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I stopped payiing attention to football some time ago, and started paying attention again maybe five years ago. I was confused at first. Gone was the penalty "clipping" (with the funny signal that made it look like the player had thrown themselves at the backs of the other player's legs) and replaced by "illegal block in the back." It took me a couple of times to realize it wasn't about an illegal block in the backfield.
I actually think "illegal block in the back", though a bit cumbersome, is better than "clipping"--it's more descriptive of what actually happened.
What I don't like is the replacement of the descriptive "wide receiver" with the non-descriptive and redundant "wide-out". Are sports fans perceived as so stupid that a four-syllable term is too long for them?
