Reader Mark S. asks about the etymology of the term " wild wag " as it colligate to professional play and the playoffs .
In American professional sports , when a squad participate playoff play without having come through their division , they earn what is called a " wild card " office . It ’s undoubtedly a snappy term , but why did we depart saying it for baseball game , football , and the like ?
In 1970 , after the amalgamation that bestow the AFL into the fold , the NFL became the first league to have specify wild card playoff patch . MLB did n’t open up their playoff format to take gaga circuit board squad until 1995 , so the use of the terminus in baseball stem from football .
In that first post - merger NFL season , the press referred to the playoff teams we ’d currently call " waste card " withclunky monikerslike " the second - place squad in each conference with the proficient winning percentage . " " godforsaken card " was already a football term at the time , but it would n’t be used in the playoff context of use until the following time of year .
" Wild card " to begin with ( and reasonably obviously ) come from poker game , which , look who you ask , startedfeaturing wild cardsin the belated nineteenth century . In athletics , " wild circuit board " entered the dictionary in the sixties with college football . It was used to discover atype of substitutionthat was try out with throughout the ' 60 . Here ’s anearly exampleof its use from 1960 when passenger vehicle voted on a new rule ( that was afterward tinkered with and refined ):
Later that decade , the condition made its mode from the rulebook and into broadcast parlance . Networksreferred tolate - season college games that were n’t originally schedule to beam but were chosen to be televised due to their grandness as " wild wit . "
" Wild card " first appeared inprofessionalfootball curtly thereafter in 1970 , but not as it ’s used today . The conference used it todescribethe Denver Broncos , who were the unexpended team out after the amalgamation and had to toy one more crabbed - conference game a time of year because of segmentation re - conjunction . In the time of year after that , broadcastersand thepressbegan referring to " the 2d - place squad in each conference with the best come through percent " as " wild card , " and the condition stuck .
