In the Introduction to ‘Sports Talking,’ we determined that The World of Sports has a language all its own, and that each individual sport has an even more specialized lingo.
A field goal is different in football than in basketball. “Pin” is one thing in bowling and another in wrestling. A skater spins lots and lands; a second baseman spins once and throws.
It’s like in America, where we all speak the English language but someone in the Northeast calls a Coke a “soda pop” or “bottle of pop” and we in the South call the same thing a “soft drink” or a “drank,” or even a “Coke” when we don’t really want a Coke. How many times have you heard this in the fast-food place or outside a convenience store:
“Get me a Coke.”
“What kind?”
“Uhh, Dr Pepper. NO! No. Pepsi. Mountain Dew if they don’t have it.”
Language is one big, beautiful mess.
Later down the sports talk road, we’ll talk individual sports. But today we deal in something universal: preseason sports talk.
While each sport has its own tongue, the overall feel and sound of any preseason sports talk is the same. And the word of the day in preseasons is, no question, “excitement,” or some form thereof. Whether the volleyball or stock car racing season is beginning, “excitement” wins the day.
“We’re excited about who we’ve got coming back.”
“We’re excited about our schedule, excited for our fans, excited for these seniors.”
“We’re just excited to be together again, to get out on the (field, court, pitch, ice, lanes) and see what we can get done as a team.”
You’d give a 50-dollar bill and I would too if just once a coach would say, “We went 0-10 last year and have everybody back and I gotta tell you, I’d be more excited if the doctor told me I had to have both my ears and one knee cut off.”
So, if anyone asks you about your team, you are “excited.” Company line.
Also, you have heard that the players are “flyin’ around out there,” that they look to have a “high energy level,” that they are “just having fun.”
Sure, “focusing on fundamentals” and “attention to detail” is a “grind,” but to win we’ll have to “do the little things right.”
Tiffany has worked on her serve all offseason and you look for her to “figure it out” this year. The second-line bowling athletes are going to have to “step up” because the “nucleus” looks solid and we just need some “new blood” to “contribute” and help us “piece this thing together” and we’re “excited” to have a chance to do that, which, “hopefully,” we can do.
(File this away: the word “hopefully” is a biggie at ANY time in ANY sport. “Hopefully” is a golden preseason word, a parachute before the bullets start flying that can be used as a “backtrack” word later and cover a multitude of shortcomings if “things don’t go our way/(we screw up).”
Of course, Timmy or Sally are stars but “they can’t do it alone” so we’ll need “everyone pulling the rope the same direction.” That’s our “brand” and “who we are,” and we’re trying to “establish” that by our “focus on the little things.”
Look for the coach to assure you they are having “a good camp” and that although stuff is “constantly being installed,” the players are “catching on” and “working hard” and they’d better because “we’ll have to earn it.”
And maybe they will. If everyone keeps flying around and stepping up. And sticking to fundamentals. If everyone keeps contributing and having fun. Because if they don’t, it’ll be hard to be excited, which most teams are at first and most teams aren’t at last.
What you want is for the excitement to last. And it can. Maybe it even will.
“Well, I mean … hopefully…”
Contact Teddy at teddy@latech.edu
