San Antonio paper to quit Top 25 polls

Fish, Not saying it shouldn't (apply). Am probably with you, in fact. Wouldn't break my heart to get out from under some of this stuff.

 

Instead of not voting, why not just have a columnist do it? Nothing wrong with an opinion then.
And this we don't make the news, we report the news is a bunch of junk. Everything a paper does is make the news. From what gets covered, to how.
It just makes for an easy excuse and one that fits in with the Poynter sensibility. (SP?)

 

FWIW, I don't believe there's a fan vote with the Heisman. But former winners get one.

 

I thought I had read that somewhere. It could be something else, though.

 

I have voted in the hoops poll for several years at a couple of different stops. It is a huge pain in the ass.

It was cool for a while, but it certainly became a burden. Often times Sunday is the only day off in a week and that's when you have to vote.

 

The bottom line actually is that the polls are worthless, meaningless, and a colossal waste of everyone's time.

 

The football poll was OK to do, but, as has been said, hoops was a pain. Two stories:
1 -- One year I was tracking Hawaii because they were lurking just outside the top 25. Then one night the AP guy calls me for my poll. I tell them I'm tracking Hawaii and it is still playing. "Uh ... uh ... uh ... OK, get it to us as soon as you can." Then I realize that nobody in the East is tracking Hawaii and it will never get enough votes to crack the top 25, so what was the use of me doing it.
2 -- Hank Gathers dies on Sunday night. Major story; toughest story I have ever had to write. I get it all done, go home to find that there is a power outage on my street. Can't get through the electric gate to the parking garage. Finally get in and find a note on my desk from my wife that AP needs the poll ASAP. I have no way to track down the scores, phone doesn't work. Is this all worth it???? On that particular night, I just didn't give a damn and that's the last year I voted.

 

And that should concern us why?
Like I typed before. Removing my reporters from any chance that they may become part of a story is my main concern. We are reporters and journalists. We are not voters.
I'll leave that to someone else. Then we can objectively report and analyze.

 

I think the AJC and the Charlotte papers aren't doing them either...

 

Does the reader care?

 

Everything we do involves subjectivity. No reporter is 100 percent objective, no matter how hard they try. Therefore, I have no problems with the polls. Let them be.

 

About the polls themselves or who casts the votes?