Minnesota Sports Forum

Ant lost 22k to a pro madden player and refuses to pay. Ant really does think he is the best at everything.

https://twitter.com/AB_gotgame/status/1402365377284349965?s=19

Mmmm, seems like the type of kerfuffle not to be unexpected from a 19 year old millionaire athlete. Hopefully he pays what's owed....LOL that he wants to keep running it back and potentially digging an even deeper hole.

Sounds a little like Phil Mickelson...notorious on the tour for not paying off his bets. I hope there's more to this story, or if not, Ant pays up. He seems like a nice kid and doesn't need this bad publicity.

They both seem like solid citizens. Suffice to say their English teachers didn't do their job.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:They both seem like solid citizens. Suffice to say their English teachers didn't do their job.

As an English teacher, I'd like to respectfully point out that you should put a comma after "say," because as that sentence is constructed, "Suffice to say" functions as a nonessential introductory clause. Such clauses should be offset by commas except in very short sentences, where their use may be optional. Also, while the meaning of "suffice to say" is commonly understood because of its widespread usage in recent decades, the traditional phrase is "suffice it to say," making that the more formal and arguably correct wording of your subjunctive. Be that as it may, your point is well taken.

Still, there may be some legitimate dispute over the selection of the word "job" here instead of "jobs." At first glance, it appears as if the plural direct object "jobs" would be correct, since the sentence refers to multiple English teachers, presumably holding different positions. However, the singular "job" may be acceptable since the premise of your sentence is that all English teachers share the same objective--to teach students grammar. Nonetheless, an alternate wording choice might have eliminated any possible confusion. An idiom, for example, might have done the trick. "Their English teachers dropped the ball," would have had a subtle layer of irony since the subject of the conversation is a basketball player. "Their English teachers sucked balls," would prompt a more visceral reaction from readers at the expense of some formality, while also preserving the irony of the ball reference and offering readers the chance to imagine the various possible meanings of "balls." Perhaps the best choice, as is often the case, would have been the simplest. "Suffice it to say, their English teachers sucked."

SameOldNudityDrew wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:They both seem like solid citizens. Suffice to say their English teachers didn't do their job.

As an English teacher, I'd like to respectfully point out that you should put a comma after "say," because as that sentence is constructed, "Suffice to say" functions as a nonessential introductory clause. Such clauses should be offset by commas except in very short sentences, where their use may be optional. Also, while the meaning of "suffice to say" is commonly understood because of its widespread usage in recent decades, the traditional phrase is "suffice it to say," making that the more formal and arguably correct wording of your subjunctive. Be that as it may, your point is well taken.

Still, there may be some legitimate dispute over the selection of the word "job" here instead of "jobs." At first glance, it appears as if the plural direct object "jobs" would be correct, since the sentence refers to multiple English teachers, presumably holding different positions. However, the singular "job" may be acceptable since the premise of your sentence is that all English teachers share the same objective--to teach students grammar. Nonetheless, an alternate wording choice might have eliminated any possible confusion. An idiom, for example, might have done the trick. "Their English teachers dropped the ball," would have had a subtle layer of irony since the subject of the conversation is a basketball player. "Their English teachers sucked balls," would prompt a more visceral reaction from readers at the expense of some formality, while also preserving the irony of the ball reference and offering readers the chance to imagine the various possible meanings of "balls." Perhaps the best choice, as is often the case, would have been the simplest. "Suffice it to say, their English teachers sucked."

Good stuff.