"That's cool, Jess, but why is it called 'The Golden Sombrero'?"

I've received this question a lot. And by a lot, I mean twice, from my roommate and my brother, both of whom were forcibly detained and made to read my blog. The nature of my readership aside, it is a legit question.

"Golden sombrero" is one of my favorite baseball terms. A player who strikes out four times in one game is said to wear the golden sombrero. So even though it kind of sounds like a good thing, it really isn't. But I think it's funny nonetheless.

I'm pretty sure that baseball has more weird slang words than any other sport. I usually spend most of the game listening to see what terms the announcers throw out there. Half of the time, I think they just make stuff up (Joe Buck, I'm looking at you) because fans can't keep track of all of the crazy terms.

Some of my favorites:

Dying Quail - A lame pop fly that lands just beyond the outfielder's reach. So close, yet so far away!

Chin Music - A pitch that wizzes by the batter's face, usually a warning from the pitcher to back the hell off the plate.

Pickle - A rundown; when the runner gets caught between two bases. Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez often finds himself in these...

And finally, my all-time favorite, probably because I have the sense of humor of a 15-year-old boy:

Dong - Used by sports editor Lee Russakoff to talk about Chase Utley's home runs. I'm guessing he meant "dinger," which is a totally acceptable home run term. Instead, he ran an article where he came up with this gem: "Chase's two dongs put him in elite company."

And you wondered why the ladies love Chase so much...