It may vary from fan to fan, but by and large, fans enthusiasts take their teams, and their teams’ rivalries, pretty seriously. And the teams often take them seriously, too. You know that the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens, even while sharing some level of mutual respect, love nothing more than to tear the other down.
One of the subtler ways of doing that off of the football field is taking a shot at their rivals’ history, whether it be a matter of team success or one of the franchise’s iconic players. And I really can’t help but wonder if that is that the Ravens are trying to pull on the Steelers right now.
Believe it or not, but Baltimore has a rookie running back on their roster, an undrafted free agent out of Rutgers (full disclosure: my alma mater) named Gus Edwards, and they are actively promoting the nickname ‘Gus the Bus’ for him.
I know I don’t even need to say any more for most of you. There is a certain running back who is already enshrined in Canton by the name of Jerome Bettis who iconically embodied the nickname of ‘The Bus’ for over a decade in the National Football League. The notion that there is another ‘The Bus’ might be hard for some of you to stomach.
Especially a rookie from a rival team that barely has 300 total yards from scrimmage in his career, with one score. But he has rushed for over 100 yards in each of the past two games during the two starts made by Lamar Jackson, and now suddenly he has risen to prominence—as has his nickname.
Now I haven’t actively followed Rutgers since I was in attendance while the Ray Rice days, but I can’t find any compelling evidence to suggest that ‘Gus the Bus’ is a nickname that he carried over with him from his college career. Apparently, this is something the Ravens decided to call him. And you can be sure they know who ‘The Bus’ is.
It’s not Gus.
Now, do I really care if the Ravens are calling somebody on their roster Gus the Bus? I think it’s stupid, but no, not really. I mean it even sounds stupid. Gus isn’t a very intimidating name in the first place, and ‘Gus the Bus’ sounds like a morning children’s show.
As a matter of fact, Gus the Bus is already a talking school bus educating children about bus safety in North Carolina, and has been since well before Edwards was born. So nice job on the nickname. I’m not offended, but it is lame.
