2008 Woodie Awards
Anarchy in the A.P.
A Simple Grievance
Jarrod Moore
Issue date: 9/19/07 Section: Opinion
We're only just past the third week of college football, and the Associated Press has already done all it can to deliver the Southeastern Conference a swift kick to the crotch in the form of a No. 1 ranking to USC. It must be nice to retain your position at the top of the hill while only doing two-thirds of the work of runners-up LSU and Florida.
USC's current ranking is simply a result of a large collection of Trojans fans posturing themselves as sports journalists and voting under the moniker of "A.P. pollster."
Sure, in USC's two games thus far, they have certainly proved themselves a top-quality football team. But I thought rankings were based on performance. Shouldn't the best-performing team have the best ranking?
After Saturday's 49-31 dismantling of no. 15 Nebraska, the media touted USC as if they had slain the armies of Sauron and bought a round for everyone in the house. Meanwhile, LSU's 48-0 annihilation of Middle Tenn. was downplayed with the justification that it was against an unranked team.
Apparently the A.P. doesn't remember LSU's 48-7 blowout of Virginia Tech in week two. Or the fact that LSU's week one 45-0 win was against Miss. St., a team that went on to upset Auburn in their own house, taking them out of the Top 25.
Furthermore, in three games, LSU has only given up seven points. USC allowed 41 in two games. Many commentators asserted that the USC victory over Nebraska was much greater than the final score suggested, on the basis that USC played their second-string through much of the fourth quarter. However, a team is a team, no matter who's playing, and statistics are statistics.
In a league with so many teams, not only victories or losses count; the spread comes into play as well. Someone should let the A.P. know.
The latest polls display a patronizingly obvious favoritism as well as a huge lack of integrity on the part of these knuckleheads Hammer-dancing in celebration amidst all of the USC posters, pendants, and rhetoric strewn about their offices every time they put in a vote.
USC's current ranking is simply a result of a large collection of Trojans fans posturing themselves as sports journalists and voting under the moniker of "A.P. pollster."
Sure, in USC's two games thus far, they have certainly proved themselves a top-quality football team. But I thought rankings were based on performance. Shouldn't the best-performing team have the best ranking?
After Saturday's 49-31 dismantling of no. 15 Nebraska, the media touted USC as if they had slain the armies of Sauron and bought a round for everyone in the house. Meanwhile, LSU's 48-0 annihilation of Middle Tenn. was downplayed with the justification that it was against an unranked team.
Apparently the A.P. doesn't remember LSU's 48-7 blowout of Virginia Tech in week two. Or the fact that LSU's week one 45-0 win was against Miss. St., a team that went on to upset Auburn in their own house, taking them out of the Top 25.
Furthermore, in three games, LSU has only given up seven points. USC allowed 41 in two games. Many commentators asserted that the USC victory over Nebraska was much greater than the final score suggested, on the basis that USC played their second-string through much of the fourth quarter. However, a team is a team, no matter who's playing, and statistics are statistics.
In a league with so many teams, not only victories or losses count; the spread comes into play as well. Someone should let the A.P. know.
The latest polls display a patronizingly obvious favoritism as well as a huge lack of integrity on the part of these knuckleheads Hammer-dancing in celebration amidst all of the USC posters, pendants, and rhetoric strewn about their offices every time they put in a vote.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
AB
posted 9/20/07 @ 12:41 AM PST
You're painfully transparent. Do you actually have an editor that proofreads your work? Your content is crap and your "style" is worse. After reading this piece (of @#*%!) a conscientious editor should have told you, "less is more. (Continued…)
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