Hail Mary (1972)

[Laurence Horn]

At 9:48 AM -0500 12/4/03, Jesse Sheidlower wrote:
>On Thu, Dec 04, 2003 at 04:48:51AM -0500, Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
>>
>>     15 January 1972, SPORTING NEWS, pg. 8, col. 2:
>[...]
>>     "He was parallel to the ground, his feet in mid-air and he
>>threw a pass to
>>  Pat Donnelly, who made a one-yard gain.  Afterward, I asked if he really saw
>>  Pat or if he was throwing it away.
>>     "He said, 'Let's just call it my Hail Mary Play.'"
>
>I find this and Sam's quote interesting, in that my conception
>of a Hail Mary play involves a pass that's not only unlikely
>to be completed, but also, long/high. A 70-yard bomb into the
>end zone with one receiver surrounded by the entire defense,
>say. Similarly with other sports.
>
>But these quotes show a use unmarked for length, where the
>notable factor is only the likelihood of success.
>
Which may be why that more general use didn't catch on.  I always
assumed that the quarterback was praying while the ball was in the
air, so the higher and farther it went and the longer it stayed up
there, the more likely the prayers were to reach Our Lady and the
pass to be completed.

And speaking of trajectories, I think this is a case where a
Read-style trajectory of the history of the lexical item could be
usefully invoked.  Just as OK was helped mightily along (although not
originated by) the Old Kinderhook connection and the Martin Van Buren
campaign's "OK Club", it was really that long pass from Staubach to
Drew ("I'm no Columnist") Pearson that eliminated the Vikings in the
1975 playoff game that put the Hail Mary on the lexical map, although
clearly it had been around for at least three years before that.

larry