Running Up The Score
In North American sports, "running up the score" occurs when a team continues to play in such a way as to score additional points after the outcome of the game is no longer in question and the team is assured of winning. In the United States and Canada, it is sometimes considered poor sportsmanship to "run up the score" in most circumstances (exceptions are listed below); sporting alternatives include pulling out most of the team's first string players, or calling plays designed to run out the clock (e.g., in American football, kneeling, running the ball up the middle, punting on first down). The term and concept are not common elsewhere in the world, where low-scoring sports, such as soccer, predominate.
Read more about Running Up The Score: Possible Reasons, Consequences
Famous quotes containing the words running and/or score:
“People stress the violence. That’s the smallest part of it. Football is brutal only from a distance. In the middle of it there’s a calm, a tranquility. The players accept pain. There’s a sense of order even at the end of a running play with bodies stewn everywhere. When the systems interlock, there’s a satisfaction to the game that can’t be duplicated. There’s a harmony.”
—Don Delillo (b. 1926)
“How many miles to Babylon?
Three score and ten.
Can I get there by candlelight?
Yes, and back again.”
—Mother Goose (fl. 17th–18th century. How many miles to Babylon? (l. 1–4)