Here’s another one for you punctuation maniacs out there. When you get to a closing quotation mark, a number of different rules govern whether certain punctuation marks (such as periods, commas, semicolons, colons, question marks, and exclamation points) go inside or outside of that closing quote. In proper American usage, there are three different categories: Continue reading ‘people who don’t put commas and period inside closing quote marks’
Monthly Archive for January, 2010
It’s New Year’s Day and I’m sitting in front of the TV watching college football. It’s something I haven’t done in a while, partly because I’ve been too busy, but mostly because we’ve gotten to the point where the number of bowl games is ridiculous, and the matchups feature mediocre teams you couldn’t possibly care about.
Now, I understand the capitalist desire for more bowl games. ESPN will televise just about anything, fans will travel, perhaps a few locals snap up extra tickets, and teams love getting an extra month of practice. And if I’ve got nothing else to do, why not watch some football? Now, some of the games have been pretty good (the SportsCenter highlights of Idaho (7-5) vs. Bowling Green (6-6) in the Humanitarian Bowl looked fantastic). But who the fuck cares about Idaho or Bowling Green? Until a couple of weeks ago, I didn’t even realize what state Bowling Green was in.* Do either of these schools have fans? Idaho isn’t even the number one team in its tiny state. And Bowling Green? It’s undoubtedly miles behind OSU and Cincinnati, duking it out with instate MAC rivals Kent State, Toledo, Ohio, Akron, and Miami for second tier Buckeye State bragging rights. And why the hell are .500 mid-major teams making bowls? It’s bad enough when power conference .500 teams get to bowls, but Bowling Green? What the fuck? Continue reading ‘the glut of bowl games’