Kick this Cliché to the Curb with Your Legs

HOUSTON – (By Ralph Bivins – RNR Sports Network) -I ’ve been watching plenty of football on TV this fall. Watching high-quality athletes compete is entertaining.

Announcers can get stuck in a rut, though. Words that may have been clever metaphors at first have become tiresome.

The latest cliché employed by football broadcast voices is the use of the word “legs” instead of saying “run.”

It’s delivered in comments such as the quarterback has gained a lot of yards “using his legs.”

The announcers warn that the defense needs to “respect the legs” of the opposing quarterback’s running ability.

On any given Sunday or Saturday, you can hear the “legs” cliché dozens of times.

In the CBS broadcast of the Houston Texans/Indianapolis Colts game yesterday, color commentator Tiki Barber took the leg lingo to its lowest level, saying a quarterback had “run with his legs.

Hey, guys. It’s OK to say “run” or “ran” sometimes.

But your leg metaphor is getting as old as Captain Ahab’s prosthetic in the Moby Dick tale.

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