Al McGuire had a way with words. In fact, it seemed like he had his own personal language. The New York Times called Al McGuire "the James Joyce of the airwaves" before the 1995 NCAA basketball tournament. His almost stream-of-consciousness delivery coupled with his unique phrasing made McGuire one of the most popular college basketball announcers. Here's a sampling (with translation) of McGuire-isms:

McGuire phrase	Translation
go barefoot in the wet grass	enjoy the moment
congratulate the temporary	live for the moment
carnival gates are closed	game's over
salt and pepper coach	X's and O's coach
cupcakes	easy opponents
white knuckler	close game
French pastry	a showy move
cracked sidewalks	bad part of town
sand fights	hard-fought games
yellow ribbons and medals	success in recruiting
tailenders	walk-ons or complementary players
Dunkirk	an extremely poor performance
dance hall player	short on talent, but long on effort
memos and pipes	university administrators and professors
two loaves of bread under their arms	good jobs
seashells and balloons	victory and happiness
curtains	game's over
tap city	game's over
aircraft carrier	big center
cloud piercer	player who jumps well
ballerina in the sky	player who jumps well