Hook and ladder is a fire truck

You've got to be a little older than some of the average football viewers to understand the term "hook and lateral."
In the days when I was coming of age as a football fan (back in the dark ages, as my kids would say), teams ran a play where the wide receiver came inside from lining up wide and stopped and faced the quarterback. The pattern was called a buttonhook. Get it? Hook!
The receiver, assuming he caught the ball, then pitched the ball out to a trailing back who was going into the opposite direction, headed outside. In those days, a pitchout was called a lateral.
See it now? Hook and lateral. It made sense.
I was recently watching a game and I heard an announcer call it a "hook and ladder." I've heard that term a couple of times before ... and my immediate reaction is negative toward that announcer.
These people ought to do their homework before they use slang terminology. There is a definite descriptive meaning to "hook and lateral."
But "hook and ladder?" What is that? Have you ever seen a football player climb a ladder on the field? Have you ever seen a football player drive a fire truck on the field?
The only time you see a player climb on the field is on the back of another to block a field goal or extra point. Even that is illegal.
So the next time you hear an announcer say "hook and ladder," hit the mute button. You're listening to someone who doesn't know what he's talking about.
Now it's time to get ready for Christmas. Where I'm going, one of my sons will be there, and he's a fire chief. At least he knows what a "hook and ladder" is.