TEBOW WINS

by mlmintampa on Dec 14, 2008 3:46 AM EST in Football Comment 20 comments

Florida quarterback Tim Tebow received the most first place votes in Heisman Trophy voting Saturday night in New York City. While Tebow will not receive the trophy, which was awarded to Oklahoma sophomore quarterback Sam Bradford, Tebow received the most first place votes for the second consecutive season. But instead of dealing with the media requests and distractions that hounded the junior quarterback last season, Tebow will be able fully concentrate on the BCS Championship Game against Bradford's Sooners.

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Not since 1956, when Notre Dame's Paul Hornung won the Heisman, has the player with the most first place not won. In that season, Oklahoma running back Tom McDonald was third, but with eight more first place votes than Hornung. That was also the year Syracuse's Jim Brown finished fifth.

Florida fans have every right to be upset that their man didn't win, especially when Chris Fowler says the Southwest voters (the only region Tebow lost last year) left Tebow off their ballots, taking away precious points. But these voters did the Gators and the Gator Nation a favor. What does Tebow gain with another Heisman? He already has everything. What does he lose? Precious time preparing for the BCS Championship.

Sam Bradford will now have to sit in dozens of chairs for the next few weeks, spending hours answering the same questions about winning the Heisman and his team's offense. Chuck Norris will write Bradford and not Tebow. Meanwhile, this gives more time for Tebow to be a Filipino-Born Killing Machine. That is what Tebow is, even if he preaches God to convicts and orphans. Tebow is a proud guy with Hate in his heart and he wanted to win. (The only person more pissed than Timmy was his Mom. Did you see the look on her face?) Now, Tebow goes back to Gainesville and faces a guy like Brandon Spikes, who did this to another college superstar this season.

Congrats to Sam Bradford. But I'm a huge homer and for me, Timmy Tebow was the winner Saturday.

(By the way, did you see Tebow's Heisman portrait? I'd pay $1000 for a framed oil painting of Tim Tebow. It would look awesome over the fireplace. That's why it's so important to marry a Gator. Only they would understand the value of a Tim Tebow painting.)

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If you did not stick around to watch "The Greatest Game Ever Played," you missed a well made show. They couldn't show the entire 1958 NFL Championship between the Baltimore Colts and New York Giants (the original footage is lost, only some plays remain), so it was supplemented by fans, players and current Colts and Giants. It also led to these gems at the Alligator Army World Headquarters.

Colts fan and director Barry Levinson says Baltimore was a depressed city in the 1950s: "Has Baltimore always been depressed?"

Giants RB Frank Gifford, who fumbled twice, complains about a bad call: "Gee Frank, if you didn't fumble so much, you wouldn't have to worry about that."

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Hm

Florida fans have every right to be upset that their man didn’t win

I’m not sure I understand this sentiment. First, it’s incredibly legit to have a ballot without Tebow on it. Can you really argue that a ballot with the three Big 12 quarterbacks (or with Crabtree) is a wrong ballot? I don’t think you can. Second, first place votes are obviously not all that matter, and if you’re griping about regions, I think you’d have to gripe that Tebow clearly monopolized the eastern voters as being the only serious candidate east of the Mississippi.

If anyone has a gripe, it’s Colt McCoy. He could legitimately say that the BCS cost him the Heisman. If he plays last Saturday instead of Bradford, McCoy wins this thing going away.

by Gator Cub on Dec 14, 2008 9:39 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

There were dozens of ballots with Bradford, McCoy and no third place. We assume because all these guys were on national television this season, there is no regional bias. But for the second year in a row, the Southwest voters (basically Big 12 country) thought Tebow was not the best player. I thought Tebow would lose, but I was pissed when I saw that Harrell and Crabtree’s votes were independent, meaning Tebow really was left off ballots.

mlmintampa
UF C/O 06

by mlmintampa on Dec 14, 2008 12:37 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Left off ballots

If there were ballots with no third place, that is weird. But I still don’t see how Tebow being left off ballots is something to get that angry about. It’s a legitimate choice to rank him lower than 3rd. There were a lot of valid choices this year, and Tebow’s case is made mostly based on his last 6-7 games of the season. Last season the main argument against McFadden was that he didn’t have a complete season—that he wasn’t dominant in every game. The same could be said of Tebow this year. “He didn’t rack up the numbers because he didn’t have to; he still carried his team” isn’t necessarily an argument that’s going to win over everyone, especially those who see Harrell and Crabtree play and dominate every week.

Of course there’s regional bias. And Tebow likely dominated southeast ballots because those voters have seen him play every week for two seasons. But the results make it pretty clear that if you asked each voter (1) Who do you pick, Bradford or Tebow? and (2) Who do you pick, Bradford or McCoy; that the majority of voters answer both questions with “Bradford.” In my mind that means Bradford is the rightful winner.

by Gator Cub on Dec 14, 2008 12:58 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I think when they said that he was left off, it means they had a spot (3rd place most likely) open on their ballot, but they didn't put him in for fear of giving him more points.

“Independent” votes prolly means first place votes for players on ballots that had only one name filled in, leaving the second and third place votes blank.

Clutch: A measurement of how much better or worse a player does in high leverage situations than he would have done in a context neutral environment. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/glossary/

by bs.uf15bosox9bears23 on Dec 14, 2008 1:04 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

What the hell is the point of having people vote if they can pull shit like this?

Get rid of the 2nd and 3rd place votes, they’re pointless. We don’t vote for a second place Pres do we?

by bs.uf15bosox9bears23 on Dec 14, 2008 10:46 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

No

But we should. It leads to a fairer result. Bradford and McCoy shouldn’t lose out just because they’re from the same region of the country. Which is what “first place votes only” would cause.

by Gator Cub on Dec 14, 2008 11:40 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Then get rid of the media votes, since that's extremely biased, even with the supposed "balance".

The system they have now would only work if one player from each region was nominated.

by bs.uf15bosox9bears23 on Dec 14, 2008 1:06 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

And how would it be a fairer result?

The only unfair part of presidential elections is that you can win by playing towards the idiot voters who don’t realize that you can’t do most of the stuff you promised them.
/angry political rant

by bs.uf15bosox9bears23 on Dec 14, 2008 1:08 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Being able to rank candidates

removes the problem of a 3rd candidate losing the election for one of the big dogs. Using last night as an example, it appears obvious from the results that most voters ranked Bradford above Tebow on their ballots. Meaning most voters thought Bradford was more deserving than Tebow. Even if a voter thought that McCoy was the best, his opinion that Bradfrod was better than Tebow should still count toward the results. If we only counted first place votes, then Tebow wins despite most voters thinking him less worthy than Bradford, and that I think would be unfair.

I do agree that having hundreds and hundreds of media members voting anonymously is a stupid system, and that’s why I don’t let the Heisman worry me much.

by Gator Cub on Dec 14, 2008 1:49 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, see, that would work.

Except NOT EVERYONE EVEN FILLED OUT A COMPLETE BALLOT. Some people chose only to recognize Brad"frod" and McCoy on their ballot, and they left the third place spot empty. Some people only put the Texas Tech players on their ballot.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=ncf&id=3767712

by bs.uf15bosox9bears23 on Dec 14, 2008 2:46 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Then those people should probably have their vote taken away.

My main point was that the voting system of having second and third place votes included in the total is sound.

Also, just adding up the numbers on that link, there were 902 first place votes cast, 893 second place votes cast, and 853 third place votes cast. So that’s 49 voters who cant follow the system. Out of 902. Not exactly nationwide abuse of the system. Also, if you fill Tebow in as all nine of the missing second place votes, and all 40 of the missing third place votes, he still only gets 58 extra points and falls well short of Bradford. (Of course my math could be way off—I’m just an English Major with a calculator…)

The voters are probably biased and that’s a fair criticism to make. Tthey chose Bradford—if you think that’s a bad decision, then ok. (Even though I find the case against anyone in the top 6 incredibly difficult to make.) But bottom line: Tebow wasn’t jobbed out of the thing by the voting method of ranking three players.

by Gator Cub on Dec 14, 2008 3:11 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Not publicly available information.

I’m trying to stir up support to make it so: http://www.alligatorarmy.com/2008/12/14/692232/heisman-expanded-voting

by bs.uf15bosox9bears23 on Dec 14, 2008 3:31 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Not really sound.

More voters had Tebow as the “Most Outstanding College Football Player in the United States for 2008.” That’s what the award should be voted as, not the “College Football Player in the United States for 2008 with the Most People Thinking He is One of the Top Three Players.”

by bs.uf15bosox9bears23 on Dec 14, 2008 3:37 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I think it is sound.

Most voters thought Bradford was more outstanding than Tebow. So if Tebow had been named “Most Outstanding” over Bradfrod, that would have been a wrong (and unfair) result.

More voters had Tebow most outstanding, but most voters who had McCoy most still had Bradford more outstanding than Tebow. So for Tebow to win over Bradford simply because McCoy was also outstanding wouldn’t make sense. If that makes sense.

Now I’ve gone and hurt my own head.

by Gator Cub on Dec 14, 2008 3:55 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs