Quote of the Day

Something has been bugging me lately: why do quotes always appear with the author following the quote? I often find myself skipping to the end of a quote to find the author before I read the quote itself. Many times, quotes don't even make sense without knowing the author, yet they still are formatted this standard way. Some quotes work fine with the standard format, when the author isn't essential to give the quote context. Some are even enhanced by this layout, when discovering the author gives the reader a little "aha!" moment. Here's an example:

Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both. --Benjamin Franklin

This one works fine with the standard format: the quote makes sense before you know who the author is, and discovering that one of the Forefathers is responsible for this extremely leftist statement (given the current political landscape), delivers further weight. But look at this example, from Baseball Prospectus:

"It might have been turned on really loud.... Sometimes the speakers will blow if it's turned up really loud. That has happened, especially if it wasn't, like, Sony. Some of the electronics out there nowadays can't handle the decibels a lot of times." --Ryan Dempster, Cubs pitcher, on an incident which involved Sammy Sosa's stereo being mysteriously destroyed last fall (Daily Southtown)

I think quotes like this should start with the author (and explanation, if appropriate) and then the quote. So you'd have:

Ryan Dempster, Cubs pitcher, on an incident which involved Sammy Sosa's stereo being mysteriously destroyed last fall (Daily Southtown): "It might have been turned on really loud.... Sometimes the speakers will blow if it's turned up really loud. That has happened, especially if it wasn't, like, Sony. Some of the electronics out there nowadays can't handle the decibels a lot of times."

Ahhhhh. Sure, it's a niggling point, but I keep butting my head up against quotes like these and I'm sick of it.