Colemanballs is a term coined by Private Eye magazine to describe verbal gaffes perpetrated by sports commentators. Coleman refers to the surname of the former BBC broadcaster David Coleman and the suffix -balls, as in "to balls up", and has since spawned derivative terms in unrelated fields such as "Warballs" (spurious references to the September 11, 2001, attacks), "Dianaballs" (sentimental references to Diana, Princess of Wales), "Murrayisms", (broadcasting gaffes by Murray Walker), and "Borisballs" (Boris Johnson). The all-encompassing term "mediaballs" has since been used by Private Eye as its coverage of gaffes has expanded. Background The term "balls" was first associated with Coleman in 1957 when he was at BBC Midlands, Sutton Coldfield, presenting a Saturday night 15-minute roundup of the day's football in the Midlands. A technical hitch occurred and there was a black-out, but Coleman could be heard calling
Colemanballs es un término acuñado por la revista Private Eye para describir gaffes verbais perpetrados por comentaristas deportivos. Coleman se refiere al apellido del ex emisor de la BBC David Coleman y los sufixos -balls, como en "to balls up", y desde entonces ha engendrado términos derivados en campos no relacionados como "Warballs" (referencias espuriosas a los ataques del 11 de septiembre de 2001), "Dianaballs" (referencias sentimentales a Diana, Princesa de Gales), "Murrayisms", (transmisión gaffes por Murray Walker), y "Borisballs" (Boris Johnson). El término todo-abarcando "mediaballs" ha sido usado desde entonces por Private Eye como su cobertura de gaffes ha expandido.