11:13:34 AM

Defense wins championships. Yeah this is sometimes true, but not always and the phrase is as worn out as an old, french whore.

2/22/2011 11:24:09 AM

icing the kicker

2/22/2011 11:35:19 AM

"Playoff experience makes the difference" - not said as often as it used to be but back in the day it was repeated endlessly. Of course there would be no mention when a team like the Bills would lose four Super Bowls in a row. When the Orlando Magic went to the NBA Finals in 95 with a young Shaq & Penny it was "They are growing up before our eyes"

2/22/2011 11:37:12 AM

i can't really think of any sayings off the top of my head, but i've seen the "batting average by pitch count" chart a few times from pitching coaches, which is flawed

2/22/2011 11:50:19 AM

I have always noticed, particularly in pro football, that if a team is in the 2-minute drill and needs to score to win/tie, the announcers almost always say, "There's nobody around better at leading the 2 minute offense than XXXXXX." Granted, if it's somebody really bad, than they don't say it, but from the way announcers talk, I would think there were about 25 of the 32 starting quarterbacks in the league that are the absolute best at leading the 2-minute offense.

2/22/2011 11:56:28 AM

^Haha. I've noticed that as well...

2/22/2011 1:15:19 PM

"XXXXX has knock out power"

no such thing as lacking knockout power

2/22/2011 1:41:30 PM

this doesn't fit the thread 100%, but it's all I can remember right now:

[White receiver] reminds me a lot of Wes Welker

2/23/2011 12:28:48 PM

^ Along the same lines, all we heard all season was how small Danny Woodhead was and how he was so scrappy. There are 14 RBs shorter than Woodhead, including Kevin Faulk, the guy he replaced.

But yeah he's definitely white.

[Edited on February 23, 2011 at 12:50 PM. Reason : .]

2/23/2011 12:49:45 PM

White guys at positions that require a lot of speed (RB/WR/CB/etc) = scrappy

Pretty much holds true for basketball as well with a white PG or SG.

2/23/2011 1:01:02 PM

bonusphere (3 point line)

It's a semi-circle (mostly)

2/23/2011 1:17:20 PM

along similar lines exceptional white athletes across sports are called "blue collar" and "hard workers"...they "live in the gym". they are generally regarded as technical and knowledgeable

exceptional black athletes are "god-given talented", "natural athletes" and are generally regarded as "explosive"

2/23/2011 1:45:22 PM

Please don't take scrappiness away from us.

If you're not a quarterback or a kicker, that's about all the white race has to offer when it comes to sports anymore.

2/23/2011 4:53:10 PM