Blanchard River Buzz

A blog for rabid sports fans in the Findlay Area. Maintained by Findlay Courier sports writer Jamie Baker. The opinions expressed are my own crazed ramblings and not those of my employer the Findlay Publishing Company and its subsidiaries.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

All Ohio = Joke

Ah Tuesday.
The perfect time for a rant.
The Associated Press All-Ohio lists are out for Divisions I and II and honestly when we were getting them ready for the newspaper last night it really got me fired up.
If you or your favorite player didn’t get the honors you think they deserved don’t sweat it. Because I for one don’t put much stock in the selections anymore. They’ve lost all manner of credibility in my eyes.
I look at the first team selections in Divisions I and II and I just have to shake my head. It’s a joke, a farce.

Here is the Division I first team offense…mind you there are just 11 players out on the field at one time.
3 Ends
6 Linemen
4 Quarterbacks
4 Backs
2 Kickers
First Team Defense
4 Linemen
7 Linebackers
7 Defensive Backs
1 Punter

Division II breakdown
First Team Offense
6 Ends
6 Linemen
5 Quarterbacks
3 Backs
2 Kickers
First Team Defense
7 Linemen
7 Linebackers
4 Defensive backs
1 Punter


I counted them up there are 8 first or second team quarterbacks in Division II and 7 in Division I.

Can someone make a decision already? I guess the biggest bitch I have is that there is only one quarterback on the field at any time yet the AP gives puts 15 of them on the Division I or II first and second teams. But there are 5 offensive line spots and six make the first team. Something is a little out of whack. If it’s the All-Ohio team, shouldn’t you make things equivalent to what a real football team would look like. I’d like to see most quarterbacks lineup and knock an opposing linebacker off the line of scrimmage.

And yes when I was in school I was a lineman.

But having 22 players on the first team is a little ridiculous. Especially when the writers and broadcasters making the all-district selections have been told to pare the number of first teamers down in the past.

One person, AP sports editor Rusty Miller makes the picks based on recommendations from the district representatives. I can never hold Rusty’s proverbial sports writing jockstrap. Hell, he’s been doing the job for 30 years at newspapers and at the AP Bureau in Columbus. As Dennis Hopper told Martin Sheen in Apocalpyse Now “I'm a little man, I'm a little man, he's... he's a great man. I should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across floors of silent seas.”

But and this is my opinion only, Rusty probably doesn’t get to take in too many high school games between covering Ohio State, the Blue Jackets and most recently Mo Clarett. Plus the selections come right after Ohio State-Michigan week so he has a lot on his plate.

But damn it, 22 players on a first team all-Ohio list is a little excessive. And 5 first team quarterbacks in Division II is overkill. That said, every player on the list is deserving of some honors because they are outstanding football players in an outstanding state for high school football.

Hells bells why not pare it down and add a third team, maybe 14 kids on the first team, 14 on the second team, 14 on the third team and then have your special mention selections.

One other thing to think about. The conference call to select the AP Mr. Football Award Winner took place this morning at 10 a.m. Two of the eight players nominated for the honor were tri-players of the year in the Division II all-Ohio selections.

OK If they were tri-players of the year, that means they were equal in the eyes of those picking the all-Ohio teams. If they are equal in the all-Ohio voting how can they be possibly selected as Mr. Football. In my eyes if one of them wins the Mr. Football award the player they were co-Division II player of the year with must have been just as deserving and there should be a co-Mr. Football too.

Oh, not one of the eight nominees were linemen. I guess they are just biased against those big uglies in the trenches.

I’d like to know what you think.

NEWSWORTHY:
Tuesday’s Local Sports from The Courier
Tuesday’s Local Sports from the Review Times
Browns coverage from the Plain Dealer
OSU is ranked No.1 in football, basketball polls
Doe with antlers shot in Minnesota
Ottoville whips Van Wert

6 Comments:

  • At 5:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    This topic is right up my alley. There are so many things wrong with this voting it is ridiculous. I'll try to keep it at a minimum. I totally agree that linemen get no respect...the same amount of QB's as linemen on a team, riiiight. Also, when a league gets 8 or 9 first teamers in one division, yet another team in that division would win that league and gets 0...now that's rough. When a player gets POY in one division, yet he was not in his league and the kid that was only gets 2nd team All-District...that's rough as well. A lot of the leagues do the voting differently w/in their league, but it would be nice to have some coaches vote on this stuff. I know it's never an exact science, but those are the guys that usually know the most...atleast about their area. Have it be the coaches associations or something like a couple of other sports (softball and baseball I think are a couple). It's all politics and it sucks to know that kids that deserve to be even All-District get nothing. It's been pretty evident that the team that I root for has forever been screwed in the All-District/All-State voting. There was a kid that was 2x POY in his league from my school, yet he was never All-District...that just plain sucks. I'll stop now...but I agree, it's a joke!

    Rob

     
  • At 5:15 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I lost respect for the all-state honors over 25 years ago. I made all league and wasn't mentioned beyond that.
    I went on to college to have 4 all state'rs on my football team. 3 of the all-state'rs saw no action in their 4 years in college and the other started one season.
    Myself and several others started for at least 3 years.

    I guess thank god these guys had all-state to fall back on.

     
  • At 6:54 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Yeah, I was 1st Team All-League and 2nd Team All-District. On the first team All-District squad was two guys (one 2nd Team and the other HM) that were below me on the coaches vote for All-League as well. Wouldn't you think those coaches, whom had to scheme and coach against you, would know what they are talking about?

     
  • At 7:44 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I remember when there were two classes -- Class AA and Class A --and the All-Ohio first teams had 11 on offense and 11 on defense. And get this: the All-Ohio first teams in basketball had five guys on them!!! Now we have six divisions in football and four in basketball and we still can't come close to real numbers???

     
  • At 8:56 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I don't put a whole lot on the all-state stuff, I've seen too many things that don't make sense.
    Anyway, I've always had problems with individual honors in team sports. If your worried about individual glory, wrestle, run track, play golf or tennis, those are individual sports.
    Football, basketball and baseball are team sports where individuals are just part of a team. And we all know the big uglies up front are the key to any successful football team.

    JDee

     
  • At 6:45 PM, Blogger --J-- said…

    Amen JDee. That's what I've always said. In cross, track, wrestling, golf....you earn your all-ohio award it's not the subjective view of a coach or media type. To me that means a little more. In team sports I think all-league honors mean more perhaps because its a vote of coaches who have seen you play.

     

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