Double Subjects.

     Every time I watch a football game, I am reminded that in the United States, English is taught as an art and not a science.  I guess I should explain that.   English as an art is more concerned about the free flow of ideas.  English as a science is actually concerned about the rules of grammar.  And since most sports casters do not know any better, they use double subjects.  A practice that seems to have crept into almost all the shows on television. 

     There are some cases in which two subjects can be next to each other and it is grammatically correct.  "The Grinch's heart, they say, grew three sizes that day."(Seuss, Dr. How the Grinch Stole Christmas. New York: Random House, 1957)  In this case there are two subjects, but they do not describe the same entity.  The Grinch's heart and They are two different things.  Seuss wrote the sentence the way he did to maintain the rhyme scheme.  

    When it is wrong to use two subjects.  "The Green Bay Packers Defense, they say, he is the best running back that they have faced this season."  In this case, The Green Bay Packers Defense and they represent the same entity.  What should the sentence look like?  The Green Bay Packers Defense said that he his the best running back they have faced this season.  OR  They say he is the best running back they have faced this season.  

     If you can remove one of the subjects and still have the same sentence, take one of them out.  Your sentence will look better and it will not look like you do not actually know English Grammar.