Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 149.
Watching sports on TV.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 149.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
On this podcast, we're going to watch a little sports on TV.
Let's go.
Oh, I didn't think I'd make it home in time for the game.
What game?
The playoffs.
Turn on the TV.
I hope it's still in the first quarter.
It is.
Who's winning?
What's the score?
I don't know.
You know I don't watch sports.
Whoa, that was a great shot.
Did you see that?
No.
What happened?
Maybe they'll show it again on instant replay.
I wonder who the coach put in for the starting lineup.
Geez, I think there's a player down on the court.
It looks like he's walking off the court.
He can't be hurt too badly.
Look, they're putting your favorite player in.
Oh, what a play!
Wait a second.
I thought you didn't watch sports.
I think you're a bad influence on me.
Yes, very bad.
Now stop hogging the couch and pass the chips.
In our dialogue.
Laura comes home and says to June Oh, I didn't think I'd make it home in time for the game.
To make it home means to arrive back at your house or your apartment.
In time means in time for something, before something happens.
June doesn't know which game Laura is talking about.
He says, what game?
Laura says the playoffs.
Playoffs, P-L-A-Y-O-F-F-S is when you have teams toward the end of their season playing each other for the championship.
The championship is the game that determines which team is the best team.
If you have, for example, eight teams, you might have the Four teams that have done the best during that particular season play each other in games that would be called playoffs.
The playoffs are when you play another team and the winning team gets to go on in the tournament, in the competition, so that they can get into the final game, the championship game, to determine who the winner is.
In American football, for example, we have playoffs that determine which two teams are going to go to the championship game called the Super Bowl.
In baseball, we have playoffs that determine who will go into the World Series.
All of these are examples of playoffs.
So Laura is telling June that she came home to watch the playoffs.
She says, turn on the TV.
She says, I hope it's still in the first quarter.
There are some games like American football or basketball that are divided into four parts.
Each part is called a quarter.
Quarter means 25% of something.
We have a coin in the United States called a quarter.
It's a quarter of a dollar.
It's 25 cents.
A dollar is 100 cents.
Well, we also have those kinds of divisions in sports.
In baseball, we don't have quarters.
In baseball, we have what are called innings, and there are nine of them.
But in other sports there are quarters, and Laura is hoping that the playoff game she wants to watch is still in the first quarter, meaning that They haven't gone to the next quarter.
The game is still being played in the very first part.
She says, it is.
Who's winning?
What's the score?
The score is the number of points that each team has.
So in football, the score could be something like 21 to 14 or 7 to 3.
In basketball, it could be 87 to 75 or something like that.
June says, I don't know.
I don't know the score.
You know I don't watch sports.
But then June, who's watching the television, gives us an expression of surprise, usually of a happy surprise.
He says, whoa.
That was a great shot.
In basketball we use the word shot when a player takes the ball and throws it to what's called the net.
The net is the round hole that the ball has to go through.
Shot as a noun is the throwing of the ball.
The verb is to shoot, S-H-O-O-T, and shot is the past tense of shoot.
But here it's used as a noun.
June says, that was a great shot.
Did you see that?
Laura, who apparently wasn't watching the television, even though she's the one who wanted to watch the playoffs, says no, what happened?
Maybe they'll show it again on instant replay.
The word show when talking about television can mean a program, a television program.
It can also be used as a verb to mean to broadcast, to put up on the screen, to let us see something.
In this case Laura is hoping that they will show or let everyone see that play that great shot again on instant replay.
Instant means right away.
Replay means to play again.
In sports, especially television sports, it's possible for them to show you a play again right after it has happened, in case you missed it, or to look at it more closely.
Instant replay can be found in almost every sport now on television.
Laura says, I wonder who the coach put in for the starting lineup.
I wonder, means I'm not sure.
Not sure who the coach put in for the starting lineup.
The coach is the person who is responsible for running the team.
The coach makes the decisions about what the people playing the game will do.
The people who play the game are called the players.
The starting lineup is is the group of players who begin the game.
Usually they're your best players.
Your lineup is a list of the people who are going to be playing.
Your starting lineup are the people who begin the game.
So Laura is wondering who the coach is Put in for the starting lineup.
To put in here means to play, to actually say, okay, you go out and you play.
June says, geez, I think there's a player down on the court.
Geez is a word we use for expressing surprise about something.
June says there's a player down on the court.
Down here means lying down, usually because they're injured, because they're hurt.
The court, C-O-U-R-T, describes the area where basketball is played.
We use court also for the sport of tennis.
We have the tennis court is the place where tennis is played.
For football, we would call it a field, either a soccer field or an American football field.
In baseball, it's also called a field.
But in basketball, we use the word court.
Laura says it looks like he, the player, is walking off the court.
To walk off means to leave, to exit.
He can't be hurt too badly.
Laura means that he must not have been injured very seriously because he's able to stand up and walk off the court.
June says, look, they're putting your favorite player in.
Once again, we have that phrasal verb to put in, meaning to tell someone to go and play.
Laura's favorite player is now going to be playing in the game.
June then says, oh, what a play.
A play here as a noun means some action in the sport that usually decides either the point being scored or some other important part of the game.
Basketball, making a shot that scores three points from a long distance away would be a great play.
It would be a great part of the game, a great performance in the game.
Laura says wait a second, meaning wait a short amount of time.
Wait a moment.
Laura is surprised at how excited June is about watching this game, since he said earlier that he didn't like to watch sports.
June says, A sports fan would be someone who likes to watch sports.
June says, I think you're a bad influence on me.
Something that is an influence on you, is something that affects you, something that changes you somehow.
June is saying that Laura is a bad influence on him.
Her actions have changed him for the worse.
Of course, he's making a joke here.
Laura says, yes, very bad.
Now stop hogging the couch and pass the chips.
The couch is the sofa.
It's a large seat where usually three or more people can sit down.
To hog, H-O-G, is an informal verb meaning to use something so that no one else can use it.
If you're hogging the couch, you're sitting on the couch in such a way that no one else can sit on it.
Maybe you're lying on it.
To pass the chips means to give up. something to another person.
In this case the something is chips.
Chips are potato chips or corn chips or tortilla chips that are very popular when people are watching sports.
They'll often eat potato chips or some other kind of chip as food for when they're watching the game.
So Laura is telling June to stop hogging the couch.
Let her sit down and give her some chips so she can eat.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Oh, I didn't think I'd make it home in time for the game.
What game?
The playoffs?
Turn on the TV.
I hope it's still in the first quarter.
It is.
Who's winning?
What's the score?
I don't know.
You know I don't watch sports.
Whoa, that was a great shot.
Did you see that?
No, what happened?
Maybe they'll show it again on instant replay.
I wonder who the coach put in for the starting lineup.
Geez, I think there's a player down on the court.
It looks like he's walking off the court.
He can't be hurt too badly.
Look, they're putting your favorite player in.
Oh, what a play!
Wait a second.
I thought you didn't watch sports.
I was never a sports fan before I met you.
I think you're a bad influence on me.
Yes, very bad.
Now stop hogging the couch and pass the chips.
She's the best player on Team ESL POD.
I speak, of course, of our wonderful scriptwriter, Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
ESL Podcast English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2006.
