"Mail in the stats"

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

After the 76ers tied the series at 2-2 with Tuesday night's victory in East Rutherford, N.J., Erving had talked about how the 76ers were not coming back to Philadelphia "to cough it up," and "you can mail in the stats."  When he was asked tonight if he thought that comment had spurred the Nets, he shook his head.
--NEW YORK TIMES, 27 April 1984, pg. A20, col. 4.

"There's no doubt about it, you can mail in the stats, now.  We have too much class to have come this far just to lose," he (Erving--ed.) said Wednesday.
--WASHINGTON POST, 27 April 1984, pg. D1, col. 8.

     Former New Jersey Nets basketball star Micheal Ray Richardson is featured in this week's Village Voice (www.villagevoice.com).  I checked Deja.com for Saturday Night Live, and one poster wrote "2/5 show: still phoning it in."  Ah, brings back old memories.
    The New Jersey Nets had defeated the world champion Philadelphia 76ers in two straight games in Philadelphia.  The series shifted to New Jersey, and then Philadelphia won two straight.  When the series headed back to Philadelphia, 76ers superstar Julius Erving (a former Net) all but guaranteed victory, saying that you could "mail in the stats."  The Nets won.
    What do people do now?  Do they phone it in?  Do they mail it in?  Do they e-mail it in?  Do they fax it in?
    I thought about all this as I watched the New Jersey Nets-Philadelphia 76ers basketball game last night.  The Nets lost the game--again!--in the final second.  Excuse me while I replay that Christine Lavin tape of "The Kind of Love You Never Recover From"...