Voting nonsense
I don’t vote in the sporting world. Not in football polls, not for the Heisman, not for all-conference teams. I don’t think journalists ought to be involved in newsmaking, which is exactly what we do when we help determine the BCS and the Heisman and the all-Big 12 tight end.
Voting in civic elections is different. Everyone gets to vote. And we’re in that club. But sports? No. We’re asked to vote because we’re journalists, and I think that’s a bad road. So I cut it out, 10, 15 years ago. Haven’t voted in the AP poll since 1991, haven’t voted in the Heisman since the early ’90s.
And the publication of coaches’ votes in the football poll shows the nonsense. You’ve read of the silly order in which some coaches voted. Howard Schnellenberger, the Bowdens, Mike Bellotti, voting OU below Missouri and/or Kansas. An axe to grind? Maybe. Or maybe they just don’t know any better. I wouldn’t put it past some coaches to not know what the heck is going on. Coaches are the last group in the sport that knows what’s happening outside their cocoon.
And before you mount a posse demanding the head of Schnellenberger, know that Bob Stoops fared little better. Stoops ranked LSU, his prime contender for a Big Bowl berth, No. 6 in the coaches poll. That’s four spots below where LSU actually finished. Schnellenberger ranked OU seventh, also four spots below where the Sooners actually finished. Yes, the rest of the Colonel’s ballot was nonsense — Kansas No. 2, Boise State No. 10 — but that’s due to an addled brain. Stoops’ bias was no less than Schnellenberger’s.
Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel.
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Comments
I agree with Berry Tramel about voteing. Voters should be required to at least watch or read the stats of football games. I am a die hard Oklahoma fan but I feel for the University of Missouri. Being the No. 1 BCS team and losing to No. 9 BCS team is no reason to be ousted from the BCS Bowl Committee and Kansas gets a berth? Missouri just beat them a couple of weeks ago? Don’t make sinse and something needs to be changed and I think the majority of football fans would agree. Also the Coaches voteing sucks. There were Coaches voteing this last weekend that had to care less about the rateings or had a grudge against some other University. Maybe someday with the help of the media we can get some changes.
Don Lister
Marlow Oklahoma
I agree about the voting. When it is that clear of a pattern, how much sense does it really make to have coaches voting. Yeah, even sports writers would apply. Plus, you get to vote for yourself (if you are a coach). You want to believe that repect for the profession, for programs and plain common sense would prevail. Clearly, it doesn’t.
People will run through whatever hole is given. Its human nature. Its like the paperboy giving you a paper by mistake when you don’t subscribe. How many people send it back? This attitude is even greater if it is an accepted practice. This thing is not going to change until the Chancellors, President, Regents and whoever else looks at budgets and marketing plans for these schools, see that there is indeed a better way. That way, in theory, is a playoff. I am pro-play-off.
Berry, I challenge you to look into and do a story about this next point: Not a Playoff vs. the current system (BCS)….but the logistics of moving a team…the cost of all that happens. This is really the reason. The bowl system is a known entity. Schools can make plans, handle the logistics, their fans can travel. How often do you here that teams are chosen because of how well they travel? Greatest example of this being Notre Dame. Look at some of the bowl bids they have received against teams with the same or a better record over the years. Why? Because their fans travel well, ensuring more ticket sales.
Bowl committees like to match teams for this reason. Not so much on the record itself, instead, how many people are you going to draw. I go back to my example of the ACC championship this year. What did they have……25-30,000 people there. It was a joke. It was at a neutral site and the teams BC and VATECH played great. It was really entertaining until the 4th quarter. I saw all of that on TV. As did most of each schools fans…..because they weren’t at the game.
Play-off games at neutral sites would add up to this same scenario. It would be logical for higher seed teams to get home games. What are you going to do though, when say, Rutgers, after playing their last game on Saturday night, watches the play-off selection show, and find out they are going to USC. They win…and then in a week, comeback to face Boston College. Win….and then turn around and have to go to Oregon……win and then play for the title in New Orleans. Hypothetical and laughable……but possible in a play-off system.
Some will argue that the division below does it. Sure they do…..in mostly empty stadiums. The games look like soccer games in terms of fan support. This is why it won’t happen. I haven’t even talked about the NFL and how much they will scream if the NCAA wants to use all of those Saturdays through New Years. They know how hot College Football is. They know that someone will support their school before they buy a ticket for a pro game. Not to mention the entertainment factor and the TV veiwing audience. I would much rather watch college ball. Basketball as well.
There is so much to this….but the lack of a play-off is within this argument. Berry…..this is it. Look into it. No one talks about this side of it. But this is the reason.
Anyway, I have loved this season and become a bigger fan each year. I also enjoy it all that much more because of Mr. Tramel’s insight and columns. Keep up the great work and thanks for letting a novice like me share an opinion in this format.
Jeff
I don’t understand how voting and football ever got in the same conversation. Isn’t the whole idea of sports to prove that you are better than someone else? And the whole concept of a physical sport like football to prove it on the field (against the other team). Voting is for Ice skating. I’m suprised they don’t have one team take the field for 30 min (by them selves) and then the other team take the field for 30 min. and then vote on who did the best. Football was meant to be played against each other and after 60 min check the scoreboard… not the ballot box
Say what you want but a National Champion will be decided on the football field between great football teams and not decided on infomation sent to a computer!! When you have several teams that we all think should have a shot at the #1 title. “Play-off” the only way!
Don Lister
Marlow Ok
I am not suprise that some of the coaches submitted the ballot before the game (just like filling out the bracket).