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The Heisman is nothing more than a popularity contest

by Tony Basilio

Olivia, Archie, Eli and Cooper Manning went to New York on Dec. 13 for what they thought was the Heisman Trophy Presentation, and walked into Appomattox instead. Maybe Robert E. Lee would have seen it coming.

It was the fourth such battle the Mannings have lost as a family in their quest for the "most coveted prize in sports" (Papa Archie lost twice, Eli's brother Peyton once). And once again, the Mannings were ambushed by damned Yankees.

It's no great surprise that Oklahoma's Jason White was ultimately selected as the top player in college football. White's is a great story, a rags-to-riches tale of a kid from a small Oklahoma town who dreamed big and led his home state to an undefeated regular season. He deserves his kudos, even if the trophy itself is diminished in stature.

But did you happen to notice who finished second? Pittsburgh receiver Larry Fitzgerald played the part of Charles Woodson this year, the darling of the liberal elite Northeastern media that seemingly relishes shafting the South, even at the risk of seeming clueless.

The perpetrators of this farce insist that the Heisman is still sports' most prestigious award. But even before the Manning/Woodson debacle of 1997, the Heisman always struck me as an oxymoron, an individual award that seeks to honor the "best" player in the ultimate team sport. And rather than a legitimate effort at recognizing such, the Heisman has turned into a popularity contest of the highest order—one that is built around the politics of regional bias and network power-broking.

I won't even waste space making the case for what transpired in 1997 when Peyton Manning seemed a lock for the trophy in mid-October, only to see it snatched away by Woodson's counterfeit candidacy and the crass lobbying of ESPN and ABC.

If college football is a sport guided by public opinion, then their unholy alliance is the sport's equivalent of Tass in the old Soviet Union. The Disney-owned duo own rights to 75 percent of the bowl games, and they are home to both the entire BCS (including television and print rights) as well as the Heisman Trophy. Did I mention what a putz Chris Fowler is?

But this isn't about him. It's about the South, and its first family of college football, the Mannings, whose quest for the Heisman has come up short time and again.

For anyone unconvinced that politics and regional selection biases play a role in Heisman voting, consider that the SEC has had only seven Heisman winners since 1935, while Michigan and Ohio State by themselves have combined for nine over the same period. Big 10 and Big 12 schools together have won eight of the last 15 Heismans, while Florida's Danny Wuerffel won the SECs lone statue since 1988.

Now consider the balloting in 2003: of the eight voting regions in the Heisman race, Jason White took five. Larry Fitzgerald, a sophomore wide receiver from Pittsburgh, a middling 8-4 football team that couldn't even win a second rate league in an off year, was deemed the top player in America by voters in the Northeast, the Mid-Atlantic and the Midwest. Have you ever seen the college football played in the Northeast these days? Penn State? Syracuse? Rutgers? What's a Rutgers? Sorry, couldn't resist.

Larry Fitzgerald is a fine football player, but to consider him more valuable or dominant or important to the game or his team than Eli Manning is imbecilic. Or, in other words, pure Yankee.

Eli went to New York expecting nothing less than a second-place finish. What he got instead was a insulting, a slap in the face from a system that has consistently failed to recognize his accomplishments as well as those of his family and his region as a whole. Eli led Ole Miss to its best season in 30 years, put up Heisman-caliber numbers and guided a couple of classic come-from-behind wins. He was the best Heisman hopeful the SEC is liable to have for the foreseeable future, and he finished third. He was denied even so much as runner-up status in favor of a wide receiver from crummy Pittsburgh, a sophomore who disappeared in his team's biggest game against the University of Miami.

Maybe Jefferson Davis wasn't wrong about everything; maybe it's time for true Southerners to stop recognizing the Heisman as college football's pre-eminent award. Or, at least until every one else in the nation starts recognizing that great football is still being played in the SEC.

Tune in and talk sports with "The Tony Basilio Show" each weekday from 3-6 p.m. on the network (670 WMTY-AM, 850 WKVL-AM, 1140 WLOD-AM, 1290 WATO-AM, or 1400 WGAP-AM).