SEC media and the double standard

It is the insider stuff that some of the hardcore fans can't live without.
Not a story, maybe a column or part of a notebook, but some readers can't get enough of it.
And I don't think that the writers' ballot would be that big of a deal, but since the coaches' ballot coverage was on overdrive, I think that the media ballot becomes fair game.
I'd just like to know because the assumption has become, it must have been three homers, but was that actually the case?

And I think the pre-season teams can be good column fodder if you take last year's pre-season team, compare it to the actuall all-conference team and examine the misses. You can then make a columnist's leap and say here are some who might have been missed.

And the clock is ticking on that Doc Blanchard story.

 

Any time I've voted in a pre-season media poll it's been a secret ballot. I'd expect that to be the case in the SEC, and I'd expect whomever is running the thing to abide by that rule.

I'm sure Tebow has more important things to worry about, like getting ready for Florida's typically brutal nonleague schedule. Do they play Stetson this year?

 

Sixty-four people voted. By the time the results of the voting were announced Friday morning, everyone was merely looking forward to going home. Most writers walked into the print/Internet room around 8:30 for the first of four coaches to speak that day, and when they were done more than four hours later, people scattered to write their stuff or head to the airport or the Interstate. Track down three voters out of 64 under those circumstances? Walk around the room and ask each person for his or her vote while the coach was at the lectern speaking? How, exactly, do you do this?

It's ridiculous to compare that to a situation where you have each of the 12 coaches as a captive audience for 30-40 minutes and have the luxury of asking whatever nonsense you want to ask while they're there. There would be no way to ask the 64 who voted in a timely manner, and for God's sake, I can't imagine anyone who would want to.

I was surprised that the thing took on a life of its own, but if you're a writer and you ask the first coach on Wednesday, you may as well ask the rest of them. It's 12 coaches over three days, so if you've decided that's what you want to do, go ahead and ask. It was pretty much the same person asking each time, so I suppose you should hold the rest of us who made notes (light-hearted notes, in most cases) out of it responsible for it becoming a big deal.

You can criticize a lot of aspects of this, but it's silly to suggest a double standard. Really.

Oh, and put me in the group that doesn't care who votes for anything. I'm on record as being anti-poll, and all-conference teams don't do anything for me. I just enjoyed writing about how the Tebow issue grew into a parlor game, then a national story.

 

No, but they're having discussions for 2019.

 

Geez, who flippin' cares? I didn't vote for Obama, either.

Sounds like some people have too much time of their hands.

 

With all the silliness highlighted just in this preseason SEC voting, I am sure glad they don't decide anything important like the national championship this way.

 

I don't think so at all. Ask any head coach or any writer to rank the top 10 right guards in the conference. They'll both look at you as though you've asked the question in Chinese because neither has a damn clue.

 

Whoever voted for Ryan Mallett should be bludgeoned.

That kid may be the sloppiest quarterback I have ever seen.

A Michigan blogger put it well two years ago when he said this "Michigan will play with 10 players, and put the 11th in the backfield behind Ryan Mallett to act as his personally fumble caddy."

I hate the Tim Tebow coverage, but he's the best that conference has.

 

I didn't know getting a BJ meant you're no longer a virgin. Who knew?

 

I'm not convinced Tim Tebow is a virgin ... not that I care.

 

I made my ballot public via Twitpic – and yes, I voted for Tebow – but I'm not really sure why I cast a ballot in the first place. Preseason teams have always seemed rather pointless. It was a fun exercise, though.

 

So what if a coach believed that, for this coming season, another conference quarterback might have a better season than Tebow? Since when do people apologize for votes? And he's still the preseason all-conference quarterback. It somehow cheapans the "honor" if it's not unanimous?