FAQ

What’s up with the name of your blog?

My short answer is that all the good names were taken.

My longer answer is that it stems from back in my high school days when I would referee 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade basketball games in town. Refing for kids that young, you really have to be crystal clear with all the rules, even the most basic rules like when the ball was in bounds or out of bounds.

Kids that age are funny and they would pick up on some of the things I would say regularly during games. One thing I said often was “Ball in” when the ball came into play, and “Ball out” when the ball would go out of bounds. It was a really effective way to teach the game and I noticed that certain kinds in particular loved it when I said “Ball out”, because I would often draw out the word “Ballllllll” if the basketball got away from a kid and was bouncing or rolling out of bounds. At times, the kids would even say it with me and go crazy when I finally said the word “out”.

I was also spending most of my caddying and refereeing money back in the late 90s and early 2000s on basketball cards so when I was struggling to come up with a name, I figured Ball Out Basketball Cards was as good as any. And yes, I realize its very close to “balls out”, but we are all adults here, right?