Phrase-"thrown under the bus"

[Joel S. Berson]

The Boston Globe every fall has a continuing Monday cartoon about
high school football.  (Today's, by Jim Venable, is on page D10.)  A
school bus is pictured carrying one player from each school whose
team is still undefeated.  (Early in the season, like today, there
are too many schools to show one player for each, a few players are
shown looking out the bus windows, and the school names are written
on the side of the bus.  Later, if I remember, the school names will
appear on the players' uniforms, and some will be placed on the roof
of the bus.)  On the roof (today) are two devilish figures, "Exit"
and "Exit Jr.", each in a football uniform and with a pair of horns
protruding from his helmet.

As the season progresses, when their teams incur their first loss
players are pushed or fall off the bus.  (None today, as "no one's
off this week," bemoans one of the devils.)

Joel

At 10/1/2006 10:59 PM, you wrote:
>Great find. There's an article about the expression in USA Today from
>May 24, 2005:
>
>http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/zillgitt/2005-05-24-
>zillgitt_x.htm
>
>There's a bus driving across the sporting landscape, sometimes
>speeding, sometimes moving along at a crawl, collecting individuals
>near the front and rear axles, near the front and rear tires, near
>the muffler, near the exhaust pipe and near the driveshaft. Those
>people have been "thrown under the bus."
>
>Grant Barrett
>gbarrett at worldnewyork.org
>
>On Oct 1, 2006, at 21:33, Sam Clements wrote:
>
>>Couldn't find it in the archives.
>>
>>I've become aware of it in the last few months, but upon reading it
>>twice this weekend in stories, I just have to ask who invented it?
>>Fred?
>>
>>A news story today about steroids/Jason Grimsley
>>
>>"I don't have a comment," added Tejada, who was also involved in a
>>steroid controversy with former teammate Rafael Palmeiro. "What can
>>I do? I just played one [year] with Grimsley. I already got thrown
>>under the bus with Palmeiro. I'm not worried about it, and I said I
>>don't have a comment."
>>
>>Then, in a story about the Foley affair,  I read it again.
>>
>>So, I Google "under the bus" using their News search, and got an
>>astounding 588 hits!
>>
>>Hopefully this indicates the expression has "jumped the shark" and
>>will soon disappear.
>>
>>Sam Clements
>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------
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>
>------------------------------------------------------------
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