David Whitley, a sportswriter at the Orlando Sentinel has had enough of the “thrown under a bus” (as in, “He didn’t want to take the blame for the loss, so he threw his teammates under the bus.”) cliché. Whitley would like everyone–not just athletes–to give it a rest, already.

The Bus-Throw is slang for unfair criticism, usually for personal gain. As far as descriptions go, it certainly makes the point.

“Considering buses weigh 25,000 pounds, we do not recommend anyone be thrown under one,” said Bill Fay, communications specialist for Lynx.

The phrase offers an outstanding visual. And like cliches, it was clever the first two dozen times you heard it.

But eventually all cliches stop taking them one game at a time so they circle the wagons and throw out the record books and feel like kissing your sister so much that even John Madden stops using them.

Besides, Whitley wants to know, why is the bus so unfairly targeted?

Why not throw people under a car or a steamroller or John Daly? There were 77 deaths nationwide from bus accidents in 2004, the most recent year on record. That pales in comparison to the number of people run over by cars, motorcycles, bicycles and runaway shopping carts.

It appears, at least to this bus chick, that the hardworking (and underappreciated) form of transportation has somehow managed to get thrown under itself.