The latest from Bleacher Report

"I found myself on the field rubbing elbows with the players from my favorite team, thanks solely to B/R."

:

http://blog.bleacherreport.com/2012/10/31/how-br-saved-me-from-a-career-i-didnt-like/

 

He's the "featured columnist" for the A's, and even got to go to a few games in person. Awesome!

 

Happy for the guy that he found something he enjoys doing. But the phrase "B/R Sportswriting Internship" is terrifying.

 

BR even sent me to cover a few A’s games from the press box, with field access prior to game time.


FAIL.

 

How so? Isn't "prior to" a preposition meaning before? Reporters have field access before games.

 

Stylebook. Avoid bureaucratic coptalk. Just use "before."

How many people say "prior to" in real situations?
Besides NFL officials and Joe Buck, I mean. They're beyond repair.

 

It astounds me how many journalists don't understand that the stylebook is only applicable to publications committing to it. It is not some universal arbiter of grammar and semantics.

 

A's AND the WWE!

 

Fair point. On the other hand, you would sound like Joe Buck.

 

Fair enough. But you can read a lot of newspapers that make similar poor word choice. And before any gets angry at me, BR has much worse writing than newspapers.

 

The Philadelphia newspapers, as great as they are and with as much editorial talent as they have, just sold for 55M. And Bleacher Report just sold for 200M.

Which I believe definitively proves the world has gone to hell in a handbasket.

 

I'd bet $10,000 this guy doesn't make $10,000.