stall ball
n.— «He also should tone down rhetoric on gambling, labor initiatives and social issues so as not to offend. With a big lead, it’s best to be somewhat bland, the experts said. In essence, he needs to concentrate on not making mistakes, or, in basketball parlance, to play “stall ball.”» —“Steve Beshear” by Dan Hassert Kentucky Post (Cincinatti, Ohio) Oct. 13, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
The expression to go chalk has to do with rankings in an athletic tournament and harks back to when seeded teams or players were listed on a chalkboard. To pick chalk means to choose one’s favorite competitor, and you can also speak of a chalk...
Carrie Ann and her cousin Danielle from Minneapolis, Minnesota, wonder about the pronunciation of the word rhetoric. Is the stress on the first syllable or the second? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Is Rhetoric Pronunciation...