In sports, positive feedback from your coach regarding your performance can be an important confidence booster. For professional athletes in the U.S. the way the media describes and pictures you can be almost as important to your career as your coach’s approval.
When listening to the commentator of a NBA game one will rarely hears an athlete’s performance described as fine or okay. Some people may think that this is an inflation of words such as excellent and great.
However, the use of such words may simply reflect the quality of the league. It is unclear were the cut off is when using superlatives and if the inflationary use of words such as great, amazing, or terrific has a negative effect on the American viewer of the game. The inflationary use of superlatives might also just be a way to express more optimistic and positive views of the world for which the Americans are known for.
