NCAAF  > General NCAAF  > Preseason Heisman: The Stupidest thing in CFB
August 30, 2010, 07:58 AM
Other than in quantum mechanics, is it possible to predict the outcome of an event - before the event?

So with 120 teams, thousands of athletes, and not a game played, how can the media start talking about Heisman contenders in August?
August 30, 2010  08:18 AM ET

just like they come up with pre-season polls....make something up and put it out there for us to complain about.

August 30, 2010  08:29 AM ET

I never really understood the hype with this award anyway. IMHO there is a very easy way to tell who the best actual player is in any given year-see who gets picked #1. The award usually ends up going to simply a very good offensive player on a good team.

Sometimes that ends up being the best player in football, but when defensive players aren't even seriously considered you have to question just how valid the Heisman is at what it purports to do.

August 30, 2010  09:32 AM ET

It's for money obviously.

August 30, 2010  10:38 AM ET
QUOTE(#2):

I never really understood the hype with this award anyway. IMHO there is a very easy way to tell who the best actual player is in any given year-see who gets picked #1. The award usually ends up going to simply a very good offensive player on a good team. Sometimes that ends up being the best player in football, but when defensive players aren't even seriously considered you have to question just how valid the Heisman is at what it purports to do.

so, you don't like polls, the NC game, and now no trophies. Dude, just what exactly do you like about college football?

August 30, 2010  12:34 PM ET
QUOTE(#4):

so, you don't like polls, the NC game, and now no trophies. Dude, just what exactly do you like about college football?

Death Valley. The fact that Penn State hasn't changed their uniform design since Eisenhower was president. War Eagle. Cheerleaders. Marching bands. Crazy, passionate fans. The Red River Shoot Out. Touchdown Jeezus. Walk on players earning a spot on the team...

August 30, 2010  12:54 PM ET

The Show, The ghost of Coach Hayes, hit stickers, blood, sweat, the smell of creamergesic, athletic tape, fresh cut grass, dislocated fingers, touchdowns, slobber knockers, new receiver gloves fresh from the package, post game ice baths, getting stretched by freshman athletic trainers that are cute girls, bruises, hurting so bad you cant stand up, skull session, singing carmen Ohio, Michigan, PSU, Wisconsin, and beating their asses, etc etc...

August 30, 2010  02:26 PM ET
QUOTE(#4):

so, you don't like polls, the NC game, and now no trophies. Dude, just what exactly do you like about college football?

You know, the game itself. The event where there is a start, an end, and a winner determined by the results on the field.

On your list those three things have something in common-they are all not definitive. Most anything voted on becomes a popularity contest and thus should not be considered a "sport" in my opinion.

To turn your question around-for those all into the polls, the BS "NC" and the trophies/end of year awards-do you actually like watching the games themselves? I tend to do OK in pick'em contests because I watch the games and the players thru the course of a season. Somehow I get the feel that many fans simply see a poll, feel better about themselves and the team they root for, and then are surprised when reality happens on the field.

And UB and 84 covered the rest. To put it simply, the game itself is the meal, the awards/polls and other voted on crap is the heartburn afterwards.

August 30, 2010  03:14 PM ET

One of you is Denis Leary.

August 30, 2010  03:46 PM ET
QUOTE(#8):

One of you is Denis Leary.

Not enough starred-out profanity in the posts to be Denis Leary.

August 30, 2010  04:13 PM ET
QUOTE(#9):

Not enough starred-out profanity in the posts to be Denis Leary.

This is a family forum!

August 30, 2010  04:36 PM ET
QUOTE(#10):

This is a family forum!

Although we are a fairly disfunctional family. At least we are more stable than the MMA and NFL boards though.

August 30, 2010  08:06 PM ET
QUOTE(#8):

One of you is Denis Leary.

I almost posted the beginning of the song.

August 30, 2010  11:50 PM ET
QUOTE(#1):

just like they come up with pre-season polls....make something up and put it out there for us to complain about.

thats right

August 31, 2010  01:09 AM ET

Never understood that or the preseason ranks. It's all just a bunch of crap.

August 31, 2010  04:09 AM ET
QUOTE(#4):

so, you don't like polls, the NC game, and now no trophies. Dude, just what exactly do you like about college football?

TZ man - great point.
I think what most rational cfb fans have a problem with is the opinion part of it.

The polls, the supposedly 'NC Game', and the Heisman, are all opinion based.

The problem is that opinions turn into titles. Those 'titles' then help feed future opinions. And the process feeds back into itself.

August 31, 2010  09:44 AM ET
QUOTE:

To me it's all BS. The one thing that bugs me about the Heisman is that it rarely goes to the BEST college football player.It will always be a popular vote award and not a true the best guy deserved it award.

Agreed. Last year Suh was the best player, in the past it has definitely not always been on offense. Some years it was actually an Olineman...

August 31, 2010  11:28 AM ET

There is a difference between opinions developed based upon watching a season of results and opinions based upon nothing but pre-season hype. I am mostly addressing the polls with that statement. The Heisman is mostly hype whether it be pre-season or post-season.

Their really isn't any possible way to determine the best college football player that isn't based upon opinion. Agree with the points made about the Heisman tradition basically excluding defensive players and linemen for no apparent reason other than tradition, hype and glam.

August 31, 2010  11:32 AM ET
QUOTE(#7):

To turn your question around-for those all into the polls, the BS "NC" and the trophies/end of year awards-do you actually like watching the games themselves?

I do follow the polls pretty closely, but pay little attention to pre-season polls. I do watch a lot of games, and games from all parts of the country, partly because I value my own opinion of teams and wish to be informed about those teams. By the end of the season the pollsters do a darn good job. My opinion of course.

August 31, 2010  01:45 PM ET
QUOTE(#19):

I do follow the polls pretty closely, but pay little attention to pre-season polls. I do watch a lot of games, and games from all parts of the country, partly because I value my own opinion of teams and wish to be informed about those teams. By the end of the season the pollsters do a darn good job. My opinion of course.

I have to agree. There are exceptions, but most years I really can't argue with the pollster's choice for the NCG.

 
August 31, 2010  02:17 PM ET
QUOTE(#19):

I do follow the polls pretty closely, but pay little attention to pre-season polls. I do watch a lot of games, and games from all parts of the country, partly because I value my own opinion of teams and wish to be informed about those teams. By the end of the season the pollsters do a darn good job. My opinion of course.

Largely agree that the polls (particularly the comp polls) are loads better at the end of the season than pre-season. Unfortunately I think the most accurate polls are post-bowls and the final poll has a constraint on the voters as to whom they get to pick as #1.

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