Words That Sportswriters Use That Make Me Cringe

I spend too much time on here trying to figure out all the codes y'all use. HC, OC, DC. Heck, elsewhere, Ducks general manager Bob Murray is now GMBM.
Everything has a nickname or a code. Might have come from Hollywood with JLo, Biebs, etc. But yeah, ESPN is the culprit and I told writers frequently that just because you heard it on ESPN doesn't mean it should show up in your story. Walkoff is egregious. "They didn't walk off, they ran off, or jogged off." We had a rule against using it, but it eventually became an accepted standard.
Sometimes I simply can't remember what the codes mean: LYMI, YGTBFKM. Doesn't help you read stuff, just slows you down.
Rant over, carry on.

 

I used to cleanse with fire "capped off" at least twice a week.

 

"Tilt" as a synonym for "game," as in "Alabama, Florida to meet in SEC title tilt."

And how about "buzzer-beater?" At one of my career stops, an incompetent stringer got it wrong in his lead and called it a "buzzard-beater."

 

If the position is in doubt, one can always use the player's height and/or classification. Not exactly the most difficult workaround ...

Big mistake.

 

You misspelled "walk-off." No one used it until the WWL force-fed it into the lexicon.

"Game-winning" or "game-ending" work where applicable. Then walk away - not off - from the file to allow for an edit.

 

Back in the day with both an AM and PM paper, we went through a phase where one copy editor would come in at o'dark thirty and by himself basically convert the AM sports section into the PM - rework the layout, change headline font, add in late baseball boxes, etc. So this one particular copy editor, not known for, well, his sports smarts, once converted a headline with West Virginia's Mountaineers into - drum roll please, the Mountain Ears.

 

I had one who wrote "Joe Smith made a basket with 30 seconds left and for all intensive purposes that was the game."

 

Great headline word. Along with "lift".

Four letters, 2.5 counts. You just don't see that kind of value in many words.

 

“hoot”

 

"That" is a very good point.

 

Or even the winning hit, sacrifice fly, walk, passed ball or balk. One can assume the "game" part, thanks to ESPN.

 

I dare anyone who covers golf or tennis to write about the "walk-off" putt or service ace. That would be a hoot.