Grammar Sucks

The last day of baseball, still the national pastime even though NASCAR and football, brutal sports, have edged the boys of summer in popularity.

Baseball is now and forever will be the most lyrical and folkloric of all sports.  Who hasn’t heard or read the poem about "Mighty Casey"?

But I had the honor and privilege today of tuning in to the legendary baseball announcer Vin Scully, who quoted this from long-gone baseball commissioner Bart Giamatti, the man who fought Pete Rose and won:

It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone.

"Just so," as my Irish ancestors would say.

Tags: Vin Scully, Pete Rose, Bart Giamatti

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Jenni Carlson, a columnist for The Oklahoman in Stillwater, Okla., home to Oklahoma State, finds herself under fire for running an article critical of the football team’s deposed quarterback.

Carlson evidently said the quarterback’s demotion was due to mental attitude rather than physical skills.  This caused football coach Mike Gundy to denounce her and call the article three quarters "fiction."

(The tirade was covered by the media, and various videos of Gundy’s outburst are viewable on YouTube.)

Carlson, however, stood her ground and demanded that Gundy point out the parts that were inaccurate.  "I don’t have to," he shot back.

I say good for Carlson for standing up to the bully.  She won’t let go now, as she has another article out today, this one critical of Gundy.

Go, girl, go.

Read all about it.

Tags: Jenni Carlson, Mike Gundy

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I swore I wasn’t going to bring up the topic of Miss Teen South Carolina’s bumbling question response, in which she concocted the NotPhrase U.S. Americans and generally managed to show an ignorance not only of English usage but also of world history.  To wit:

I personally believe the U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some, uh…people out there in our nation don’t have maps, and, uh, I believe that our education like such as South Africa and, uh, the Iraq everywhere like, such as and…I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., err, uh, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future for our….

After hearing this the first time, I just felt bad for Lauren Caitlin Upton, but as time has gone on, her utterances have burrowed their way into our culture.  A local radio station here in Los Angeles even uses an imitator to run promos, urging "U.S. Americans" to tune in for this and that show.  It’s funny.

Now that she’s become legend, I’ll weigh in by offernig a video of her speech.  Enjoy:

(If the Flash doesn’t work, here’s a link to click.)

Tags: Lauren Caitlin Upton

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Filed under: Grammar Sucks