Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

On a call-in, sports talk program last evening, a caller was concerned with poor homecourt performance of my institution's basketball team. The host calls the games and is employeed by my institution. The caller wondered if the increased opportunity for extracurricular activities while the players were at home affected their play there. The host agreed that there are less distractions when at away games.

I called in and noted the curious use of extracurricular when it is actually the basketball games that are extracurricular. I do not doubt the listeners understood, but I wonder if academic activities are now considered extracurricular to the athletic.

Emmett