Baseball

Bullpen: When a pitcher throws a baseball at a bull as part of the process of entering the game. When the bull, contained in a cage for the protection of the players, is deemed mad enough, the pitcher is allowed to enter the game. (Television networks traditionaly do not air footage of the bull, due to risk of infringement on the bull owner's rights to the bull).

Relief Pitcher: As a rule, the starting pitcher cannot use the restroom for the entire day up to the start of the game. This pitcher is not allowed to use the restroom throughout the game without the permission of the manager. In this case, the starting pitcher can leave the game to use the bathroom and another player is allowed to take over while the starting pitcher relieves himself (hence the other pitcher coming "in relief"). The starting pitcher cannot return, because let's face it, it would be a waste of time if the pitcher was allowed to come back.

Seventh Inning Stretch: Between the bottom and top halves of the seventh inning of a Major League Baseball game the two teams will get into a stretching contest to see which one is more flexible. The manager of each team may chose one stretcher of the opposing team and the two players will see which one is most flexible. This goes all the way back to 1925 when Lou Gehrig proved he was the most flexible player of all time when he put his left arm around his head and touched his left ear. Many players have since tried accomplished this but nobody has succeded.

Forkball: At least once a pitcher is allowed to stick a fork in a baseball adding to the tough skill that is hitting a baseball. It is only used when the most difficult batter to get out is at the plate. This started in an All Star Game in 1936 when Carl Hubbel of the New York Giants tried to get Jimmy Foxx of the Red Sox out by sticking a fork in the baseball. He succeeded as Foxx popped out. The fork hit third baseman Stan Hack of the Chicago Cubs in the eye effectively ending his career and blinding him. Despite the tragedy the Forkball has continued to be used for 70 years and counting with very few tragedies occurring. Only 5 home runs all time have ever been hit off the forkball including ones by Mickey Mantle, Albert Pujols, Barry Bonds, Reggie Jackson, and Hank Aaron.

Steroids: A high fructose, high sodium containing strand of orange juice...hence the name juice. The extreme levels of frucose, glucose, and sucrose give the user an extreme energy rush, allowing them to work out longer and harder, thus allowing them to become stronger. (Courtesy of Joey Depasquale)

Football

Delay of Game: A penalty enforced by the officials that the ball must be snapped within a small amount of time between each play. This was done to prevent teams from making excuses to let the clock run while they're winning. Common ones were "I forgot the play," "I thought I saw the coach wave me to the bench," "I needed a quick drink of water," ect. The rule was put in place after the famous 1927 SnackShack Incident, where the entire Chicago Cardinals team left the game to buy hot dogs and sodas while ahead by a field goal in the mid-4th quarter.

Bowl Games: A part of the college football post-season, where corperate sponsors of NCAA football host games after the regular season. Although bowl games have been a long standing tradition of college football, it got its name durring the Great Depression, when sponsors couldn't afford to buy custom trophies or plaques to award the winners. Instead, victorious teams were rewarded with customized cereal bowls, distributed to each member of the team.

Hockey

Shootout: Inspired by Western Movies watched on HBO during the NHL lockout of 2004 the NHL replaced ties after overtime with a shootout. What this meant was a huge target would be rolled onto the ice after overtime and shot at with BB Guns by members of the National Rifle Association who are also fans of the team. The glass around the ice is replaced with even taller bullet proof glass to protect all fans and all fans are required to put in earplugs . The other challenge was the target would be moving back and forth slowly and the shooter is shooting from the blueline. The NRA member who gets the highest score wins the game for its team. The all time highest scorer in the shootout since 2005 is Marc Simmons of Newark, NJ. Simmons an avid New Jersey Devils fan has hit the center of the target an amazing 45 times! Nearly 5x more than any other fan of the 30 NHL teams. Amazingly no players, fans, coaches, or animals have been harmed since the rule has been put in place.

Stanley Cup: The trophy teams in the NHL fight for. A golden replica of legendary hockey player Frederick Stanley's Jockstrap. Its considered to be the most coveted trophy in sports. Each team not only wins the golden Cup after winning it but each member of the championship team gets to wear a golden Jockstrap for one game a season. There is no truth to the rumor that all players get to wear the same golden jockstrap.

Hooking: When a player formaly accuses an opponet of cheating on his wife by holding the player back with his hockey stick. The term comes from announcers who did not want to say "Oh, I see [name] thinks that [other name] is dealing with hookers this road trip." The NHL officially wrote hooking into the rule book after player would deleberatly accuse others of hooking just to start fights. Players today still ignore this rule and many feel that two minutes off the ice is worth the tension created between the two players.

Basketball

Air Ball: This term dates back very early in basketball's history. Within three years after the game went national, many ball-making companies recieved complaints about their products deflating as they used it. Clearly, as the ball got flatter throughout the game, it traveled shorter distances as it was shot thoughout games. The origional term, "airless ball" was later shortened to what we call it today.

Introduction/Welcome and Other Notes

If you have been following a sport for a long time, you know that you cannot think of yourself as a hardcore or experienced fan without taking the time to know every single detail about the game, teams, and history. To be a "true fan" is to have an in-depth knowlage of how the game is played and why the game is played as such.

This blog takes all of this and throws it out the window.

Welcome to SFDL, run by Pat S. and Brian B., a humble pair of sports fans from Connecticut. This site is strictly for fun, designed to bring a smile to the sports fan's face and maybe inspire a laugh or two...or, at the very least, a "What the f@*&?!"

The idea for SFDL came from Pat, after making up a defination for the word "bullpen" that included actual bulls. This lead the way to more fake definations by both Pat and Brian until Pat came up with the idea to make a blog. Thus, SFDL was born.

Outline and formating notes
As of right now, the template is a bit of a work in progress. Pat is in the process of making it slightly more custom along with setting up the different sections of the blog. Also please note that the content of the blog itself will be a continous work in progress, as it will be updated randomly.

The blog entries will be devided by sport. Within the entries will be the term and the "defination" of that term. The terms have no exact order: whatever order we think of terms is the order the terms appear in.

About the creators
Pat: Pat is a little more of a tech guy than sports guy, but enjoys both anyways. Pat also hates "About me" sections and doesn't usually put too much in these sections. This will not be an exception.

Brian: Brian is a passionate New York sports fan (the blue teams...Yankees, Giants, Rangers, Knicks...with love for the Jets too) and a writer for the Weston Forum for the Weston High School football, baseball, and basketball teams. He also edits the Sports Section of the WHS Journal, the student newspaper. He spends his free time sleeping and eating.