She drops the ball

What does this expression mean? :confused:

Hola Alfredo:

"To drop the ball" is a metaphor taken from sports. When you drop the ball it means to make a mistake in one way or another. EX: "She was supposed to make all the arrangements for the party by today but what happens? She drops the ball and now nothing is ready!"

There are various ways to use the phrase but basically it means to fail to do something timely and/or correctly.

Another EX: "We were counting on Juan to get the tickets but he dropped the ball."

Great Vicente! Thanks.

Interesting! If it were not from your examples, I would have thought that the meaning was similar to the one of the Spanish expression "tirar la toalla". Any ideas whether there is an idiom or expression for that one?

Tirar la toalla= to throw in the towel...another sports metaphor taken from el boxeo...in boxing when a fighter is being badly beaten and in danger of serious injury (and the referee does not stop the fight) the fighter's cornermen have the option of throwing a towel into the ring to indicate that they want the fight stopped to save their fighter from further injury.

Generally, to throw in the towel means to surrender, to concede defeat, or give up on something.

EX: "We had a dance contest and she was so good, I just threw in the towel."

EX: "I wanted our marriage to work but in the end I threw in the towel."

EX: "My business is not going well and I'm ready to throw in the towel."

I assume that it means the same in Spanish, no?