Ride the pine

    当板凳队员

    A: John injured his knee seriously in the game last week.

    B: He will be riding the pine for quite some time.

    Note: This term means "not being actively involved in whatever sport whose team you are on." During a game, players not playing on a football field or basketball court are seen sitting on the bench near the sideline, watching and cheering on their teammates. While sitting on the bench, they're sometimes called bench warmers because their body heat warms the cold bench beneath, especially if they sit on the bench a lot – due to injury or because they're not good enough to play at all. This American expression is another way of saying somebody is sitting on or warming the bench, for in the old days, most benches were made of pine wood.