Quite possibly. I'm writing this lying down on the sofa with my right ankle swollen to the size of a tennis ball. It may well spell the end of my footballing career - the latter being a big word to explain an occasional Sunday morning indulgence. Still, I guess there are worse ways of going out than by scoring a hat-trick in the first five minutes.
Posted by Joe at November 9, 2003 04:22 PMPerhaps as you're lying on your back you can explain what a hat-trick *is*. I've always wondered.
Posted by: DJ at November 10, 2003 06:12 AMThis is from Yahoo:
What is the origin of the hockey term "hat trick"?
Mike
Edmonton, Canada
Dear Mike:
Watching a hockey player charge down the ice and slap the puck past a floundering goalie for his third goal of the game is one of the most exhilarating plays in all of sports. The term used to describe such a feat, "hat trick," has long been linked to hockey, and, after a bit of searching, we discovered its unusual origin.
We first visited the Word Detective, the online version of the popular newspaper column written by Evan Morris. He says the term came from the English game of cricket and cites The Oxford English Dictionary, which explains: "The feat of a bowler who takes three wickets by three successive balls: originally considered to entitle him to be presented by his club with a new hat or some equivalent."
We next checked out an article titled "Puck talk: A guide to hockey lingo" from The Dallas Morning News. In addition to learning that the terms "mucker," "pipe-fitter," "plumber," and "grinder" are interchangeable, we unearthed another interesting tidbit about the term "hat trick."
In the article, John Halligan, an NHL executive who writes a hockey trivia column for the NHL web site, says in the 1940s, a Toronto haberdasher used to give Maple Leaf hockey players free hats when they scored three goals in a game. Halligan also agrees that the term "hat trick" probably evolved from cricket.
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There is no "probably" about it. It DID evolve from cricket and is also most difficult to achieve in cricket. In most other sports, three of whatever at any time in the game is considered a hat-trick, but in cricket the bowler has to get three batters out in three consecutive balls. It doesn't happen often I can tell you.
Posted by: Joe at November 10, 2003 07:15 AMThree goals? That's it??!!
Leave it to sportsmen to come up with a completely bizarre description for something so mundane.
(.. as I don my asbestos suit ...)
Posted by: DJ at November 10, 2003 10:15 AMNo need for asbestos suit. SPORT is mundane. I still get caught up in it all. ;+) What I'd give for the team I support in England to score just _one_ of those goals now and then.
Posted by: Joe at November 10, 2003 10:36 AMROR!
Posted by: DJ at November 10, 2003 08:40 PM