Ahead of the Pack

I've picked a couple sports-related idioms as we near the end of the Olympic Games in Vancouver. This weekend, we are coming to the final stretch--Sunday is the last day. Actually, most sports idioms don't come from winter Olympic sports. I think the two most represented sports are boxing and horse racing. For example, the final stretch comes from the last part of a race, where the horses (or runners, or skaters) have the finish line in sight. It can mean the last part of any project or effort, when the end is in sight.

If you've watched long races like the Tour de France on bicycle, or a long cross-country ski event, you may have seen how the majority of the athletes stay close together for much of the race. There are certain advantages to staying in a pack: the person ahead may block the wind, for instance. However, the people who stay in the pack the whole time don't usually win. Soon, someone has to break out of the pack and get ahead of the competition. Someone who is running, cycling, skiing or skating ahead of the rest of the atheltes is ahead of the pack. The same can be said of someone who is at or near the top of the class in school, or ahead of their professional peers.

Last week we learned that every cloud has a silver lining. A silver medal is, of course, a huge accomplishment, although for some it might be disappointing to be so close to the gold and just fall short. If anyone who is discouraged, or tired you can remind them to keep their stick on the ice. Anyone on a hockey team would have to keep their stick on the ice to be at all useful to the team. So, what we mean is to keep on playing, keep trying, and not give up.

Well, this week's idioms may not take the gold medal, but perhaps one of them will come in handy in a pinch. That is, you will find that it is just the right way to say what you want to say. Enjoy the last couple days of the Games--it looks like Canada is on its way to the gold medal men's hockey game, perhaps the closest we get to a religious holiday...