I was most engaged by the phrase used yesterday by Sean McCormack at the state department when describing the efforts the US was making to prevent a Turkish invasion of northern Iraq. Apparently a "diplomatic full-court press" was being deployed.
Here in London, that led to much head scratching - until Wikipedia told us that this was a basketball phrase uncommon on this side of the Atlantic meaning that man-to-man pressure was being applied to achieve a positive defensive outcome.
It got me thinking about other sporting terms that could be used for wars/conflicts/scraps.
I guess with Iran, the Brits would say we are using the offside trap to win a freekick and prevent any Persian goals. I fear though that some in the US administration may feel we are nearer the endgame: perhaps a situation of two down, nobody on, no score, bottom of the ninth.
