There are words that describe events, and there are words that end discussion. In this league, “classic” belongs firmly to the second category.

Calling something classic performs several jobs at once. It claims the event was predictable. It implies a documented pattern. It quietly suggests everyone else remembers the same history. Most importantly, it avoids the administrative burden of producing any of that history.

The phrase works because the group has enough shared past for the allegation to feel plausible. A decade-plus of drafts, trades, injuries, bad predictions and screenshots creates an enormous informal archive. The speaker is effectively citing the archive without identifying a page.

This publication intends to ruin that convenience. Once enough of the record exists here, “classic” may finally require a citation. This will be terrible for conversational efficiency and excellent for the website.