"the bubble" where did it come from

[BrianSwa]

I have heard this pharse spoken in about 4 different sports this week, so who started it? was it poker? Has the phrase been around for awhile?

[junYUN]

welcome back idiot

[JDMcNugent7]

LOL

[BrianSwa]

thats crazy idiot to you!

[omahilo]

Poker DID NOT start this word... its used in TV poker now more than ever tho.

My guess would be is that the NCAA basketball tourney or 'March Madness' started this word because they call the teams that might not make it bubble teams.

[GeoffM]

ROTFLMFAO.

Jun Yun, you smart ass .

[humpty99]

I would have to agree. That was the first thought that came to my mind before even opening the thread.

[citytom]

Getting back to the question in the original post:

"On the bubble" almost certainly comes from the qualifying runs preceding the annual Indianapolis 500 auto race, in which cars compete for the limited number of starting places in the race. Since there are several qualifying runs, the slowest, barely-qualifying car in any given run is said to be "on the bubble" because just one other car making better time in a subsequent run would burst that driver's bubble and dash his or her dream of competing in the big race. The final day of qualifying runs is known, in fact, as "Bubble Day."

Just exactly when "on the bubble" made its first appearance at the Indy 500 is uncertain, although one ADS-L correspondent remembers it being in use back in the 1950s, but over the last twenty years or so it has migrated into the vocabularies of football and basketball commentators, and now into the game of poker.

Citytom

[greenbuckets]

guess that settles it