f-bomb

[Mullins, Bill]

> >
> >this is interesting.  I'd guess that most of the occasions
> on which I
> >heard "f-bomb" were precisely in this context--discussing why a
> >baseball player (or, occasionally, a basketball player) was ejected
> >from the game (or, in basketball, why he--never she AFAIK--earned a
> >technical foul).   In baseball, this is sometimes referred to as
> >"(uttering) the magic word".  Alice, can you confirm my intuition on
> >this?
>
> Yeah, the "magic word(s)" is what gets you tossed from a
> baseball game. "Dropping an F-bomb (or an N-bomb)" is
> essentially "fighting words". So, dropping an F-bomb can get
> you tossed, and dropping an N-bomb earns retaliation of
> sorts. It's definitely my impression that the verb of
> utterance here is always "drop".
>

I first heard the term on the Jim Rome show (sports talk show, on radio and
ESPN).
Perhaps searches of Sporting News, early transcripts of ESPN, etc. would
give
earlier cites.