against air
other.— «He recounted how he’d watch other teams warm up before games, and how those opposing quarterbacks would have problems completing like 70 percent of their passes “against air,” which means in the football vernacular no one defending the receivers.» —“One Last Look At Troy’s, Rayfield’s Big Weekend” by Mickey Spagnola DallasCowboys.com Aug. 6, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Chase from Jacksonville, Florida, grew up in Sacramento, California, where kids played Rochambeau instead of rock, paper, scissors. Why the difference in names? Nobody knows. Folklorists call this a choosing game, and while the hand-game itself...
In 1916, a small-town newspaper in Pennsylvania printed a fanciful item about a local gathering with a guest list that included, among others, Miss Ella Vader, Mr. Ray Zor, and other punny names. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...