Use of its, who, which..

I think there was a thread not long ago about when to use its, when, who, etc. when following a city, school or nickname. I recently made a mistake where I wrote, "X Universty increased their lead to 55-45 with 6:13 left in the game." That is incorrect. The sentence should have read, "X Univ. increaded ITS lead..." Does someone know how to get to the thread that went over these rules, or a link to clarify, so I can print it out and have it handy. I could not find anything in the AP Stylebook and want to get this cleaned up ASAP.
Thx.

 

Strunk & White, "Elements of Style," the bible for journalists and writers. Make sure you have a copy.

 

Thanks, joe. I guess it is time to read that again. The only thing about Strunk and White is that some of their tips don't jibe with AP style. But otherwise, yes, the content in that book is invaluable.

 

Team is an it (city or school names). Plural mascot names are a they. Singular mascot names (i.e. Heat, Avalanche) are usually up to a paper's individual style.

Not sure what you're getting at with "who" and "which."

 

When I mentioned "who" or "which," I was referring to something like, "...the Giants, which won their first Super Bowl since 1991." Apparently, it should read, "...the Giants, who won their first Super Bowl since 1991."

 

There's no apparently about it. That's how it should read. Who with specific mascot names. Which with city/school names, as well as the non-specific "team."

 

You guys have been helpful. I appreciate it.

 

Ahh, yeah. What Doc said. It goes back to the same thing: Team is an it, mascots are a they.

 

And if you ever work in the UK, disregard everything we just told you.

 

It's in the AP Stylebook under "collective nouns."

 

yeah, too much play by play in your gamer!

 

And who/whom, general rule of thumb: If you can plug in him/her into the sentence, whom. Otherwise, who.