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What do you think are the most worthless rankings, polls or surveys?
My nominee:
Aside from picking the best movies and the best music and the greatest athletes from different eras and different sports, surely national rankings of high school teams have to be the most ridiculous crapola going.
Case in point, Oaks Christian HS in California is rated in the top ten in several national football polls. They get there on the strength of star power names (kids named Montana, Gretzky and Smith play on the team and their parents sometimes are delivered to away games in helicopters!) and because they win a lot of games putting up big numbers in the process.
Still, one has to note that they have won 3 games this year against teams that are collectively 3-5 so far. And they face the remainder of the regular season against teams that are currently 5-11. Oaks Christian plays in a small school league and will no doubt win the league and the CIF playoffs for their division (one of the weakest of 13 football divisions in Southern California).
The last time Oaks Christian failed to win league they had been highly ranked until they were humbled at home by a public school team that finished the year undefeated with only 25 kids on the roster. However, no sane person on earth would have suggested that team should have been nationally ranked. The concept rankings concept is idiotic...
My nominee:
Aside from picking the best movies and the best music and the greatest athletes from different eras and different sports, surely national rankings of high school teams have to be the most ridiculous crapola going.
Case in point, Oaks Christian HS in California is rated in the top ten in several national football polls. They get there on the strength of star power names (kids named Montana, Gretzky and Smith play on the team and their parents sometimes are delivered to away games in helicopters!) and because they win a lot of games putting up big numbers in the process.
Still, one has to note that they have won 3 games this year against teams that are collectively 3-5 so far. And they face the remainder of the regular season against teams that are currently 5-11. Oaks Christian plays in a small school league and will no doubt win the league and the CIF playoffs for their division (one of the weakest of 13 football divisions in Southern California).
The last time Oaks Christian failed to win league they had been highly ranked until they were humbled at home by a public school team that finished the year undefeated with only 25 kids on the roster. However, no sane person on earth would have suggested that team should have been nationally ranked. The concept rankings concept is idiotic...