(Just like) starting over

One of the things I get out of this blog is that when I feel like venting about one of my pet peeves, I have to figure out if it's really a crime against the English language or if I just don't like it.

So it was during the NFL playoffs this weekend, when we heard again how the Saints and Colts started the season 13-0 and 14-0, respectively. That's always bugged me -- talking about a "start" when the teams involved are closer to golf than training camp. In 2007, you could even find references to the Patriots starting the season 15-0 -- when the end was one game away.

The thing is, when I played devil's advocate, I had to admit it had a stronger -- and more interesting -- case than I expected.

• It is literally true that the Saints started the season 13-0. It's unwise to complain about expressions that are literally true.

• The alternatives don't exactly sing. The Saints won their first 13 games. They were undefeated through 13 games. They were 13-0 at one point. Any others?

• The people who say it know the deal. After Week 14, football fans might have said the Saints were off to a 13-0 start, but nobody said the Giants were off to a 7-6 start. That's because those people weren't really talking about a beginning, they were talking about a season-long trend. The Giants started the season 5-0, and then that trend was broken (painfully).

If you're curious, the theory seems to hold up for other sports, too. I did a quick and dirty study of the New York Times from 2000 to 2009 to see how deep into the regular season they would use the phrase "started the season" in combination with a team's record. The results: For the NFL, 12 games (75% of the season). For college basketball, 19 games (68%). For the NBA, 35 games (43%). For baseball, 54 games (33%). The shorter the season, the higher the percentage.

Makes sense to me. In the NFL, 12 games may be most of the season, but 12 is a small number. A first-grader can count that high. It's probably more natural for people to associate that with a beginning than an end if there's a trend there.

What about the NHL, which is missing above? That's the exception that proves the rule, because of OT losses and standings points -- it's harder to see a trend at a glance. The longest "start" in hockey was just 18 games (22%).

I admit this isn't the usage problem I imagined. I'm going to make my peace with it. And I've learned something. I'd like to think I learned to stay open-minded about things that rub me the wrong way. Maybe even that the Internet can be a tool of understanding as well as divisiveness. But really, I learned that it's one of life's little pleasures to be able to hate something with justification, and you should never cheapen that pleasure by being a lazy hater.