A figure of speech in which incongruous or seemingly contradictory terms appear side by side; a compressed paradox.
- Dribble drive. Or frequently, dribble drive penetration. This ridiculous phrase may have been started by Billy Packer, former Wake Forest point guard in the early 1950's and CBS basketball announcer. Billy was a terrific player at 5'9" and became the voice of basketball for CBS. He was criticized for favoring and pumping up the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). At the time, however, the ACC was dominant relative to the other conferences in college basketball and Billy was usually right. The best basketball was played in the ACC fueled by the recruits from the New York City area, which was the center of the basketball universe at the time, and for several decades. What is my issue with the expression "dribble drive?" Just this: a player dribbles the ball up the court and decides to attempt to get the ball inside toward the basket, either to his center who is posting with back to the basket or to drive to the basket. How is he going to "penetrate" the perimeter defense? With a pass to his center or dribble to the interior, of course. Billy didn't mention "pass penetration." That is because it would be redundant. As is "dribble drive." There is no other way to drive other than dribbling. I do not mean to demean Billy Packer, a fine player and announcer, despite his ACC bias and a perceived racial comment that effectually ended his TV career. My problem is all the announcers 20 years later spouting off his expression. Dribble drive, indeed.
- Foot speed. Again a basketball expression redundant in meaning. I do not know who originated it, but believe it came into being to describe James Worthy's drives to the basket with the Lakers. (Yes, he dribbled in his drives to the basket.). The Lakers are located in Los Angeles, which like most coastal cities sports an active yacht racing scene. A common expression, with boats from 10 to 100 feet, is "boat speed." Most mono-hull boats sailing to windward average about 6 mph, so a small increase in boat speed is immediately noticed and usually results in victory. (He had great boat speed today). With this back drop of the "boat speed" expression came Worthy, All-American from the University of North Carolina, ACC powerhouse. James Worthy was a talented player with great coaching and quickness. It so happened that when he ran, he took unusually small steps for a 6"8" player, and his feet appeared to be moving with great rapidity. He wasn't getting to the basket any quicker than another player that took larger steps and had the same body speed, but his feet seemed to be moving faster! Thus the expression good "foot speed."
- Walk Off homer. When a home run is hit, the hitter walks around the bases, whether it results in a game winner or not. The rest of the players of both teams have been walking around the entire game; which explains my feeling for the game of major league baseball.
There are many valid sports expressions which accurately describe what is happening on the court or field. Since its march Madness time, here are a few from the game of basketball:
- Pick and roll
- Pick and pop
- Back Door
- Double screen
- And the best of all, "don't get caught watching the paint dry, boys."
