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