Date:  Mon, 10 Nov 1997 10:44:36 -0500
From:  Mark Mandel <Mark[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]DRAGONSYS.COM>
Subject: basketball terms: cherry-picker

mmcdaniel <mmcdaniel_at_interval-miami[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]INTERVAL-INTL.COM> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>
   Dickie M. Heaberlin said:

   <<Back then when someone stayed back on offense in order to get a long
   pass and make an easy basketball, he was called a "radioman" or
   "snowbird."
    [...]

   In the early 80s we called such players "cherry-pickers," which I
   always assumed was a reference to the crane device.
<<<<<<<<
"Cherry-picking" is used as a synonym of "skimming" in the sense of "selecting the
'cream of the crop' [same metaphor as "skimming"!] in some group and leaving the
less desirable ones". For instance, HMOs and insurance
companies will make special efforts to recruit young, healthy customers who can
actuarily be counted on to deliver healthy premiums while staying healthy themselves
and therefore requiring little payout. This practice leaves the old and sick
without affordable insurance. I'd say that a ballplayer who stays back to pick off
the easy shots instead of supporting his teammates in the hard work is doing
the same kind of thing.

How did any of this come to be called "cherry-picking"? Presumably those
who harvest cherries or any other fruit pick only the ripe ones (_pace_ fruit
picked green to ripen in transit! The most desirable ones, then!). Alternatively or
in addition, the crane-like machine that raises a worker in a "bucket" to reach
high branches (or high wires over roads) lets the worker bypass the lower
fruit, which perhaps gets less sunlight and isn't yet ripe.

    Mark A. Mandel : Senior Linguist : mark[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]dragonsys.com
  Dragon Systems, Inc. : speech recognition : +1 617 965-5200
 320 Nevada St., Newton, MA 02160, USA : http://www.dragonsys.com/
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