So this may be apropos of nothing or it might resonate to some degree with some, but I figured I'd try to add a little perspective rankings and the media.
OK, the first point is that it's ridiculous to complain and moan about biases because, these are human opinion polls. Of course they are biased. If you saw the Cuse go on a 23-0 run vs. NC State and smother Florida but you haven't seen an ugly half vs. Marshall, etc. you're going to have a different opinion than someone who saw OSU hammer duke and the Cuse struggle to get past Marshall. That's life. Until there is some sort of statistical formula that really legitimately takes all the factors into account, there is simply no way to rank teams without the voters being subject to their own experiences.
But, even disregarding the previous post, I just wanted to point out that early in my career I was working at a twice-weekly paper in Maryland. We covered 18 high schools and did a top five for each major sport (boys and girls) each week. I begged and pleaded with management to let me not do it for one simple reason -- I hated it. Each week I bet i got at least 5 phone calls and 5 emails BLASTING me for being biased. It got so that I"d start laughing on the phone and literally tell them that not only did I not play favorites, but that Icould (edit: could not) cover 18 high schools and each of their major sports teams well enough to know -- without doubt -- who the top 5 were.
It didn't matter. Each week I'd get hounded by coaches (one coach said he didn't want me covering his team b/c I hadn't ranked them. I told him that was cool as long as I could quote him on it when parents asked why I wasn't at the games. Surprisingly, he decided against that option. We didn't become great friends.), fans, parents and administrators either lobbying for their team or telling me I was a biased d**khead. I tried to explain that not only is it my job to be as unbiased as possible, but I didn't grow up in the area, had no interest socializing with coaches, and frankly would have rather been spending my time covering college sports and the local minor league baseball teams. So I was simply ranking them to the best of my ability. (And, by the way, I'd say I was proven right far more often than I was proven wrong. The same teams generally do the best year in and year out.)
But you know why they made me do it? Because everyone read Tuesday's paper and everyone got fired up about the rankings. It's the same principal at work here. You can flip out, but ultimately it's just a ratings/readers grab by bloggers/newspapers, etc. and a purely unscientific, opinion-based exercise. It's not worth your anger.
OK, the first point is that it's ridiculous to complain and moan about biases because, these are human opinion polls. Of course they are biased. If you saw the Cuse go on a 23-0 run vs. NC State and smother Florida but you haven't seen an ugly half vs. Marshall, etc. you're going to have a different opinion than someone who saw OSU hammer duke and the Cuse struggle to get past Marshall. That's life. Until there is some sort of statistical formula that really legitimately takes all the factors into account, there is simply no way to rank teams without the voters being subject to their own experiences.
But, even disregarding the previous post, I just wanted to point out that early in my career I was working at a twice-weekly paper in Maryland. We covered 18 high schools and did a top five for each major sport (boys and girls) each week. I begged and pleaded with management to let me not do it for one simple reason -- I hated it. Each week I bet i got at least 5 phone calls and 5 emails BLASTING me for being biased. It got so that I"d start laughing on the phone and literally tell them that not only did I not play favorites, but that I
It didn't matter. Each week I'd get hounded by coaches (one coach said he didn't want me covering his team b/c I hadn't ranked them. I told him that was cool as long as I could quote him on it when parents asked why I wasn't at the games. Surprisingly, he decided against that option. We didn't become great friends.), fans, parents and administrators either lobbying for their team or telling me I was a biased d**khead. I tried to explain that not only is it my job to be as unbiased as possible, but I didn't grow up in the area, had no interest socializing with coaches, and frankly would have rather been spending my time covering college sports and the local minor league baseball teams. So I was simply ranking them to the best of my ability. (And, by the way, I'd say I was proven right far more often than I was proven wrong. The same teams generally do the best year in and year out.)
But you know why they made me do it? Because everyone read Tuesday's paper and everyone got fired up about the rankings. It's the same principal at work here. You can flip out, but ultimately it's just a ratings/readers grab by bloggers/newspapers, etc. and a purely unscientific, opinion-based exercise. It's not worth your anger.
