Editor's Corner

Hello, my friends! A few weeks ago, one of you told me you had to look up the term hat trick. At first, I thought I knew what it was, but then I realized that I was thinking of the term rim shot (for drums). My husband informed me that a rim shot is the “ba dum tsh” drummers play at the end of a joke, and it’s called a sting. I’m so confused.

So, the term hat trick (or hat-trick), is related to sports. It’s a trifecta of sorts, and it means different things, depending on which sport you are talking about. In general, “a hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three.”

Here are some details from Wikipedia:

The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wickets with three consecutive deliveries. Fans held a collection for Stephenson, and presented him with a hat bought with the proceeds. The term was used in print for the first time in 1865 in the Chelmsford Chronicle.

Since then, hockey, baseball, soccer, rugby, water polo, and other sports have adopted it.

Here are a few details for you.

Baseball

In the past, baseball referred to a hat trick as “striking out three times in a game.” Striking out four times in a game is even worse, or a bigger failure, so the term for that was the golden sombrero. These days, the hat trick is more often used for hitting three home runs in a game and having celebrants throw their hats on the field (similar to the ice hockey tradition).

Soccer

On to football (soccer) which has some special types of hat tricks that I wanted to make note of.

The flawless hat trick (called lupenreiner) is a term Germans and Austrians use when a player scores three goals in a row before the half-time break (and probably when they score three goals in a row in the second half of the game). Wikipedia was not very clear on the flawless hat trick.

This next one, the perfect hat trick, would be amazing to see. This is also a soccer feat (though it would be cool to see an American football player do it with field goals). The perfect hat trick is when a player scores three ways in one match:

• One right-footed goal
• One left-footed goal
• One headed goal

I know, we’ll never see it in American football. 😊

Next time you hear someone talking about a hat trick, let me know what the player did and what sport you were watching!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Knowledge Enablement

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

Editor’s Corner Archives: https://episystechpubs.com/