headline fix?
Just curious if your Slice selves are going to fix that Home Run Inn headline, or if a teaser about a basketball player's sexual prowess is really your intention. Don't know why it's bugging me, but it just seems out of place here.
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
Start Talking!
Need a question answered? Have advice to share? Start a Talk topic now!
Sign up to get your questions answered and share advice.
18 Comments:
I think "ball" (verb) has many meanings. And I didn't read the headline on Daniel's Home Run Inn post as a sexual reference. Furthermore, Derrick Rose doesn't seem to have any sort of rep that Daniel is playing off of. I think in this case, "ballin'" just means playing with a ball.
Adam Kuban at 1:31AM on 07/07/08
Maybe it's my age, but as it's written I'm getting one meaning, which I assume is unintended.Or, maybe it's all the spam emails that use "ball" instead of the f-word to get past spam filters that are making my mind drift in another direction. And, since I'm not up on Chicago basketball draft picks, until I read the piece, I had no idea the dude was a ballplayer. He could have been a chef or an opera singer or a jockey, for all I knew. So his name and sports balls did not immediately click.
I think the word "play" may be inadvertantly missing from the headline. Or, as I said in my response, it could be throw a ball, catch a ball, dribble a ball, although all of those make the headline a lot longer.
If you ask most people, I think they'd see different meanings in, "Do you want to play ball with me?" and "Do you want to ball (with) me?"
If you and your slicey cohorts are fine with the headline, it's fine with me. It just seems an odd choice of words for a food site. My editors wouldn't let it slide where I get my paycheck, but we're a little small-townish.
dbcurrie at 2:23AM on 07/07/08
And while I'm thinking about it, you can delete this whole thread if you wish. There's no value to it, if the headline is okay with management.
dbcurrie at 2:25AM on 07/07/08
dbcurrie, i LOVE your contributions here (i've been a long-time lurker, for the most part). but this whole thread begs the question: are you a neocon or just a gutterhead? ;)
tmj529 at 2:36AM on 07/07/08
@tmj -- Neither, I suppose. And if I was either, I'd probably object to the pigeonholing. I tend to be a perpendicular line in a parallel universe. Yes, I am that offbeat most of the time. If only in my mind.
As for the headline question, I garner a good percentage of my of income from writing, and I'd get skewered for using a headline like that in a publication where it wasn't appropriate. I really think the headline was unintentional and a word is missing. I've done it enough times.
Glad you like my contributions.
dbcurrie at 2:49AM on 07/07/08
I don't see anything wrong with the title...
Home Run Inn: You Can't Ball Like Derrick Rose, But You Can Eat His Favorite Pizza
If it's been changed due to your post, maybe that's why.
I know a lot of guys who say they are "gonna go ballin'" with their friends out here -- maybe it's just a Mid-West/Southern colloquialism. I never really heard people say that in Hawaii 20 years ago when I was still in hanging around school-aged people. Then again, I didn't associate with people who played any kind of sports in Hawaii.
Cassaendra at 7:44AM on 07/07/08
I'm from the Northeast and I have heard people say it before, but usually transplants from the Midwest, come to think of it so it may be a charming regionalism (as is Chicago bar pizza, the subject of the post).
I suppose one alternative headline might be: "If you can't get past first base, at least you can have a pizza at the Home Run Inn."
HeartofGlass at 7:56AM on 07/07/08
No way this was, or should be, considered inappropriate, and here's multiple reasons why.
1) Anybody who has seen, heard or participated in a basketball game in the last ten years has surely heard the Ballin' expression many times.
2) Aside from the obvious Basketball reference, Ballin' is also commonly used to describe somebody living the high life. A wealthy person. A person with style. A person living large. A person who grew up poor, but became wealthy and successful. A person who is Fly.
Note: Being "Fly" does not mean you're a tiny insect.
3) There is at least one SE member I know who would be quick to comment on anything male-ball(s) related, and he hasn't said a word.
4) Searching Ballin' on Google -- Not a single sexual reference on the first 5 pages. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=ballin&btnG=Google+Search
Anyway. I would have never in a million years thought somebody could have viewed it as sexual.
What next, the Popsicles are offensive because they resemble part of the male anatomy? Don't even get me started on the Donuts....
FastFoodCritic at 8:44AM on 07/07/08
@FFC - get with the program! It's lighthouse gummis these days! :P
Cassaendra at 10:12AM on 07/07/08
Does anyone remember that song by Skee-lo?
I wish I was a little bit taller/ I wish I was a baller/ I wish I had a girl that looked good/ so I could call her
The video features a short dude who doesn't get picked to play basketball and has to sit on the bleachers dreaming about being taller/a baller.
Kerosena at 10:34AM on 07/07/08
Ya' know, there's too much bawlin' in here ... [grins, ducks, 'n runs!]
LunaPierCook at 12:16PM on 07/07/08
Since I'm not in the Midwest nor a basketball fan, I wasn't aware of that particular definition. No, I haven't seen a basketball game in the last ten years. Not even the sports highlights on the news. Seriously.
However, when I was a tad younger, "ball" had a completely different meaning, and at the time, only one meaning in common use. So maybe it is an age thing. But fer cripes sake, I'm not THAT old. Some other people my age may be old, but I'm not. It's not like I'm a crotchety old gramma who runs around shushing people who say "that sucks."
I can't imagine I'm the only person here who lives outside the midwest and doesn't follow sports and who read something else into the headline. Or maybe I'm just unique. Yeah, that's it. Unique. One-of-a-kind.
Weird.
If the headline is fine with you, it's fine with me. Maybe I need to rent a teenager and learn some new definitions. Then again, those trendy new words may not have arrived here yet. I'm still waiting for decent pizza to show up.
dbcurrie at 1:01PM on 07/07/08
dbcurrie, i'm originally from the midwest and i think that "ball" means the same thing that you do. mostly because a lot of incredibly uncouth teenage boys tried to convince me to ball with them when i lived there, and they didn't have cleats on at the time.
cybercita at 2:21PM on 07/07/08
@cyber, I'm glad at least someone else is familiar with the definition I know. However, definitions change...apparently I missed this one as it changed into something less interesting. :-)
dbcurrie at 2:34PM on 07/07/08
no one told me how much i would miss it when they stopped asking {sob}...
cybercita at 2:48PM on 07/07/08
I have to admit I did a double take. I know the meaning from the "old" days. I am from New England and that "term" was in play in my youth. However, I have stopped just reacting because I learn a new phrase from an old phrase all the time these days. Sometimes my head does a 360!
izatryt at 3:09PM on 07/07/08
You all have opened my eyes once again. My teenage son walks around the house uttering "balls" when he's PO'd. I didn't pay much attention. Now that I know the inferences, there will be no more "balling" in my house :-)
Josdean at 10:06PM on 07/30/08
Ballin' isn't just a mid west thing... I've heard it said in all of the places I've lived, and none of them were in the mid west...
pbisNOTmyname at 11:06PM on 07/30/08