Talking about "talk about"

Dear Allen Iverson, talk about practice today.

 

Agree. This is my pet peeve, which is the opposite of the OP's.

I wouldn't use "Talk about" at a press conference, but after a high school game where I'm the only one talking to the coach? "Talk about your thoughts on the game tonight" is the first thing I'll say. Because I already have my thoughts, but I want his perspective, not just some quotes that squeeze into the narrative I already have.

Sometimes his perspective isn't interesting, and then I'll get my quotes to cram into the idea I already had. But sometimes the coach will bring up an angle I hadn't considered.

 

Personally, I hate nearly all questions that use the word "surprised." Coaches generally like to think they have every contingency covered with meticulous preparation and resent the idea that anything surprised them, good or bad.

 

If any of you haven't done it lately, or have never done it, spend some time with folks in academia who pay attention to sports just enough to see what they consider to be our destruction of the English language. And by "our" I mean us, coaches, players and administrators. That should put everyone's particular pet peeve in some kind of perspective.

Few genres brutalize the English language like sports reporting can do.

 

See, when I read "not looking for any kind of a precise answer," I can easily see it as giving the subject some agency. Maybe the interviewee, if allowed to wander for a bit will drop in something he/she wants to say, which does not fit into the answer of a narrow question.

 

I'll take "talk about the run defense" instead of the idiot TV person who asks "Could you talk about the fans at today's game" after every single damn home game.

 

"So, coach, how many Super Bowl victories is that for you now?"

(Sorry ...)

"So, coach, talk about how many Super Bowl victories that is for you now."

 

I keep reading these and all the points are well taken. I guess I wonder if anybody just recoils from "talk about" the way I do, no matter how well informed the rest of the request might be?

For instance: "Talk about the way your bench has developed over the course of the season" still drives me nuts. However, "Could you take me through the development of your bench" doesn't. You can argue they are the same question. But I will never believe it. There is something about "talk about" that will always make it sound like less of question to me.

Sorry.

 

Coach Mora, talk about your chances of making the playoffs.

 

There shouldn't be any rule to questioning as long as it serves the basic purpose ... to get information and/or a quote worth quoting.

If it means asking a "talk about" question, and the person you're interviewing responds to it, so be it. If it means asking a question in Esperanto, so be it.

People get way too hung up on shit like this. Just get the final result.

 

*applauds*