SPORTS GROUCH

This year’s high school football season is off to a fast start. I hope your favorite team is doing well.

One of the peculiarities of high school football here is something called Week Zero. It now seems we even have a Week Minus Zero.

That was August 17.

Reader Russ Carlson in Leesville was wondering about this and wrote the old Sports Grouch figuring I might know what this is.

RUSS WRITES: “WOULD

someone please explain to me what the term Week Zero means? The first week, month, year, century, millennium of anything is One.

“Possibly this goes back to the Y2K fiasco when everyone including the President was referring to Jan. 1, 2000, as the first day of the new millennium.

“It was, in fact, the first day of the last year of the old millennium/century, the new one not beginning until New Year’s Day a year later.

“I make these points, because in the sports section of your August 23 issue, there are multiple references to Week Zero.

“It even gives a high school football schedule for Week 1, the next week, I assume, which will really be Week 2. There is no such thing as “week/month/year zero. If that were so, the 10th week of football would be Week 9.”

YOUR FAITHFUL SPORTS

Grouch, being a bit of a skeptic about such matters, suspected the coaches came up with Week Zero to sneak an extra game into a 10-game season.

But I turned to our expert on the subject, our Sports Editor Thomas Grant Jr., to enlighten Russ and me.

Thomas knows what’s going on and had a ready answer for us.

“The phrase is the bane of the existence of many high school coaches in South Carolina,” Thomas said.

“It actually became a popular term at the turn of the century when teams began to schedule games prior to the official start which was the last Friday in August.

“Since playing a week earlier was considered an optional date, that started the creation of Week Zero.

“Some schools, like W.W. King and Chapin High, opted to open play this year on Aug. 24 or Week One. While it may not seem consistent, it’s only to differentiate from those teams who play a week earlier than others who don’t since it’s not considered the true start of the season.”

MY THANKS TO Russ for raising the question and Thomas for answering it.

And my apology to the coaches for suspecting they were just trying to get an extra game played.

They get paid the same no matter how many games they have to prepare their teams to play.

.

Think I’m full of it? Email Sports Editor Thomas Grant at chroniclesports@yahoo.com and suggest firing me.