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“A Game of Inches”

I was watching an Atlanta Braves game earlier and the announcers couldn't stop stating that baseball is a game of inches. "That just goes to show you that baseball is a game of inches. Just imagine if Ramirez came up with the ball cleanly. He could have turned a double play and the inning would be over. But no, it's now 3-1 after that homer by the Dodgers." They said this time and time again.

I can't stand this saying when it comes to sports, because guess what? When one looks at it, ALL sports are games of inches! In football, when Buffalo lost to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl on the missed field goal by Scott Norwood, I just can't imagine some people saying that, "This goes to show you. Football is a game of inches!" That goes for all the Florida State losses to rival Miami, as well. I'm sure in basketball, when one is close to blocking a shot, but instead fouls the shooter, that saying is never mentioned. It can pertain to ALL sports: Golf, archery, pool, bowling, swimming, hockey, lacrosse, polo, soccer, auto racing, even curling! They're ALL games of inches! So, stop trying to single one sport out as being the one game of inches. I'm sorry, but that can't be done!

It's like singling out one job as "a job of seconds." Guess what? We all go by the same clock, so if one is two minutes late at one job and another is just as late at another, then they're both late by two minutes or 120 seconds. I don't care if one is a janitor, a teacher, a lawyer or a movie critic.

The same is true here. Saying that a sport is a game of inches is like saying a person's height is measured in inches. Gee, do you think? Where there are rules in place, guidelines to follow and there is a measuring device of some kind, then this is how we operate things and this includes sports. There are certain rules and guidelines pertaining to each and every sport and we, in this country, measure in inches, so there you have it. Regardless of how one wants to single out any sport, they are ALL games of inches! Even people whom don't know anything about sports know this very fact. So, please, cut down on this cliche' during ballgames. It gets mighty old.
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