Double Plays Sports Quiz

You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Martha Barnette.

And I’m Grant Barrett. And joining us once again is our quiz guy, Greg Pliska.

Greg, what’s up, dude?

How you doing? It’s good to be back with you two.

I’m sorry the quizzes have been too easy for you.

Oh. Famous last words.

They’re going to be in Russian today.

Oh, no. Russian limericks. So what do you have for us?

Well, knowing how much you two love sports,

Love.

I’ve put together, yes, love,

I’ve put together a little sports terminology.

Quiz. I call this

Double plays, where you have to guess terms

That are used often quite differently

In two sports or games.

I’ll give you a definition of the word

In the two different sports, and you give me the word.

For example, if I said,

In baseball, it’s bad

For the batter, but in bowling,

It’s the best you can do with one

Ball, you would say…

Strike. Oh, look at that there.

See, it’s not hard.

You know, this is like the three-card Monty games

Down on Canal Street. You lure them

Men and then you take their money.

Exactly.

So do you want to play?

Yeah.

I got $100 right here, buddy.

Okay, perfect.

Now, note that I’m not limiting myself to the foreign major U.S. Team sports, football,

Baseball.

Oh, they’re all going to be about cricket.

And basketball.

Tiddly rings and NASCAR.

Yes.

A wide variety.

Curling.

Well, no curling or sumo wrestling questions.

We’re going to just American pastimes.

Curling actually has a really great vocabulary.

It’s just you wait, then.

I’ll see what I can do.

So if you’re ready, we’ll turn some double plays.

Vámonos.

All right.

This is the usually aggressive opening shot in a game of billiards

And a fast offensive move to the basket in basketball.

I know, I know, I know.

Martha, do you know?

I do.

Do you know, Grant?

Oh, no.

Yeah.

I have the slightest.

What sport is this?

It’s billiards and basketball.

A drive?

No.

I don’t know what it is.

No, it’s a break.

A break.

Oh, a break.

Break.

Oh, of course.

Did you know that, Martha, because of all your time watching basketball or your squandered youth in pool halls?

Watching basketball.

Are you kidding?

I played basketball.

I warmed the bench one year at Stetson University in Florida.

And I once was put into a game on my church basketball team.

And I didn’t realize that it was after the first half and we had changed sides.

And so I made a break for the basket.

And I thought all these people were saying, go, go, go.

And they were saying, no, no, no.

And I made the basket.

It was really hard, but I didn’t have anybody guarding me.

It’s nice to know that nerdy spice has an athletic side.

Thank you.

How about another one?

Here’s another one for you.

When preceded by the, this is a minor league baseball player’s term for the top tier of his sport, the major leagues.

While in horse racing, it’s just third place.

Oh.

Well, the bigs.

No!

Oh, not that term.

Oh, another one that begins with a definite article.

Yeah, didn’t you watch Bull Durham?

I mean, that’s the source of all great minor leagues.

They talk about the bigs in Bull Durham.

There’s another word for what it’s like.

No, no, no.

The show.

The show.

Yeah, but the definite article doesn’t apply in horse racing.

No, that’s why I put it as part of the definition.

How about another one, Greg?

Here’s another one.

It’s something you aim for in both golf and bowling.

Oh.

And if anyone knows bowling, it’s Grant.

He’s got a little bit of bowling shirt.

You get partial credit for that.

This is a Dickies work shirt.

This is a fine blend of polyester and cotton.

It’s got a logo over the pocket.

That’s a coffee manufacturer.

Yeah.

Or a bowling.

It’s your bowling nickname.

Oh, man.

Something you aim for?

In golf and in bowling.

Well, maybe I’m making it harder than it is.

I mean, I’ve never heard of aiming for the hole in bowling, but do you?

The lane?

No.

The fairway?

What do you aim for in bowling?

The pin.

The pin.

The pin.

And in golf, that is also a term for the hole.

The pin, named for the flag that stands in the cup.

There we go.

For real, though.

For real.

You know, if those jacks in high school could see me now.

I have my own radio show.

Now I are one.

Okay.

Here, I’ve got some more for you.

The best possible shot in horseshoes or a superior player clandestinely brought onto a team?

Oh, wow.

Oh, that one’s good.

Grant knows all about horseshoes.

What?

Oh, oh, oh, I know.

It’s like the Avon lady.

Exactly.

Or what we turned off on our phones before we sat down.

I turned off my Joy to the World ringtone.

What did you turn off?

I think we went far afield.

What was the question?

The best possible shot in horseshoes or a superior player clandestinely brought onto a team.

It is a ringer.

It is a ringer indeed.

Since you’ve mentioned it, I will have to include it.

Curling in this question.

In the sport of curling, players do this in order to straighten or extend the path of the stone.

In football, this play sends the runner towards the sideline before he turns up field.

And in the 2007 baseball playoffs, this was the lopsided result of the Colorado Rockies’ first two playoff series.

Where’s my broom?

Yeah.

It was a sweep.

It’s sweep is the correct answer.

Did you get that because of the curling?

Actually, I did get it because it comes up every four.

No, when I do my word hunting for new words, it comes up every two to four years when there are big curling events in the world.

Because it’s a new word every two to four years?

Well, when the newspapers present it to their audience, they say, oh, and here’s this interesting lingo.

Check this out.

And it comes up, and I check it out just to make sure there’s…

There’s an actually new lingo suite, which you’ve seen before.

But it’s interesting.

It’s an interesting thing.

And it’s easy to make fun of curling.

But really, what an intense sport that must be.

Oh, fascinating.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I did a little research in order to find a curling term to use on you.

Wow, I’m so impressed.

Well, Greg, that was a fabulous sports quiz.

We have to hit the showers now.

Dibs.

I go first.

Martha uses a lot of hot water.

I didn’t know what he was dimming on.

I’m going to take a bath.

Thank you.

Yeah, the stock market’s really down, isn’t it?

Well, it’s been great to be with you guys once again.

Thanks, Greg.

Lots of fun, as always.

I’ll see you in the showers.

If you’re puzzling over a language question, puzzle no more.

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The address is words@waywordradio.org.