Help me with possessives

First time I came across this, and now I'm really confused because both parties sound right. I just know we've used "girls' basketball" forever.

 

It's always girls basketball. Girls don't possess the sport, they describe it.
"Oakland draft needs include" - is also correct.

 

I would argue that the Oakland Raiders possess their draft needs though.

 

Correct.
Actually, I think both would be correct in this situation, no? I hate/love this shit.

 

I could argue that both are correct as well, but I prefer the Oakland's draft argument.

 

I don't like using possessives. They are too clingy.

 

This tends to be a style thing at papers. Some go with the possessive.

 

Which makes absolutely no sense because the girls do not possess the sport. They are playing it. Worse when you see "Girl's," even worse, and I swear this is true, the door for a locker room at an RI country club says "Ladie's Locker Room."

 

I admit I'm a word nerd, but I couldn't help taking some pictures while at my local Target store. And, yes, I forwarded them to Target's corporate office and gave them a hard time about being a billion-dollar corporation but not being able to hire a part-time proofreader.



To its credit, Target acknowledged its people don't have a grasp of basic grammar ... but it said the same thing when I pointed the same mistakes out a year ago, from a different store.

 

Men's basketball. Women's basketball.

 

your mama not you're mama

 

Make this clear: You can make a case for "boys basketball" and "boys' basketball" but never "boy's basketball." I'd argue it's descriptive and not possessive, so "boys basketball" is correct, even though the parallel usage is "men's basketball."

I always struggle with the top 25 -- "coaches poll" or "coaches' poll"? It is a poll voted on by coaches, so the former is certainly correct, but they also take ownership of it, so the possessive also works.

I know people who have written for major dailies for decades and still struggle with a plural mascot as adjective in the team-position-name construction: "Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw a touchdown." But "The Packers' Aaron Rodgers is headed to the Pro Bowl."

It gets worse in a headline: You want "Bears' Cutler to miss Sunday's game" or "Bears QB Cutler to miss Sunday's game" but never "Bears Cutler to miss Sunday's game." People get this wrong constantly.