Apologies for starting a new thread but this burr is under my saddle. And since we are off on Saturday, it bears mentioning. The term "bye" should be used only when referring to a tournament competition. That is, "Team A is the highest seed and receives a bye into the second round of the tournament." During regular-season competition, if a team doesn't play on a particular day when it ordinarily might, then that team has an "open date." Bloggers and even some professional journalists nowadays use these terms interchangeably. But they shouldn't.

I'm sure I've been guilty of using "bye" in print in the past, but you're definitely correct.

I have yelled at online stories, sports casts, etc. saying the same thing.......sigh.......Go Apps!!