Sportcasters as Linguists

Heard on Monday Night Football:

"Boy, on that drive all they did was go backwards."

Should you dub it "a drive" when the net gain was a loss?

Perhaps "Boy, on that possession all they did was go backwards." would have been a more apt description.

I realize my standards may be too high when it comes to sports broadcasters. No longer will you hear a mellifluous description of a game as if the action on the field were a work of art unfolding right before your eyes (or ears). Unfortunately, like academic achievement in high schools across the United States, we are lowering our standards. Now you hear street slang on the air waves from sports announcers who can barely express an original thought in a complete sentence. Many descriptions of the play are cliches.

Such is the life of a sportscaster.


Someone help me here: is the plural form of backward proper grammar? Seems to me backward is a direction.

Green with Envy

People have accused me of being green all of my life. Suddenly, that's a good thing.