OMG! OMG! Chicago Tribune Notre Dame beat jockey faced Heisman conundrum!!!!!!!

Take away the need for the DAC to close after 9/11, it was in poor shape prior due to bad mismanagement. Perhaps there was some greed involved. Also do think there was some greed involved in decision to bringing in corporate sponsorship. When DAC went out one thought was to pass on trophy to NYAC which would have been logical , other was to pass onto the The National Football Foundation/ College HOF which also would have been logical. Instead they went the corporate route and think they have lost a bit of luster.

 

I never said NFL scouts should be the deciding voters, just that they should factor into the equation. They're would only be 32 of them voting, and NFL potential should be a factor. Heck, of the past Heisman finalists, Bryant McKinnie, Lawrence Taylor, Julius Peppers, Marshall Faulk, LaDainian Tomlinson, and Larry Fitzgerald all would have stood better chances of winning. And you can't tell me with a straight face that you think the recipients of the award the years the above players were finalists actually deserved to win the trophy based on the merits of "most outstanding player."

 

Graham Harrell ran for a total of -194 (that's MINUS-194) yards in four years at Texas Tech.

They were not in the same system.

 

People vote with different points of view about what the award means, is all I'm saying. And yes, I'm saying it with a straight face.

 

I put the Heisman into two categories - Heisman winners (players who were actually the best players - Barry Sanders, Marcus Allen, Herschel Walker, Bo Jackson, Tim Tebow, Ron Dayne, Ricky Williams, Tim Brown, Desmond Howard, Charles Woodson, etc) and Heisman recipients (players who simply got the award based on stats and team success - Charlie Ward, Geno Torretta, Danny Wuerrfel, Jason White, etc.)
And NFL potential doesn't always play into my thinking because I will go to my grave saying that Troy Davis deserved to win the Heisman over Wuerrfel and neither of them had successful NFL careers, although they were briefly teammates with the Saints.

 

Their biggest problem was their membership numbers kept dropping. A lot of Wall St. jobs moved to Midtown, New Jersey, Connecticut, and even Brooklyn and Queens.

Newer, better facilities opened up, and they were better located than the DAC. And, the DAC's facilities continued to deteriorate.

They were broke, in debt, and needed breaks from the City just to keep the doors open (as long as they did).

And, while they could have sold, or turned over the Heisman to another entity like the NYAC, it was their most valuable asset. The DAC members and staff -- specifically Rudy Riska -- were tremendous caretakers of the award, and its history and tradition.

They also fostered an incredible culture and fraternity among the winners. These young kids come to New York, often for the first time, and are embraced by the DAC and the previous winners. Inter-generational friendships are formed.

The Black Tie dinner will be held tonight. If you ever get a chance, you should try to go.

 

It went from "every person voting for a major award should write a column" to a paragraph or two to, "well, here's my vote."

I say satire because Mizzou and you must know there are sometimes 2-3 Heisman voters at the same paper. Not every decision requires a column's worth of explanation.

Beyond that, I see op/ed creep happening more and more. Every damn thing is an argument, an analysis, a breakdown, a revelation. It's a product of the era, yes, but the written word doesn't have to devolve into talk radio every other day.

 

FWIW, I thought ESPN's show this year was a little more reserved, thoughtful than it years past. Not sure why. Just seemed like it.

 

I doubt these are actually columns in the printed page, especially multiple columns. And if they are web-only or blog ... they're unquestionably serving a niche and probably a pretty large one. Anyone who votes in a poll will tell you the explainer of his/her vote gets by far the biggest traffic every week.

I wouldn't assign a writer to do that at the expense of another story, but if they want to write up an explainer, it will certainly be read.

 

Billy Sims was not there.

 

But oop can't feud with 2,500 people at the same time.

Right?

 

I personally had no problem with Hamilton explaining his vote and why he went about it the way he did. More people in all walks of life could stand to be that kind of transparent. As for the vote itself, Manziel was a deserving winner. Anyone who can rack up that kind of yardage while playing the best SEC defenses should win. I thought ESPN was going to campaign for Te'o more than it did, but it stopped short of the all-out cheerleading it did for Charles Woodson back in 1997.