Irritating phrases we'll hear the rest of college football's regular season

at the end of the day

 

That's not true, because a redshirt freshman is also a freshman, eligibility-wise. So if you say someone is a freshman, he can be either and it's not unusual for people to wonder, did he redshirt?

True freshmen makes it perfectly clear what his standing is, as does redshirt freshmen. I like absolute clarity.

Now, you could ask why this only applies to freshmen, as a sophomore who has redshirted is different from a "true" sophomore.

 

"It was God's fault they lost that game - he clearly wanted the other team to have his glory a little bit more."

 

it's more important to say true freshman than true soph because it's supposed to be impressive if someone is able to contribute in their first year in the program. if someone becomes the team's starting QB as a true freshman, it's a little different than becoming starting QB as a reshirt freshman. everyone else in the program other than a true freshman already has a year of college weight training, diet and practice under their belt.

True soph isn't important unless you are writing a story about leaving school early for the draft. redshirt sophs can go to the NFL. true sophs cannot (unless they spent a year at a prep school a la larry fitzgerald.)

 

True freshman often is a false designation nowadays, anyway, since kids can enroll in January.

To me, by the time you're near the end of your second semester, you ain't all that much of a freshman.

 

So you cover Oxford too?

 

Got no problem with that one, either.

 

Yes. Thank you. A favorite of sports radio hosts.

 

I agree about "at the end of the day" and I'll add "moving forward." Most references to the latter add nothing other than two extra words. "What kind of success will this team have moving forward?" I rarely see this in newspaper copy, but hear it a lot from radio and TV announcers.

 

One I could definitely do without is "pick six" for an interception return for TD. Maybe it's not bad terminology to use, but I find it irritating as hell.