Does anyone know where On Deck, and In the Hole’ come from. I remember hearing it was some sexual innuendo, but I don’t remember where, and I can’t find any record of this. Anyone know something?
As a bonus: what should we replace these terms with (if at all)?
On-deck means the player is ready to jump in when called, and this urgency is very important in, let’s say, a tournament running on a tight schedule. During mixed, I was saying “please get ready now”, because when people hear “on deck” they think “oh, i have some time until next game starts”. Maybe “by-the-court”, indicating that the team should be ready watching the previous game finish? Along-the-boards also has a nice ring to it. To reflect this urgency, I would also change in-the-hole with something like “playing next”, even though there are still two (very short) games to go.
I think every tournament should strive to let people play the most games possible, and consequentially making the teams change as smoothly as possible is paramount.
But what about “in the hole”? Still waiting on the punchline of that innuendo… 