I bet dem "O‘s" dont spel to gud, either

I apologize in advance for taking up front page real-estate for this, but I have to raise a stink.

What's wrong with this picture?

via farm4.static.flickr.com

If you said, "The apostrophe is f***ing upside-down/backwards!" you answered correctly. 

I discovered this when alerted by a friend to this post over on uniwatch (an awesome site, if you don't know it, btw). The preceding link takes you to a long list of items, and halfway down is the review of our inept typography:

Apostrophe Catastrophe, Continued: This is the Baltimore Orioles’ official team art/logo sheet (and please don’t bother asking me where I got it or how you can get a bigger version of it). Seems straightforward enough, until you take a closer look at these.

Can you f***ing believe that?

Now, I realize an argument can be made that there shouldn’t be an apostrophe there at all, because plurals don’t take apostrophes. But you could also argue that the apostrophe is standing in for "riole," plus "O’s" is less visually awkward than "Os" would be, plus-plus there’s a strong precedent for using an apostrophe in this type of logo. So let’s assume that the apostrophe belongs there.

But once you’ve decided it belongs there, how can anyone who got past the third grade orient it incorrectly?

This small but telling example of illiteracy (and make no mistake, that’s exactly what it is) extends to Baltimore’s alternate cap, BP cap, "portion of the proceeds" cap, and other gear. It’s been part of the team’s official graphics program since 2005, and I’m embarrassed not to have noticed it until now.

But the people who should really be embarrassed are the IQ-32 types who executed and approved this logo design. C’mon, a backwards apostrophe? Being worn by a major league sports franchise? And the culpability isn’t limited to the Orioles’ front office — how come nobody at MLB Properties said anything when this logo design came across their desks? How come nobody at New Era said, "Y’know, that cap doesn’t look quite right"? Guilty, each and every one of them.

And people wonder why America’s going down the crapper.

I'm right there with this guy. I'm in the "no apostrophe" camp myself, but if you're going to have it, can't you at least set it the right way? This has been on the logo since 2005? ARE WE TRYING TO MAKE BALTIMORE LOOK LIKE AN ILLITERATE CITY?

Please, please, tell me someone else cares about this, and that we can raise enough hell to get the front office to fix it, pronto. Thancks vary mutch.