nil as 0-0? (was: Evolving subjunctive)

[Mark A Mandel]

Speaking of sportscasterese, I heard this on the radio this afternoon,
approximate quote from memory:

"The Red Sox game against [whoever] is nil at the moment, zero-zero in
the third."

I've heard "nil" used for a score of zero, but only for one team at a
time, as in "two-nil", and I associate it more with UK than US usage.
Here it clearly was used to mean 'no score for either team', which is
new to me.

-- Mark A. Mandel
   Linguist at Large