They won by the hair of their skinny teeth teeth

Al Michaels said this one last night at the end of the Tampa Bay Bucs/Los Angeles Rams playoff football game, where the Rams won by a field goal after blowing a 24 point lead. Mr. Michaels conflated “by the skin of their teeth” (just barely, narrowly) and “not by the hair on my chinny chin chin” (outright refusal to allow something). He may also have been thinking of “by a hair” (won just barely) as that certainly fits the context. Skin and chin rhyme, and teeth, skin, and chin are all in the same general vicinity, hence the mix up I suppose.  I posted a variation of this one a few years ago, also uttered at a sporting event. See https://malaphors.com/2016/05/17/they-won-by-the-skin-of-their-chinny-chin-chin/

Here is the video of Mr. Michaels’ great malaphor:

https://news.yahoo.com/rams-blow-24-point-lead-000911821.html

A big thank you to Ron MacDonald for hearing this one and sending it in immediately (a few people also sent this one in but a day later….:-(