Basketbawful

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Lawler's Law (lah-lurz lah) noun. The popular belief that the first team to score 100 points will win the game.

Usage example: The Golden State Warriors were the first team to 100 last night, and they won. Of course, it helped that the Pistons scored only 93 points...

Word History: The term was coined by Ralph Lawler, the longtime radio and television broadcaster who has been the "Voice of the Clippers" for over 27 years (including over 1,600 consecutive games). According to his Wikipedia site: "In games involving the Clippers since 1978, Lawler's Law has been true 91.5% of the time." This isn't too surprising, considering how awful the Clippers have been over the years. If Lawler's Law stated that "the first team to score 60 points will win," it still would have been right about 85 percent of the time.

[Hat tip: The Association]

Labels: Los Angeles Clippers, Ralph Lawler, Word of the Day

7 Comments:

Anonymous said...

This is so fucking stupid I can't stand it.

Whoever scores 100 first is likely to be leading very near the end of the game. As such, this team will likely win.

It's not a "law" it's common fucking sense.

3/31/2007 12:37 AM

Unknown said...

broooo calm down.
theres no need to get so angry.
i live for word of the day.

7/14/2009 4:33 AM

Anonymous said...

...exactly, slow your roll Chico. It's just a "cheeky" guideline, not a REAL law. Unfortunately "Lawler's guideline" doesn't sound as cool, yeah? Don't forget, with teams that don't play much defense and/or score a lot (e.g. Golden St., Phoenix, etc.), there are entire games decided AFTER the 100-point mark with scores in the 1-teens and 1-twenties.

12/22/2009 11:48 PM

Anonymous said...

i hate lawler's law but only because ralph lawler is a moron and my friend thinks lawler's law is an actual law

1/25/2010 12:46 AM

Anonymous said...

I got a better law; the team that scores more points than their opponents win approximately 100% of the time.
Suck my dick Lawler

1/31/2010 11:00 PM

Anonymous said...

If ur friend really thinks it an actual "law" in hoops. He is moron not ralph lawler. Your probably just as much of a stupid f**k as ur friend... You dumba$$. Your judged by the company u keep. Ralph is awesome

10/31/2010 2:43 AM

Steve said...

The usage example doesn't even use the term. Well played.

4/18/2011 10:25 AM