We appreciate those who have respect and time for the English language. After all, it’s in rapid decline these days. Take, for example, this line from YouTube today: “After all this Serbia will be charged for this.”

Care to comma, pal?

It’s fair to say that most people in the world don’t notice when grammar (yes, that’s grammar) is fu*ked up or sh*t on. They don’t care about language, and their effort to educate themselves is nonexistent. That’s why we love Deadspin‘s story from this evening, highlighting the difficulty for sports writers when they refer to the Miami “Heat” and the Oklahoma City “Thunder.”

From the article, written by Tom Scocca:

“A major championship is pitting two teams whose names are mass nouns rather than ordinary plurals… The Bulls were better than the Sonics. The Spurs were better than the Nets. But is the Heat going to beat the Thunder? Or ARE the Thunder going to beat the Heat”

The article goes on to rightly point out that British English (go, Canada) just says fu*k it and treats all teams as plural entities. Chelsea have won, Arsenal are the champions, and Leeds sucks.

But, this Thunder and Heat thing? Does anybody have a clue.

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*NOTE: While complaining about grammar, Scocca included this line: “For the first times, a major championship is pitting…”

Don’t knock it if you can’t hack it, Tom.