rushing up, passing down

[Scot LaFaive]

>Is the distinction between "rushing up the middle" and "passing down
the middle" one that is actually in use among commentators or
spectators?

That's a tough one. I think I would most likely say "up" with rushing, but I
think I would say either "up" or "down" with passing. That's just me. Not
sure what most commentators say.

Scot

On Jan 13, 2008 5:49 PM, Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu>
wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      rushing up, passing down
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I was looking at the play-play information for NFL games provided by
> Yahoo! Sports and noticed they use a formula for representing rushing
> and passing plays:
>
> X passed to Y to the left/right for N yard gain/loss.
> X rushed (to Y) to the left/right for N yard gain/loss.
> X passed to Y down the middle for N yard gain/loss.
> X rushed (to Y) up the middle for N yard gain/loss.
>
> See, e.g.:
> http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/boxscore?gid=20080112009&page=plays
>
> Is the distinction between "rushing up the middle" and "passing down
> the middle" one that is actually in use among commentators or
> spectators?
>
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>
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