Made the mistake of listening to sports talk radio today. 

I don't want to pick on Jim Rome.  The basic equation runs like this.  Rome-millions and millions of listeners, enormous income, access to any sports figure he wants to interview.  Me-small time internet blog.

In the market place Rome has found an audience and satisfied it's expectations.   He can talk for three hours and people don't  get bored.  I can talk for three minutes and birds fall off tree limbs.

But still.

Why are sports talk radio listeners obsessed with using the word suck?  And not just Rome's "clones".  Turn the dial to any of the hundreds of identical sports talk call in shows, anywhere in the country, and the talk inevitably turns to suction.

The coach.  The players.  The owner.  The stadium.  The line for hot dogs at the stadium.  The parking.  What you paid for parking.  The traffic control that delayed you getting away from the stadium after the game.  The GM.  The trade he made.  The trade he didn't made.  His wife.  His family.  The player's wives.  The lady who cleans the player's house on Thursday.  The goalie.  The forward.  The sport of soccer.  Baseball.  Lithuania.  Steroids.  People who disapprove of steroids.  People who shout things during the anthem.  People who don't like people who shout things during the national anthem. 

Am I leaving anything or anyone out?  Don't worry, they'll cover it tomorrow.

One simple four letter word meant to stop any debate.  A verbal grenade thrown around the corner to clear out the room before entering.  "Why, my good fellow, you obviously don't appreciate my blinding grasp of the fine points of this argument.  With my rapier like mastery of discourse, I have just played the suck card.  You, sir, are defeated."

What would Freud think?  Never mind.  They would just say that he was engaged in the act of drawing in by establishing a partial vacuum.  Or, words to that effect.

Try going to a game.  At some point someone will yell out to some player or other, "You ____!". Then mom and dad have to take their five year old kid home and explain what it means.  Or worse, if they don't step in forcefully they have to here little Timmy running around saying it to his sister.  Or get the phone call from the teacher after he shows off his new favorite word at school.

Can't sports give up one word?  OK, two.  I'd like someone to explain to me what athleticism is.  The belief in athletics?  But we can let athleticism go for now.  Let's just suck it up and give up suck.

Not because of religion.  Not because we look down at people who use the word.  Not because we want to do away with the First Amendment.  But because it is the single most boring, useless, overused, under thought, done to death phrase in all of sports.

You might even say it...

Nevermind.