Useless Terminology

I spent Tuesday and Wednesday in bed. I don't think I have ever if my life spent 2 days in bed when I was sick. As my mother. As my wife. If I'm sick, I'm up and about, in fact, I may as well be at work/school/piano lessons, save for the fact that I would make everyone else miserable with my hacking, coughing, sniffling nature.
Because of my bed-ridden hours, I had a sever lack of day-time tv and too much back-ache from laying around. But during the little time I did watch TV, I got to watch some of the UEFA Champions League on ESPN2. Yup, I eschewed the Food Network, G4 and CNBC for European Soccer. I felt it was appropriate as I managed to watch about 30 minutes of the MLS Cup.
All I can say is them Europeans are darn good at that other football game. I watched ManU versus Bantha Fodder of the Day (ok, they had a real name, and they actually lead for half the game, but even I knew that ManU was gonna win that game). At any rate, my tired, congested head enjoyed the game, not sure if I should start DVRing it on a constant basis, but it was kind of fun.
When I finally got back to work today, Doug, (who reminds me of a cross between Dante and Doug Funny, only Dante was Doug Funny) and I chatted about the potential for the Sox landing Johan Santana - setting up the possibility that the Sox could have the most stacked pitching rotation, well, ever, next season. Needless to say, I'm giddy.
In reading on ESPN about the potential deal, I'm immediately dismayed though, not because of the deal itself, but the way its positioned: the Sox and Twins are working out the "framework" of a deal that would send Santana to Boston for Jon Lester, Coco, and the pupu of prospects (most notably NOT Jacoby and NOT Buchholz).
Why do they have to call it a framework? Why is that jargon necessary? Why can't they just say that they are talking about a deal? Of course they're talking about a framework - if they already had the framework, and the floors and ceilings and walls, and they were just picking out carpets and cabinets at this point, wouldn't we say they had a deal?
When ARod resigned with the Empire, it was reported that they had a framework in place for the deal, but it wasn't signed yet. This is all well and good, it tells everyone that he's off the market, and the specifics are all that is left (how to spread out bonuses, how many gourds Boras gets up the rear, ect).
But with the Sox and Twins, there's no actual deal in place - in fact by all accounts the deal may not happen at all.
So there is NO reason to say they are working out a framework. Just say they're talking about it. Just because they're talking about it doesn't mean it will EVER happen. This happens with Meghan and I all the time. But I don't go out and say that we're talking about a framework of an agreement of me spending a weekend in Montreal with the boys, or a framework for the arrangement where I'll hang around for Beth's baby shower this weekend. Believe me, there are discussions, they're usually loud, and there is certainly no framework for either.
All I'm sayin is that writers need to cut out the waste. Tell me what I need to know without too many fancy sayings. There's a lot of news to digest out there, give it to me straight.