carry the ball
English
Verb
carry the ball (third-person singular simple present carries the ball, present participle carrying the ball, simple past and past participle carried the ball)
- (idiomatic) To lead in terms of responsibility, initiative, or progress.
- 1979 February 10, Allen Young, “Living In The Country”, in Gay Community News, volume 6, number 28, page 8:
- A gay man in Fitzwilliam, NH, singlehandedly organized a group called Monadnock Area Gays, which provided weekly socials, but when he moved some 25 miles to the northwest, there was no one left behind to carry the ball.
- 1985 August 17, Vincent F. Luti, “Ignore the Twaddle, Give, Give, Give”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 6, page 4:
- What is perhaps embarrassing to gay men is that women are making honest, gritty statements — carrying the balls, as it were — and producing very interesting gay writing, gay music, gay films, gay politics as (gulp) Lesbians.