Basketbawful

Thursday, February 02, 2006

tragical (traj'-uh-kuhl) adjective. A word used to describe something -- be it an individual player, a particular game, a full season, or a painful playoff loss -- that is so extraordinarily tragic, it seems as if supernatural forces were responsible for the misfortune.

Usage example: Thanks to the antics of Ron Artest and injuries to several key players, the Pacers' season has gone from magical to tragical.

Word History: When the Celtics defeated the Lakers in the 1984 NBA Finals, the blame was placed squarely on Magic Johnson's slumped shoulders. In three of the Celtics' four wins, Magic committed several critical errors down the stretch, including dribbling out the shot clock, throwing several passes into the outstretched hands of Robert Parish, and missing crucial freethrows in overtime. After Game 7, Magic fell into a deep depression that lasted most of the offseason. His misery was well-documented by the media, so much so that Kevin McHale began calling him "Tragic Johnson." Kevin probably should have kept his mouth shut, though, because the Lakers came back and won the 1985 NBA Finals...even wrapping up the series in the Boston Garden.

Thanks for the tragical season, you jackass.

2 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Tragical is a great word. Most words can be turned into adjectives like this if it ends in "c": tragical; magical; sonical; harmonical.

7/31/2006 6:24 PM

chris said...

Greg Oden's seeming arthritis at the ripe young age of 48 - tragical, or inevitable?!

2/19/2009 2:39 PM