Joey liked playing sports of all kinds. Football was one of his favorites. Whenever he played football he would get himself all set for the game by having a few scrimmages with his dad and brothers before the game. He felt that put him ahead of the game so that when he showed up for the game he was already warmed up and in game spirit. From then on he was on target to playing well in the game. He really liked playing in barnburners because those kinds of games were particularly thrilling. He didn't even care if he lost a barnburner as long as he felt that he had played to the best of his own ability. Recently his team had been on a lucky streak and it looked like clear sailing into the playoffs. He knew that this string of good luck could end at any time, so the team had to be on the ball in every game that they played from now on. He was hoping that they would hit a grand slam by winning the divisional tournament and then the final tournament. It would be no fun to just bat 500 and win the first half of the divisional championship and end up losing the final tournament. While to bat 500 was wonderful if you were a baseball player it wasn't very good if you were a football team. The next game that they played in looked to be a long shot. Joey's team were playing the team that had won the championship two years in a row. They were feeling down because every time they were in a third down position they would lose possession. They were feeling pretty beat up and they had dropped behind the other team by 14 points. They didn't want to bomb out in this game because up until today they had won all their games. At this point in the game it didn't even look like it would be a close call. Joey was feeling like it was game over for them and he was especially upset because this was a home game and he didn't want to let the home fans down. Being behind by 14 points was a real wake-up call to the team. They had been feeling that they couldn't be beaten because of their lucky streak up until now. Being 14 points in the hole half way through the final period was looking bad for them. They didn't know if they would be able to pull it out. The coach was particularly anxious because he was afraid that he might get axed if they lost this game. The managers would want to get a new coach if they lost this game and he didn't want to get the sack so close to the playoffs. He called the players in for a time out and told them that it was no time to give up but a time to go for broke. He explained to them that when you are down this number of points and likely to lose the game that it was time to try some of the riskier plays that they had practiced. This would mean less protection for the quarterback, but more receivers for a quick pass. The quarterback couldn't get over the fact that he was going to be mostly unprotected and complained to the coach and got very mad. The coach and the quarterback had a bit of a shouting match for a while but after the dust-up ,the quarterback realized that the coach was actually going to be relying on his abilities to pull it out. The first play worked perfectly, the quarterback got off a quick pass to Joey who was able to run it into the end zone for a touchdown. But they weren't out of the woods yet. They were able to convert the touchdown but were still down by 7 points with only 3 minutes left in the final period. The remainder of the game went very quickly. They scored a field goal and one more touchdown and won the game. The other team couldn't get over losing the game. They had been ahead by so many points that they had thought that it would be no contest to win the game. Joey was so relieved that they had won and felt that this was one barnburner he would never forget.

Idioms in the Story:

all set ahead of the game on target barnburners clear sailing/a> lucky streak grand slam bat 500 down bomb out go for broke in the hole wake-up call string of good luck string of good luck beat up dropped behind game over get axed dust-up no contest pull it out get the sack out of the woods get over give up close call a long shot on the ball