sportsball

English

Etymology

From sports +‎ ball. Based on football, basketball, baseball, etc.

Noun

sportsball (uncountable)

1. (humorous, mildly derogatory, sometimes ironic) Any sport, especially one involving a ball; a sport that does not need to be specified or is not worth specifying.
   • 2016 November 23, Tricia Romano, “How To Have The Worst Thanksgiving Ever (On Purpose)”, in The Stranger, Seattle, page 18:

     It may seem counterintuitive, but I hate watching sports in a sports bar. Sports bars are where other sportsball fans go, and generally speaking, I’m not really into sportsball fans, especially not a roomful of drunk and angry ones.

   • 2018 October 20, anonymous author, “Hot hockey players”, in The Data Lounge‎^[1], archived from the original on 2024-09-03:

     I don't know much about most sportsball teams, but hockey players seem to be the hottest.
     Who's your favorite?

   • 2020, Douglas A. Van Belle, A Novel Approach to Politics: Introducing Political Science through Books, Movies, and Popular Culture:

     To use a sportsball analogy that might be a metaphor, judicial oversight of executive institutions is roughly the equivalent of policing acts of foul play that could result in a player being ejected from the sportsball game, such as attempted decapitation […]

Usage notes

The term generally carries the connotation that, for the purposes of the given context, all sports may be regarded as interchangeable and equal.