Clive James in his Unreliable Memoirs (at least I think it was, my memory is going the same way as his; it might have been another of his autobiographical tomes) referred to it as the take-home line.

When writing his TV column for The Observer, he would aim to leave the reader with one sentence, one thought that would stay with them long after the surrounding verbosity had become fish and chip paper. He would later use the technique to great effect in his TV series, ruminating on the ridiculousness of modern life in his bumbling, self-deprecating, foreigner-abroad way.

Our football commentators, perhaps with less cerebral and verbal dexterity than Clive, aim for a similar effect; the pithy remark that captures a key, perhaps defining moment in a contest.

Dennis Cometti has entertained AFL audiences for many seasons with his quips, some rehearsed, others off the top ("He's made a typo - he wanted Bickley and he's got Buckley"), delivered in his trademark deadpan baritone.

Others of his ilk also try to inject humour and clever wordplay into their calls, with varying degrees of success.

"Brown, Brown, golden Brown," Dwayne Russell roared as the Lions skipper snapped truly with his left in the last quarter to help seal the win over the Bulldogs last Saturday.

Not terribly original, no doubt one he had cooked up earlier, but the timing was good, the delivery smooth and it did add a little something to the last-quarter drama at the Gabba.

A couple of hours later over in England, the Sky Sports man did a reasonable job of coming up with the take-home line in describing yet another last-gasp Manchester United victory.

"Paul Scholes steals it for United and keeps the title race alive ... Paul Scholes, the man with the copper-coloured top, who runs on and on and on," Peter Drury offered as the veteran midfielder celebrated with the away fans after heading United to a 1-0 win over Manchester City deep into injury time.

In the later match, however, Alan Parry sounded like he was running low on his creative batteries when he described Tottenham's surprise but deserved 2-1 win over the league leader as Chelsea's "White Hart Pain".

Whether we cackle or cringe, there's no doubt the men of words, most of the time, enhance our viewing experience of the men of action.

And when the action heroes are asked to say a few words, that can be pretty entertaining, too.

It was amusing to see Scholes and his old mucker Gary Neville fidgeting their way through the post-match interview.

The pair has grown up together over almost 20 seasons of Premier League football, from Fergie fledglings into elder statesmen of the game with more silverware than a Sheffield robber. But for all that, they're still pretty schoolboyish with a microphone in front of their nose.

Scholes, rarely heard throughout his illustrious career, when coaxed on his heroics muttered something about "three points" and "happy with the win". Neville, slightly more forthcoming, gushed: "Scholesy's passed them to death today and then popped up with the winner," before fumbling the bottle of bubbly he was supposed to present to his teammate as they exited stage left quick smart.

However, it was their boss, more than a decade ago now, who had perhaps the last line in one liners, saying the most when saying nothing at all.

"Football, bloody hell," Sir Alex Ferguson blurted to the camera after United had scored twice in injury time to beat Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League final.

But for sheer schoolboyish pleasure, who can beat the late BBC cricket broadcaster Brian Johnston, who descended into an uncontrollable fit of the giggles when colleague Jon Agnew suggested Ian Botham was out hit wicket because he had failed to "get his leg over".

There is debate whether he actually said on air the famous quote attributed to him, "the bowler's Holding, the batsman's Willey" during an England-West Indies Test at the Oval in 1976.

But at the Headingley Test in 1961, Johnners was definitely responsible for: "There's Neil Harvey standing at leg slip with his legs wide apart, waiting for a tickle."