Sports Metaphors for Work

We are OBSESSED with sports metaphors. I think it's because in the U.S sport have become a religion, and the corporate culture that they have exported mirrors this. Anywhere you look you find things like "the final stretch", "a heavy hitter" "out of left field", but do you know how to use them, or even for where they come from? This episode is a guide on how to use these phrases to blend in with native speakers and sound more natural.

Transcript

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Hey, what's up? What's going on? Welcome to another episode of English with Dane, a podcast designed to help you enjoy the process of perfecting your English. As always, I'm your host Dane, and you can find me on Instagram and TikTok at English with Dane. This episode is all about sports-related expressions we use a lot in professional settings, whether it be meetings or just work life in general. And honestly, in our personal lives too. I feel like English is full of these sports-related expressions or metaphors, and in order to fit in or to blend in, we should be familiar with them. I always like to say that you don't have to learn all of these, but it's good to be aware of how they are used. And of course, you should choose the ones you like and incorporate them into your vocabulary. Before we get started, I have some news and some more info on our first meetup, our first language immersion session here in Madrid. If you're not aware of what I'm talking about, the plan is this to create a full immersion situation without having to travel or dedicate a lot of resources to it. There's nothing better than immersion to boost your English, so that's exactly what we're going to do. I'm teaming up with my friend Max, who is an experienced outdoor guide and who is a native English speaker who has lived his whole life here in Spain. And we're going to do a full-day 12-hour immersion with a relaxing hike, nothing crazy. It's more of a paseo, really, full of language-related activities designed to help you break out of your shell. It's not a grueling hike, don't worry. We're going to meet up early, go up to El Puerto de Cotos, most likely, in the beautiful Sierra de Guadarama, and we're going to spend the day there. We'll meet up early in the morning and come back late afternoon. We're targeting the second week of March so we can enjoy some nicer weather and have some much needed outdoor time. We've designed a program to help you feel more loose and confident, and we're honestly really excited. So we can't wait for this to get underway. Several of you have already written to me, and don't worry, you are already on the short list, as we say. If this is something you'd be interested in, send me an email at Englishwithdane at gmail.com and we'll talk a bit more about it. This is perfect for people who feel like they need to break through that speaking barrier and learn to relax and communicate more efficiently. So give it some thought and let me know. All right, I just wanted to let you know about that. So now let's get into this week's episode about sports metaphors. You are listening to episode 37 of season two of English with Dane. Hit it. So the professional world or the corporate world is full of sports-related metaphors. And if you've ever worked in English, you might have noticed that everything sounds like a sport. Maybe you're in the final stretch, maybe you fumbled something, maybe you dropped the ball on something, maybe you need to touch base before a meeting with a client. I think this happens because business and sports have a lot in common, especially when we talk about pressure, about competition, failure, but in a context that asks us not to take it personally. I feel like they're both about rules, strategies, roles, performance, and it makes sense to kind of blend these two together. Whether it's sports or work, you probably work in teams, each person or player has a defined role, and there are winners and losers. So I get it. Also, I think that whether you like it or not, American business culture kind of ends up setting the tone globally, and you know the United States is obsessed with sports to the point where it almost becomes an identity. It's no longer just entertainment. I swear that sports are like the national religion in the US. So it makes sense that the language that is used mirrors or reflects this identity. And you see it a lot through tech, through consulting, through startups, and multinational companies. So let's take a look at some of these sports metaphors that are so widely used in the professional and corporate landscape in general. The first one I want to talk about is to call an audible. Audible spelled A-U-D-I-B-L-E, como audible. You might know this word from the brand or company that carries the same name, which specializes in audiobooks and spoken audio stuff. It produces, sells, and distributes audiobooks, podcasts, etc. So to call an audible comes from the world of football, and by football I mean football americano. So in football, the quarterback tells the team the play they are going to run. They often have a huddle where they group together and the quarterback tells them what they're going to run. But then when they actually line up and get ready to execute the play, the quarterback may read the defense so they notice how the defense is set and that their play maybe won't work because of how that defense is set up. So what they do is they call an audible. This means that they change the play at the last second, right at the line of scrimmage. The line of scrimmage is the imaginary line where the football is placed and where the team that is attacking start from. So the quarterback calls an audible and changes the play at the last second. He decides to scrap or disregard the play that is called and make a last minute decision. So same situation but new plan. They have to adapt right away without stopping the game. So as you can imagine in a work context, calling an audible means changing the plan at the last possible moment because, let's say, reality doesn't match the original assumptions. Same goal and same people, but now we're counting on different execution. Maybe you start a meeting with a client, but you realize that the client is confused and not really responding how you thought they would, so you close the pitch deck and you decide to switch to a live demo. You just called an audible. So when you're talking to your team later or to your boss, you'd say, the client was visibly confused, so I called an audible and went with a live demo instead. Maybe you're giving a presentation and you thought you would be presenting to executives, but the people in the meeting are mostly technical, so you adjust your language and your focus and talk more about implementation. Again, you just called an audible. So it's about adapting quickly to the situation. You read the room and change it up. The second metaphor I wanted to talk about is one that I've mentioned in the past. This one comes from baseball and it's to touch base. In baseball, to touch base means to physically be stepping on a base to stay in the game, because if you miss the bass, you're out. Touch it, you're safe, and the play continues. It's like a brief but functional action. You're safe and ready for the next thing. In a work context, to touch base means to make brief contact, to maybe confirm status, to make sure you are all aligned, or that you're all aware of the next steps that need to be taken. So this one isn't a pressure or time-based thing. It's more about checking that everyone is where they're supposed to be so you can retain your momentum and make sure everyone knows what they're doing, what's going on, and how you need to proceed. You can maybe say to someone, let's touch base tomorrow before the meeting. So it's a quick check-in, nothing extreme and nothing urgent. Or you can also say, let's touch base with legal, as in the legal department, if you need to make sure that something is okay to say, or that you're not going down a path that could affect anything else on the legal front. It's a good way to say, I want to make sure that everyone is on the same page. This next one is really common, and I'm sure you've heard it before. To drop the ball. This one probably applies to several different sports, but I'm pretty sure I'm pretty sure it has more to do, again, with football. In football, if you drop the ball, it can lead to catastrophic results. It can mean that the other team has a chance to get it, or that a pass was incomplete, and that the play you designed didn't work out. It's a visible mistake that can be pretty costly. If something is costly, it means that it can have pretty negative consequences or ramifications. So if someone drops the ball, they maybe mishandled or failed to execute something they were responsible for, or to put it pretty bluntly, the manera muy directa, pretty bluntly, they didn't do their job. You can say something like, Yeah, we really dropped the ball with the deadline, or our team really dropped the ball with the launch strategy. You can use this one with to touch base and say something like, Let's touch base before the meeting to make sure we don't drop the ball. That is totally a sentence you would hear, and it's two different sports metaphors in the same sentence. Like I said, they are everywhere. Then we have game plan. This one is really straightforward and you can see why it's sports related. It's funny because you could just say what's the plan, but what's the game plan really emphasizes that you are a team and that this is a competition. Also, if you just say plan, it kind of feels like we're just talking about organization, whereas if you use game plan, then it suddenly feels like we're talking strategy. It's a subtle distinction, but I think it's accurate. But yeah, mostly it suddenly turns things into a competition, which again really demonstrates that parallel between sports and business. Suddenly things are more intense and there's more at stake. This next one I really like. Heavy hitter. Heavy as in pesado and hitter as in the one who hits El Golpea. The phrase heavy hitter comes from baseball, and by now you're realizing that a lot of these sports metaphors or phrases come from football, American football, and baseball, the two biggest sports in the US. In baseball, a heavy hitter is a batter that is well known for power and impact. They generally take fewer swings but have much bigger consequences. When they step up to the plate, when they step up to the plate, the game can change immediately. It means that the opposing team really has to adjust. Game-changing even. In a professional context, a heavy hitter is someone who is really important. Someone with a lot of influence, with seniority, with a big reputation, with big decision-making power, and someone who gets results. When they speak or decide things, things move and things happen as a consequence. They have a big impact on the outcome of things. So someone who is really high up at a company is a heavy hitter. Someone who is clearly at the top of the hierarchy, the la hierarchia of the hierarchy. You can say things like, She's a heavy hitter in the industry, so we need to get her on our side. Or if someone is sending someone really important to meet with you, you would say, They're sending a heavy hitter, so we really need to step up and blow them away with this presentation. If you need to bring someone into a meeting that carries respect and shows that you are serious, you would bring in a heavy hitter. Someone that really brings legitimacy or that can even intimidate or command respect because of the amount of influence they have. This last one I really like. And again, it comes from football. A Hail Mary. So in religious terms, a Hail Mary is a prayer to ask the Virgin Mary for help or guidance in a moment of fear, uncertainty, or stress. In football terms, however, a Hail Mary is a long, low probability forward pass, usually as one of the last plays of this game. It's a desperate attempt. The offense knows the odds or the probability of it working are bad or are low, but they do it anyway because doing nothing guarantees failure. I think the name is great and really indicative of the situation. Imagine you're a football team and you have one play left. If you do what you've been doing, you lose. So instead you opt for, or decide you opt for, a Hail Mary. Your receivers run down the field at full speed, and your quarterback throws a really risky, desperate pass, a ver si cuela, basically. Again, the odds are low, but if you manage to get it right and one of the receivers catches the ball, it's a miraculous play that just might win you the game. In a work context, it's pretty much the same thing. It's a high-risk attempt when conventional options are gone. You're out of options, so you might as well try it. It's a cool phrase because it kind of openly admits desperation without sounding like you're panicking. You can say something like, he sent a late night email as a Hail Mary, or we rewrote the proposal last night as a Hail Mary, or asking for an extension was a bit of a Hail Mary. Changing our pricing structure was a Hail Mary, but we had to do something. You can also call it a last ditch effort, but I think a Hail Mary sounds cooler. Okay, okay, let's finish off with one more. Out of left field. This one again comes from baseball. In baseball, left field is distant from the core action, let's say, or far away from where things usually happen. When something comes out of left field, it comes from a place no one was watching or no one was paying attention to. There was no warning and no buildup, so no anticipation. Left field, as they say, is the least demanding area you need to cover as a defensive team in baseball, and teams usually put their weakest players there. So if something comes out of left field, it means that it's not usually where the focus is, it's not where danger is expected, and it's not part of, let's say, the main flow of the game. It's an area that you're not watching closely, so things that happen there often catch you by surprise. They catch you by surprise. At work or in life, really, something out of left field is unexpected, unprompted, and hard to contextualize. It's often not just surprising, but maybe misaligned with the current conversation or logic. It's maybe a question that makes people on the call make a weird face. You can say something like, we weren't prepared to answer that question because it came out of left field, or the client's feedback was way out of left field. I'm sure these things have happened to you before, so next time it does, I want you to think, oh, that's a bit out of left field. So a quick recap of the things we covered before we finish up. To call an audible means to change the plan or approach at the last possible moment, because the original one won't really work given new information. To touch base, to make brief contact, to confirm alignment, without opening a bigger conversation. To drop the ball means to fail at a basic responsibility that was clearly understood and clearly yours. A game plan, a plan or strategy against pressure, opposition, or high stakes. A heavy hitter, a person whose presence alone increases legitimacy, impact, speed, or just likelihood of success in general. So a person of influence. A Hail Mary is a final high-risk action or move when all normal options are exhausted or a final desperate attempt. And then out of left field, something that is unexpected and misaligned with the current context or logic, something that catches you by surprise because obviously you were not expecting it. So, like I always say, you don't have to learn all of these, you don't have to use all of these, but it's good to be aware of how they are used and what they mean. You don't want any of these to catch you by surprise when you're in a meeting or talking to a client or whatever. If you like any of these in particular, don't be afraid to try them out at home by yourself by throwing them into a sentence you would probably use and then throw them out there in your next meeting or when talking to people in your personal life too. The beauty of these is that most of them can be used in normal social interactions too. So they're not work-specific, although you will hear them often at work. These types of phrases and metaphors will make you blend in, like I said before, a little bit more with native speakers and will also give people the perception that you use the language efficiently, which is a plus. But yeah, don't feel like you have to incorporate them all at once. Alright, that's it for this week's episode. I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope that you got something from it. Send this episode to your favorite coworker, and if you haven't already, make sure to follow the show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Shoot me an email at Englishwithdain at gmail.com if you want more information about our first outdoor English immersion, which I'm sure will be really fun and useful. And as always, thanks for listening to the show. I appreciate it more than you know. All right, have a good week. Talk soon. Later.