Thursday, October 20, 2011

A Disservice to the ACC

I see by the morning paper that the News & Record has participated in another disservice to the ACC by promoting pre-season rankings in a major sport. Why is this so bad? Because the sportswriters are going to be wrong. How can I say this? Because I remember the pre-season football rankings. Why is this a great disservice to the league? Consider the Clemson football team.

It may all come to a crashing end any Saturday now, but until it does we Clemson fans are really enjoying this season. But just imagine where the Tigers might be if the ACC football writers had been more prescient and seen that this year's team was as good as it is and voted it the favorite for the conference championship instead of fourth. If the Tigers had been pre-season favorites (and perhaps ranked 6th nationally like Florida State), who doubts they wouldn't today be higher in the BCS rankings with a better chance at playing for the National Championship. Oh the injustice!

As Dabo says, the only polls that count are in December, and unless the team is 1-0 every week until then this is all just blah, blah, blah. And don't forget, Clemson still has the National Football Championship Belt. (Where is Ben Holder when we need him?)

At least basketball has a national championship so this same scenario won't play out next March.

No comments: