Is you is, or is you ain't, my baby?

Words have power. I guess. But lately people forget that words have to have definitions. We have to agree on what a word, or phrase, means, to have a meaningful discussion. Does anyone remember what the definition of is is?

The word or phrase for this week, or actually last week, is "running up the score." It sounds bad. But what does it really mean? A while ago, some dudes in Connecticut thought it would be a good idea to suspend any high-school football coach who's team won by more than 50 points. Because "running up the score" is bad.

So what does "running up the score" mean? Does it not mean scoring as many points as you possibly can? This shows that I really don't know anything about sports. Because I always thought that one of the main values of sports was to try your hardest. To score as many points as you can.

Now, one of the arguments in favor of this rule is that the evil coaches that are running up the points are also not letting the second string play. They want to win by as much as possible so Rudy the perpetual benchwarmer never gets to play. But, like most idiotic rules, this one also has the opposite effect as intended. Because if the first string from Metropolis High can get 50 points ahead of Smallville high, it's very likely that their second, and even third string guys are going to better as well. So in the second have, the subs get to play, but, in order to avoid having their coach suspended, they have to not play. Fourth string quarterback, first time he gets to play all year, but he's got to fall on the ball.

The whole point of this rule, I can only guess, is to avoid hurting the feelings of the losing team. But I can't think of anything more insulting, more demeaning to your opponent than to stop trying.

So, getting back to meanings and definitions; if you're running up the score, that means you're scoring as many points as you can. So if we're saying, don't run up the score, we're saying don't score as many points as you can.

I remember seeing the movie "Eight Men Out." It was about arguably the worst scandal in sports history. Some baseball players "shaved points" in the World Series. This was a very bad thing. "Shaving points" is when you don't score as many points as you can. You might still win, in fact, players that shave points justify it to themselves by still winning, but you just don't score as many points as you can.

In Connecticut, high school football teams are required to shave points.

I really must not know anything about sports.