Polls should be trending constantly

Published 5:00 pm Friday, August 4, 2017

<p class="p1">Stop the presses and a big hallelujah too.</p><p class="p1">Read all about it.</p><p class="p1">The first of the two major preseason football polls — the one done by the coaches (usually an administrative assistant) — was barely on the streets (internet mostly) when the anguished cries of foul play began.</p><p class="p1">But at least it’s out there.</p><p class="p1">We have a starting point.</p><p class="p1">There will always be spoil sports.</p><p class="p1">Best I can tell, the college football snobs’ biggest problem with a poll, particularly the preseason flavor, is that it is based on nothing, particularly in the preseason.</p><p class="p1">And of course it is.</p><p class="p1">But you have to start somewhere, usually with Alabama, it seems, as 49 of the 65 coaches did with the Tide at No. 1.</p><p class="p1">The media poll, sponsored by The Associated Press, will hold off a while, though with predictable results.</p><p class="p1">Still, that’s showing remarkable restraint since these things start coming out within hours of the previous season’s national championship game.</p><p class="p1">It is a poll. Anybody could do one. You could do one.</p><p class="p1">There are purists out there, however, who don’t think there should be any polls allowed, by law, before at least October.</p><p class="p1">Whether it’s something worthy of a Congressional investigation (bipartisan) they don’t say.</p><p class="p1">They claim to be well aware that, with a playoff firmly in place, the polls have no legal tender on the national championship race, and all are clearly marked as being strictly for entertainment purposes only.</p><p class="p1">And last I looked this was a free country, still based on the free enterprise way of life, and anybody — even you or me or your hamster — is free to do any poll whenever they/we wish.</p><p class="p1">But the fear, they fear, is that even in this more enlightened playoff era, early polls based on nothing could somehow unduly influence the committee in charge of picking the final four teams down the line.</p><p class="p1">Who knows? Maybe they have done their own psychological studies on the matter.</p><p class="p1">But that doesn’t give the committee much credit. They are highly trained professionals and let’s give them the benefit of a doubt before piling on and second-guessing.</p><p class="p1">At the end of the day, it’s a poll, nothing more, nothing less. And fairly harmless in the overall scheme of land of the free.</p><p class="p1">We need these constant, hopeful reminders that the actual season is drawing nearer — but, false alarm, not that near as it’s still four weeks-plus away.</p><p class="p1">Keeping with the theme of it being strictly for entertainment purposes, why not kick if up a notch?</p><p class="p1">What I would like to see, at least for August, is a real-time poll, one that could be in constant flux, 24 hours per day, up until the first round of games begin.</p><p class="p1">You know, something like the stock market, where teams could slide up and down all day as voters have second thoughts, get updated information, etc.</p><p class="p1">For instance, once word hit the streets of something like LSU losing a key starting offensive lineman Wednesday, the poll could immediately reflect that.</p><p class="p1">The Tigers might drop a few spots, others might move up.</p><p class="p1">Instantaneously.</p><p class="p1">Or maybe the soda can falls off Nick Saban’s news conference table and he goes on a tirade.</p><p class="p1">Does that give the Tide even more resolve?</p><p class="p1">Voters would be free to rearrange their password-protected votes accordingly — I’m sure Silicon Valley could come up with the proper software — and you could waste untold more hours on the company dime wasting time watching the poll dance.</p><p class="p1">We’d have hourly reports on how The Poll was reacting to this kind of news of the day.</p><p class="p1">What a wonderful world it would be.</p><p class="p1">Furthermore, without preseason polls, how are teams supposed to know they’re being “disrespected?”</p><p class="p1">The word is probably millennials’ worst contribution to the English language, but it’s a time-honored tradition by fans and players alike.</p><p class="p1">LSU fans, by the way, can sit out this caterwauling.</p><p class="p1">The Tigers get plenty of respect nationally. Statistically, more than they deserve.</p><p class="p1">Did I mention that they checked in at No. 12 in the first coaches poll?</p><p class="p1">That’s the highest ranked non-Saban SEC team (you already guessed that Bama is No. 1).</p><p class="p1">At SEC Media Days, LSU was ranked fourth among the SEC teams, yet the first national poll puts the Tigers ahead of Auburn (13) and Georgia (15).</p><p class="p1">If LSU ends up No. 12 or better, it will be the first time since 2011 that it didn’t finish worse than it was picked sight unseen in the preseason.</p><p class="p1">That year LSU started No. 4 and spent most of the season at No. 1 before, you know, the rematch thing with Alabama, which still only dropped the Tigers to No. 2.</p><p class="p1">In the five years since then LSU has finished an average of six places worse in the AP poll and seven places worse in the coaches poll than the preseason predictions.</p><p class="p1">Not that it means much right now.</p>