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My favorite scene from the great 1992 movie “A River Runs Through It” does not involve fly fishing.

Instead, I like the part when young Norman Maclean is learning writing from his father. Or, as Norman put it, he was attending the “School of the Rev. Maclean.”

“So, while my friends spent their days at Missoula Elementary,” Norman the narrator says, “I stayed home and learned to write the American language.”

The scene shows young Norman writing and presenting his work to his father, who marks it up and says, “Half as long” as he hands it back.

Norman delivers another draft, and the dad hands it back one more time. “Again,” he says, “half has long.”

The third draft is satisfactory to his father, who says, “Good, now throw it away.” 

Then Norman and his little brother, Paul, went fishing.

I think about that scene often when writing. It reminds me that when writing or speaking, less is almost always more.

Of course, that might sound a bit ironic coming from a guy who posts columns of 1,200 to 1,300 words each week. Well, the first drafts are often twice as long. So, there’s that.

When it comes to news and sportscasters, though, they seem to strive for the opposite. Many tend to add unnecessary words in an effort to sound smarter.

ESPN text-message reporter Adam Schefter is the worst offender. “Shefty” cannot every say “right now,” or “as of now” or “currently.” Rather, he says “at this particular point in time.”

Maybe he gets paid by the word.

As George Carlin once said, I don’t have pet peeves. I have major psychotic bleepin’ hatreds.

While you will see a lot of these examples watching the news, I notice them more when watching or listening to sports commentators. In an effort to hopefully help — and to give myself a little therapy — below are some common examples of the misuse of words, excessive words and words that just don’t make sense.

That said: About 20 years ago, someone trying to sound smart — probably on the ESPN show “Around the Horn” — started saying “that said” instead of “however.” That turned into “that being said.”

It is a million times worse when a writer uses that phrase because it isn’t said at all. It’s written.

RBI instead of RBIs: Back in the 1990s, a SportsCenter anchor joked that when a player drives in multiple runs, he should be credited with RsBI instead of RBIs. After all, he said, it stands for “runs batted in,” not “run batted ins.”

That led to the movement where writers and commentators refer to somebody having a game with “three RBI.”

This is as silly as it is enraging. When a player drives in a run, he is credited with an RBI. When he drives in another run, he now has two RBIs.

If you explain that to your English teacher, I’m sure she will understand.

RBIs is the way we talked from Ty Cobb through Pete Rose. There is no reason to change it because a SportsCenter anchor was once being snarky.

A lot of tread on his tires: This one is almost exclusively used when talking about running backs. I heard it 37 times last week alone, and it is almost always used 180 degrees incorrectly.

“He has a lot of tread in his tires,” a commentator will say about a back who is nearing the end of his career.

You don’t want that guy because “he has a lot of tread on his tires.”

You do not want to buy tires from someone who says this. As anyone who has ever been stuck in the mud in Alabama can tell you, tread on your tires is actually a good thing.

Foot in the ground: I promise you will hear this the first football game you watch on television this season.

The color commentator will talk about a runner making a cut, and he will say, “He put his foot in the ground and changed directions.”

If a running back really did put his foot in the ground, he isn’t going anywhere.

This is one of the many football sayings that are off the charts on the annoying scale. They are right up there with calling a draft pick a “plug and play” player or referring to a ball carrier as a “north-south runner.”

What if you’re playing at Naranche Stadium or Vigilante Stadium in Helena? Those fields run east and west, and a north-south runner would be horribly ineffective playing there.

These are all on the same level of silly as saying the defensive lineman is “pinning his ears back” or a linebacker is putting his “head on a swivel.”

Draft capital: If someone refers to draft picks as “draft capital,” just walk away from him.

Suddenly football reporters and fans are trying to sound like economics professors?

Using $5 words does not make you sound smarter. It exposes the opposite.

You should also walk away or turn the channel if you hear phrases like “sexy pick,” “down to their last strike” or “golf shot.”

The Aaron Rodgerses of the world: If you turn on ESPN for five minutes, you will hear someone talk about the “Aaron Rodgerses of the world” or the “Patrick Mahomeses of the world.”

There is only one Aaron Rodgers. Every day I count my lucky stars that we don’t have two — for multiple reasons.

Room: When the Bears traded for D.J. Moore, a lot of people said things like, “The Bears receiver room just got a whole lot better.”

What? Is Moore a painter or an interior decorator?

OK, so each position group meets in a different room at each team’s headquarters. But Jerry Rice, Randy Moss and Calvin Johnson can all walk into a room, and it doesn’t make the room better.

The company, on the other hand, is a different story.

Honestly: When people tell me they are being honest, I just assume that they are lying all the times when they don’t tell me they are being honest.

Also, don’t tell me “Personally.” If you say “I think,” then we will gather that it is your personal belief. 

The idea of: You will hear this almost every minute you watch sports or listen to sports radio.

“Well, Jim, I like the idea of running the ball here.” “I like the idea of drafting a quarterback.”

It’s like they invented the concept with the ultra-deep thinking that is only possible from a person with a 200 IQ. 

Albert Einstein can talk about the “idea of” his theory of relativity or his quantum theory of light. You are just watching sports on TV.

To your point: This is one you will hear from the talking heads of cable news as well as those arguing sports on Get Up or First Take.

“To your point, Jim …”

The word they are looking for is “also.”

On the planet: “LeBron James is the best basketball player on the planet.”

The inference there is that there are other basketball players doing great things on the moon. Who knows? Maybe they are.

Maybe Neil Armstrong had some mad hoop skills. Perhaps Marvin the Martian can really knock down the three.

These are just a few examples of things that drive me up the wall when I watch sports or attempt to watch the news.

Some of these come from people trying to sound smarter than they are. Others are just plain silly. The list was much longer. But I ran it through the School of the Rev. Maclean a couple times and knocked it down by more than half.

Feel free to add some of your own in the comment section. Trust me, it is very therapeutic.

Now, throw it away.

— Bill Foley, who is still upset about Alanis Morissette’s misuse of the word ironic in 1995, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74 before that billionaire weirdo ruins it. Listen to the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.