The games that words play!

Sports, defined as a physical activity that is engaged in for pleasure, has always had the ‘upper hand’ in enriching our languages with colourful terms and phrases like ‘to throw a curve ball’, ‘dark horse’, ‘throw one’s hat into the ring‘ and of course, ‘upper hand’.

Below are a few phrases, sorted by the sport, from which they originate.
1. Baseball
- To throw a curve ball
- Upper hand
2. Boxing
- Hand’s down
- Roll with the punches
- Take a dive
- Throw one's hat in the ring
3. Cricket
- Hat trick
4. Golf
- Down to the short strokes
5. Horse related sports
- Dark Horse
- Down to the wire
- Get a leg up

Baseball

To throw a curve ball - to give or present something unpleasant.
Origin: When a pitcher throws a curve ball it is very difficult for the batter to hit it, this is because although the pitch looks as if it is going to hit the batter, it ends up over the plate. Also most of the deflection occurs during the latter half of the ball’s journey to the plate. Thus ‘to throw a curve ball’ is to do something that is difficult for the opponent to get out of.

Upper hand – be in a position of control.
Origin: During the earlier days of baseball, in order to determine the team that would bat first, one player would grip a baseball bat at the lower end, a player from the opposite team would then place his hand above the first player’s hand. They would then alternate hands till one of the players had an ‘upper hand’, and his team would get to bat first.

Boxing

Hand’s down - an easy victory
Origin: It is probably derived from boxing games in which the opponent was so weak that the winner did not even have to raise his hands to protect himself, that is, he won with his ‘hands down’.

Roll with the punches - weather the tough times
Origin: This is derived from a boxing technique, where a boxer, not being able to avoid a punch, moves his head so as to receive a glancing blow, rather than a direct hit.

Take a dive - throw away a game
Origin: This phrase too is derived from boxing, where a boxer, bribed to throw away the game, would dive to the mat after being hit, in order to make it look as if the opponent had him floored.

Throw one's hat in the ring - take up a challenge
Origin: This phrase too, in all probability, has its origin in boxing. In the olden days, when men wore hats, a challenge for a fight was accepted by throwing one’s hats into the boxing ring.

Cricket

Hat trick - three successive wins.
Origin: ‘Hat trick’ has originated from the English game of cricket, where a bowler bowling out three batsmen in three consecutive deliveries is said to have struck a ‘hat trick’. Traditionally the bowler was gifted a hat for the accomplishment.
Another version is that in Canada, during the times when it was common to wear hats, fans watching a hockey match would throw their hats onto the field in delight, if a player scored three goals in a game.

Golf

Down to the short strokes - nearing the end of a process
Origin: The phrase is likely to have been derived from the game of golf. When a golfer tees off, the ball is hit with a long stroke as it needs to cover a long distance, but as the ball nears the hole, the golfer takes shorter strokes.

Horse related sports

Dark Horse - not a favourite
Origin: The phrase is derived from the sport of horseracing. Any horse race would have certain favourites, but if an unexpected horse won the race, it would be called a ‘dark horse’. This would only be possible if the owner & trainer kept everyone in the dark about the potential of the horse.

Down to the wire - undecided till the very end
Origin: Before the advent of cameras, most racetracks would string a wire across the tracks so that the officials could decide the winner in case of a neck-to-neck finish. So in case a race was undecided till the very end, it would be ‘down to the wire’.
And a ’photo-finish’ is a modern version of ‘down to the wire’.
Sometimes another wire was placed at the starting line in order to avoid false starts, this lead to the phrase ‘wire-to-wire’, which stands for, ‘from start, to finish’.

Get a leg up - to get help
Origin: ‘Get a leg up’ is also related to horses and is the act of a rider getting onto a horse with the help of a helper, who would cup both his hands so that the rider could use the foothold created to throw a leg up over the horse.