Dear Idaho high school football media voters:
Call me The Fixer. No, I’m not Yakov Bok from the famous 1966 novel. I’m a sports writer on a quest to right the wrongs in the weekly Idaho football media poll.
I’m a guy who’s vote is like a number other than zero in the Jaguars’ win column, it doesn’t exist. I watch helplessly as a 2-3 Coeur d’Alene football team receives a No. 1 vote one week and an undefeated Idaho Falls squad — one that scores like Oregon wishes it could — drops out of the rankings entirely after a bye the next.
The newest poll comes out today, and my fingers are crossed that the Tigers sneak back in. Even if they do, though, this feels like an appropriate time to go over some ground rules for how the state’s football voters should treat the privilege of casting a ballot each and every week.
Uh, first, remember to vote.
In the second week of the poll there were 11 votes given out, and that poll sat between two weeks where there were a total of eight votes. A couple weeks, there were nine votes, once 10 and we were back to eight a week ago.
So what’s going on? How many guys and gals have votes? The media poll, big shocker here, is composed entirely of media members. There’s folks from newspapers and television. Quite literally, all they do is write and talk about sports.
And they’re forgetting to vote? How is this OK?
All individual polls should be made public.
The polls lack transparency. I’m tired of it.
Whether it is pollsters neglecting to do their jobs or idiotic votes cast like somebody was throwing a dart at a wall, there’s far too many examples of lunacy for me to take. If the polls were public then perhaps everyone would take the role seriously.
Some voters already do release their own poll. My boss, for example, includes his personal ballot with the actual poll on his blog every week. David Bashore does the same thing on the Times-News website in Twin Falls and Paul Lambert at the Post Register reveals his entire poll, too.
All the voters should reveal their polls in some format, but I just spent 15 minutes trying to find them and couldn’t. So let’s release the final poll and include all the ballots.
If we did that then there’s a legit chance somebody wouldn’t cast a vote for a 2-3 team to be 5A’s No. 1 squad, even though that 2-3 team had lost to another team that was undefeated in the same poll.
Am I making myself clear here? In the Oct. 2, 2013 state-wide Idaho media poll, Coeur d’Alene, 2-3 at the time, had a No. 1 vote. That same person could have tabbed Highland (5-0), Capital (5-0) or Idaho Falls (5-0) for the top spot. But, no, they choose the Vikings. I can only assume they saw Coeur d’Alene’s record, thought it said 3-2 and presumed the Vikings had beaten the Rams 24-21 in their showdown at Holt Arena Sept. 21.
What’s the justification for the Coeur d’Alene vote? Does that pollster think the Vikings are the favorite to win the 5A championship? That’s actually not much of a stretch. They’re really, really good, and if Coeur d’Alene reaches the playoffs, they won’t have to leave northern Idaho.
But favoring a team to win a month from now is something different than casting a vote today. These pollsters need to anchor their ballots to on-the-field results. Hidden agendas and regional biases are garbage and have no part in the weekly rankings.
Sports writers who don’t have a high school football media vote should calm down when they do not agree with how someone else voted.
Hey, who’s writing this list!?
We (I) should all remember this is not the Bowl Championship Series. Polls in high school football serve a single purpose — they’re fodder for me to whine about.
And I’m more than happy to fulfill that role. So, pollsters across Idaho, stop voting for Coeur d’Alene as 5A’s best squad until Highland, Capital or Idaho Falls provide a reason to do just that. Recognize Idaho Falls is one of the best teams in the state, and give Shelley the love it deserves and put them as the undisputed No. 1 in 3A.
Thanks,
The Fixer.
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