Saturday, December 27, 2025
Why is there a Bye Week?
This is what Why Do We Say Teams Get a 'Bye'? | Merriam-Webster site says:
"In sports, bye refers to a team automatically advancing to the next round of tournament play without competing and bye week refers to a scheduled off week for a given team. The term is not related to goodbye but is instead believed to be an alteration of by, as in the team is "standing by" to play later, or "bypassed" while other teams play. One early sport to feature a bye is coursing; the b-y-e spelling is likely influenced by an existing term from cricket in which a wicket-keeper misses a ball."
By vs. Bye: What's the Difference?: Grammarly says:
"The term bye is commonly used in informal conversations as a short way to say goodbye. Additionally, it has a specific application in sports, referring to a situation where a player or team advances to the next round of a competition without having to play."
So "advancing without playing" (which still doesn't make sense to me) seems to be the meaning of "bye" in tournaments, and it's not just football.
Where I live, I hear more sports talk in a week than I used to hear in a year,
Friday, December 12, 2025
Poor Michigan fans
Saturday, October 08, 2022
Kennedy v. Bremerton School District and SCOTUS
Really? A coach prays privately, after a game, on the field when lots of others were also milling around and expressing their like or dislike for the outcome, but because he prayed, he lost his job. That's not religious oppression? He'd been doing it for years, bothering no one, but some ONE supporting the opposing team complained to his employer. "The District disciplined Mr. Kennedy only for his decision to persist in praying quietly without his students after three games in October 2015."
I'm not familiar with the legal terms, but as a life time church member I know "establishment" of a religion or church takes a lot more work and time than praying silently on a football field for a few minutes and absolutely no one could construe that as a government activity or coercion. Except a Democrat.
"Monday’s ruling, Sotomayor concluded, “weakens the backstop” that the establishment clause provided to protect religious freedom. “It elevates one individual’s interest in personal religious exercise,” she contended, “over society’s interest in protecting the separation between church and state, eroding the protections for religious liberty for all.” (SCOTUS Blog, June 27, 2022)
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
Trump trumps the media again
They are going bonkers with hate filled monologues, articles and jokes about the President offering football players fast food since the Democrats have shut down the government and there was no food service in the White House. Can’t believe how humorless and pointless “journalists” have become. I think their ratings are lower than Congress. What 20-something kid doesn’t love fast food? Some lefties are calling the feast “racist!” New Yorker calls it “banal.” Americans spend over $200 Billion a year on fast food and they are dissing the deplorables again. Wow. Elitism rides again rough shod over Americans. They even criticized the President for saying the first and second lady could make salads apparently putting down all women with the comment. Can’t believe them—it isn’t fake news, it’s inability to understand a joke, a wise crack or a nuance.
Apparently it’s OK for Planned Parenthood to put their billboards and clinics in black neighborhoods, but fast food companies shouldn’t do that—according to some lefty web sites I’ve seen—and I won’t link because they don’t deserve to be paid by their advertisers. They are all capitalists, but the media are just more self-righteous.
Sunday, August 26, 2018
President Drake of OSU needs to step up
“According to the 23-page report, (see page 17, Section IV, B4, B5) Meyer and athletic director Gene Smith were not negligent in the overriding element of the origin of the investigation. The report also included Meyer telling Smith in October, 2015: “If you hit her, you are gone.” Gene Smith also told the assistant coach he would be fired if charges were fired.
Subsequently, Meyer and Gene Smith were suspended for reasons pertaining to their monitoring and discipline related to Zach Smith and for relying solely on the Powell Police department’s conclusions that domestic violence could not be proven in the first place. As Gene Smith’s lawyer, Rex Elliott, stated Thursday night, Gene Smith constantly communicated with the school’s Title IX compliance officer about the alleged 2015 incident and ordered the OSU police to monitor the Powell police investigation. He concluded that his client and Meyer were suspended solely “to appease the lynch mob.”
To cut to the chase, the six-panel report concluded, Zach Smith either never should have been hired in the first place or fired much earlier than his July 23 termination.
But it had nothing to do with covering up alleged domestic violence (there were no charges).
It’s time for Drake to act and stop the bleeding.”
Jeff Snook, from his Facebook page
Friday, August 24, 2018
Guest blogger David on the Urban Meyer/Zack Smith domestic violence case
For non-Columbus, non-OSU Buckeyes catch up—the well-loved football coach Urban Meyer was suspended for not stepping into the marital mess of one of his coaches, who also happened to be the grandson of Earle Bruce, another football icon in our community. Gene Smith is the athletic director.
---------------------------------------------
The last thing I’m going to say. . .
1) If you haven't ever dealt with a sexual harassment/abuse case, don't be tempted to repeat the opinions of others who haven't, either. Unfortunately, I have had to deal with several over the years.
2) If you did have to deal with one, did you investigate it yourself? If you did, you're an idiot--that is unless you were trained and designated by the organization you worked for to do so. It is highly unlikely that conducting such investigations falls within the scope of either Urban Meyer or Gene Smith's job duties. They are required to report such incidents and then let the designated investigators handle it (I am assuming, If not, Ohio State is even more mismanaged than I thought).
3) If you are an investigator, were you able to question the victim if he/she wasn't an employee or, in the case of schools, a student of your organization? Unless you are in law enforcement, the answer is probably no. In my situation, having worked in a state agency, I had no authority to question an employee's spouse, significant other, or whatever unless that person also worked for my agency. Now, the Highway Patrol, which was our investigating body, could do so. And I could use whatever information the Patrol obtained.
4) When there is a criminal investigation, many organizations also conduct their own parallel administrative investigations because an organization rule might have been violated. Sometimes you wait for the outcome of the criminal investigation, but you don't have to because the standard is lower. I don't know if Ohio State did that in the Courtney Smith case or not. From what I have read, she did not allow the police to move forward on her complaints. I hope they at least referred her to a local battered women's shelter.
5) As far as Zack Smith's conduct is concerned, there are suggestions that Urban should have known about his visit to a strip club, his sending a lewd photo on his cellphone, etc. It would be interesting to know what kind of procedures the athletic department has in place for reviewing expenditures (it seems to me they should have caught that and dealt with it right away). However, I don't know of any organizations which routinely review what an employee is using his/her cellphone for, even when the organization has issued it.
6) The very fact that most of the witnesses questioned believed that any action taken against Zack Smith was dependent upon the outcome of any criminal charges--and there weren't any criminal charges--tells me that Ohio State hasn't done a very good job of communicating its expectations in such matters. Whoever is responsible for disseminating such policies needs to go back to the drawing board.
-----------------------------
https://sports.yahoo.com/timeline-urban-meyer-zach-smith-saga-ohio-state-230126856.html
Since there are media sources and sports figures who hate the Buckeyes almost as much as they hate President Trump, finding credible sources to link to is difficult. Since Mrs. Smith didn’t bring charges, and it is rumored she often called the police, I’d say Meyer was not responsible to babysit his coach.
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Colin Kaepernick, the ungrateful millionaire
Colin Kaepernick has a white birthmother, white adoptive parents, and with nature and nuture gifting him every advantage in a country where the sky's the limit he is an NFL millionaire several times over. The only guy missing in his internet bio is the sperm donor, so guess who he's identifying with. His career was faltering with injuries and poor stats, so last week he decided he was just too tired to stand for the national anthem with his non-millionaire team mates on the 49-ers, and instead would become rejuvenated and rebranded with the #blacklivesmatter thugs.
http://www.biography.com/people/colin-kaepernick-21132801