Sport Orts Sports have given us a lot of colorful language—like home run, end around, hat trick, and double dribble.  But some times the terminology gets a little silly. Baseball If you miss the ball, why is it a strike? How come all the players aren’t called catchers? Why don’t they eject a player for fouling the ball? Why don’t they ban pop ups? How come innings are made up of outs? Why doesn’t the short stop stop short of making the play? Isn’t it strange that the opposite of out is safe, but a walk is not the opposite of a run? Football Shouldn‘t the player who throws the ball be called a throwback? If you toss the ball backwards, why is it a lateral? In a trade, is a fullback worth two halfbacks or four quarterbacks? Is football coaching a sideline career? Why don’t football teams practice safety first? How come after a touchdown, the player never touches down? Why do they call it football when the foot rarely touches the ball? Other sports Wouldn‘t it be reasonable to say that cheerleaders are athletic supporters? In basketball, why are the players constantly throwing up? In basketball, do you have to be tall to be good at basket making? Why is a boxing ring square? In boxing, how come during every round, the boxers square off? Doesn’t playing golf get you teed off? How come when you skate on thin ice, you usually end up in hot water? Can fat people go skinny dipping? What do they keep in a pole vault? Isn’t polo mostly horseplay? Why do hunters call their prey game even though the animals didn’t volunteer? Instead of calling it hunting, shouldn’t they call it shooting? Besides a hockey puck, what other kinds of pucks are there? Why would anyone name a sport squash? This entertaining page is just one of the many humorous pages showing how English language words can be fun, often being the center of jokes, witticisms, puns, and jest and bringing smiles if not laughter to the comedian in each of us.