FIRST-PERSON PLURAL.

At Grantland, Chris Jones suggests that sports fans lose the "we."

If you don't play for, or you are not an employee of, the team in question, "we" is not the pronoun you're looking for.

"They" is the word you want.

When I said as much the other night, I heard all sorts of indignation from loyal fans. Most of their righteous defense boiled down to some version of, What is the team without us?

I'll tell you what you call a team without fans: the Florida Marlins. AND THEY STILL EXIST. They're still watched over by their evil, small-footed owners, and they still put on their terrible, freshly laundered uniforms, and they're still managed and coached, sort of, and they still go out on their nicely kept field to play every last one of their scheduled, mostly meaningless games. None of their day-to-day functioning actually requires fans. Sure, they might require your money somewhere down the road — if they can't siphon enough from the New York Yankees, that is — but they don't actually require you.

He's prepared to sell a few indulgences.

If you're a resident of Green Bay, Wis., you might be able to say "we" when you're talking about the Packers, because you might very well own some small percentage of the team.

That small percentage is bigger, or not, today.  What else does one make of an investment that carries the disclaimer,

COMMON STOCK DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN INVESTMENT IN "STOCK" IN THE COMMON SENSE OF THE TERM.

PURCHASERS SHOULD NOT PURCHASE COMMON STOCK WITH THE PURPOSE OF MAKING A PROFIT.

No, but it's suitable for framing in a Man Cave, and competitively priced with authentic jerseys and a bargain compared to game-worn uniforms.  (Note also: investors in common stock in the common sense of the term should understand that investments in shares involve risk, and past profits are not predictive of future results.)

Matt Ludcke/Getty images photograph from Grantland.com.

Mr Jones may also have the Mid-American Conference in mind.

If you're a student at a university, and you somehow help fund the team through your student fees — I'll freely admit that this might be a purely Canadian, socialist phenomenon — then "we" is appropriate.

Last time I checked, the Mid-American was all south of the Great Lakes and spread out among the swing states of the Rust Belt.  When the occasion requires, We Are Huskies.