charity stripe
n.— «Free throw: It’s the greatest misnomer in sports. It’s neither free, nor a throw. It should be called an “earned, uncontested shot,” but that doesn’t quite roll off the tongue like free throw. It’s only a 15-foot shot, worth just one point, yet somehow seems to factor into the outcome of more games than not. It’s shot from an area often called the charity stripe, although there is nothing charitable about it.» —“The fine art of shooting free throws” by Eric Plummer Bonner County Daily Bee (Sandpoint, Idaho) Dec. 31, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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