What does "It's all academic" mean? I hear it used a lot by sportscasters toward the end of a sporting event.
Thanks.
In the context of sports, saying "It's academic ..." means they only have to finish the game, and that the following plays could not affect the win/loss outcome due to the limited amount of time remaining. The results of the plays (which are irrelevant in the short term of the particular game) will nevertheless be noted and inlcuded in the season and career records of the teams and players.
ac·a·dem·ic
ˌakəˈdemik
adjective
2.
not of practical relevance; of only theoretical interest.
"the debate has been largely academic"
In general it means that the debate doesn't matter; similar to a debate about what happens after event when humans become stateless that will never happen from an academic theory like Marxist style communism. You can throw a so far in there if it makes you feel better.
This is interesting. So it's academic means people theorizing over an outcome, but only talking about it. They can't control or do anything about it. Academic I plus higher learning, but in this context the term is a bit negative.
^
Doesn't have to be negative. Things can start academic and then translate to the pragmatic. Physics becomes engineering, that sort of thing.