Major Sports Pet Peeve

[jmcclain19]

I've noticed this one way too many times and it drives me up a wall every time I hear it.

"The score is 34-10. That's a 24 point differential."

No, that's not a differential. Differential is a calculus term. You aren't doing calculus so stop trying to sound like you are when you really are doing subtraction. There's a term for the result of a subtraction operation, and it's called the difference. Get it right.

Math nerd - go back to your DiffEQs and slide rules and leave us sports fans alone

[jmcclain19]

Here's a huge pet peeve of mine - why is it necessary for sports "analysts" to try and blow things to a level way beyond the sane thought - as if it some how adds to the strength of their argument.

On ESPN's College Football Live this week, one analyst was talking about the state of the Syracuse program and how they are on the right track now, because this season they completed "one of the greatest upsets in the history of college football by upsetting Louisville".

Uh no. Not even close. Not even in the same stratosphere. A BCS team beating another BCS team shouldn't even rank in the top 500 of all time upsets - let alone of one of the greatest of all time.

[Yachtzee]

Here's a huge pet peeve of mine - why is it necessary for sports "analysts" to try and blow things to a level way beyond the sane thought - as if it some how adds to the strength of their argument.

On ESPN's College Football Live this week, one analyst was talking about the state of the Syracuse program and how they are on the right track now, because this season they completed "one of the greatest upsets in the history of college football by upsetting Louisville".

Uh no. Not even close. Not even in the same stratosphere. A BCS team beating another BCS team shouldn't even rank in the top 500 of all time upsets - let alone of one of the greatest of all time.

And he says this in the same year that Appalachian State beat Michigan at Michigan.