I was reading a story on Yahoo! News about Colt McCoy attempting to throw passes to his father to prove he could get back into the BCS National Championship game and Garrett Gilbert’s performance with McCoy out of the game.

I liked the way the story started – I always appreciate a good story-teller, and I think Dan Wetzel did a good job of setting the scene. It was engaging and entertaining, despite most readers already knowing the outcome. (He couldn’t complete the simple pass due to a lack of strength in his arm/throwing shoulder.) Then, after about three short paragraphs, I came to a line that sent me into a fit of rage – assuming fit of rage actually means annoyed me enough to blog about it.

Explaining why McCoy lied to doctors and trainers about being able to go back in, Wetzel wrote:

He wanted back out there.

This sentence makes me cringe every time I read it. This is one of my biggest written or verbal pet peeves.

It’s not that I think I’m some sort of grammatical god who never makes mistakes. But, c’mon, man. “He wanted TO GET back out there” or “He wanted TO BE back out there.” Not the way Wetzel wrote it.

I first encountered the dropping of “to be” while I was attending Penn State. A lot – not all but a lot – of western Pennsylvania locals drop their to be’s. “Your car needs washed.” Or, “Your tie needs straightened.” I’m sure there are people all over the country who do this, so I can’t restrict it to western PA-ers. But, that’s where I first heard it. My girlfriend does it from time to time, and she’s from Virginia, so that proves it isn’t only Pennsylvania people.

I can let it go in conversation. There are a lot of things I say conversationally that I wouldn’t write down. Well, except maybe in this blog… But, you get the point! In Wetzel’s case, however, I can’t let it go. This was written in a news story for a major (if Yahoo! counts as major) news outlet. This should never happen. Maybe this is why stodgy old print journalists seem to hate new media journalists.

I’m not saying Wetzel needs fired; I’m just saying he needs talked to… Grrrrrrrrr…. How do people write like that?

* If you didn’t notice the headline was missing to be, then perhaps you are a part of the problem. Please, become a part of the solution.