Might isn’t right
Let me put on my editor hat. A little snug, but I think it fits.
The last sentence in the below excerpt from Peter King’s SI.com column today is certainly conversational in tone. It’s one of those sentences that sounds smartly phrased until you actually read it and realize that it’s nonsense:
Underline this and put it in your mental bold print: I’m not saying Orton is as good as Brady or ever will be; what I am saying is that he’s doing for the Broncos in 2009 what Brady did when Drew Bledsoe went down with an injury in 2001. Brady led the Patriots to a Super Bowl win no one saw coming. Can you sit there right now and say Orton might not do the same thing?
Yes, I can sit here right now and say that Orton might not do the same thing. He could do the same thing. And he might do the same thing. But he might not.
Might indicates uncertainty. King doesn’t mean that Orton is certainly going to do what Brady did. Or even that he’s likely to do it. Just that he could, that the signs are there now that he has that ability. In other words, that he might do it, which also means that he might not.
Print This Post
About Scott Stein
Abusive comments may be deleted and abusive commenters may be banned. See comment policies.
Then again, he may not do it, either, too.