HOUSTON – My son is an English teacher so I thought I would double check with him before I rant about how the soccer guys are talking. I am a fan and enjoy the Euro as I did the Copa, but I keep hearing things like "Portugal Have Advanced", "Wales are out of the running", and "France are up against Germany". I am used to saying "Portugal HAS advanced, Wales IS OUT, ETC. It’s, I guess, A BRITISH THING. My son tells me the rules of the language are loose. OOPS, I mean the rules IS LOOSE. I would have flunked 6th grade if I used loose rules of English.
The best guys on ESPN are the Scots. No one knows what they are saying. And when telling a players age, it is always "26 YEARS OF AGE". They never can just say, Joe Blow is 26 or he's 26 years old. Years of age is the thing. (One Astros announcer does the same thing). Speaking of announcers and numbers I recall the legend at Wrigley Field. Pat PIEPER was the P.A. GUY before there was a P.A. He used a megaphone behind home plate to announce hitters. He later moved to the electric mic but never EVER SAID THE WORD "NUMBER".
Pat would announce by just saying "14, Ernie Banks". There is no need to say "number 14” He figured the fans knew a number when they heard one. Of course the CUBS HAVE LOADED THE INFIELD for the All Star game and that is ridiculous. Or perhaps the CUBS HAS LOADED and that ARE RIDICULOUS.