Tuesday, April 14, 1998
Unfair rankings usurp fans’ right to choose best athletes
Golf’s lack of No. 1 player ignores polls
of pontificating pundits
So, after all the hullabaloo and buildup, Tiger Woods didn’t win
the Masters.
Good, fine, but is he still the best golfer in the world? Who
knows?
That’s the fun thing about golf, there’s no way to tell. There
are no self-important pundits making selections right now to tell
us who is the best, and no computer generated designations based on
your last 20 results, because golf, bless its elitist heart, has no
ranking system.
The best golfer isn’t the one who posted the gaudiest numbers,
it’s whoever won yesterday.
So no, Tiger Woods isn’t the best golfer in the world right now,
says me.
Legitimately, you could argue that Jack Nicklaus is playing
better golf than Woods right now, and while most people would
either call you racist or a fool, you would have a legitimate
point, because he had a better week than Tiger.
That’s what’s so cool about it; there are all of these great
golfers, and it’s up to the fans to decide which one is the
best.
Golf is one of the precious few sports where it is us, the fans,
who get to decide for ourselves who is number one, and with the
precedent set by this visor-and knickers-wearing diversion, the
time has come for us to take back our sports.
That’s right, all of you downtrodden sports fans, it’s time for
you to get empowered and gather up what has been taken away.
These evaluators of sports have stripped you of your right to
decide for yourself who is the best. Instead, some suit who has
lost touch with the people decides for you, telling you who is
number one based on some outdated, inane ranking system.
But does the man stop at this? I tell you no! Look at our
beleaguered college football-loving brethren. God knows they’ve
struggled to overcome acute PTCBS (Pickup Truck and Cheap Beer
Syndrome), but our supposedly benevolent sports industry doesn’t
even give them a national championship game. No, they keep the
power close to the vest, letting a close-knit clique of reporters
tell us who is number one.
America, the land of the free? More like the land of the
oppressed sports fan.
Next thing you know, our ultra-conservative government will pass
an amendment requiring all sports to have week-to-week rankings,
and then where will we be?
Instead of anxiously waiting for the Super Bowl or the World
Series to crown a true champion, we’ll be forced to stare at long
lists of rankings, which, as we all know, will be printed on paper,
which means more of our precious natural resources go to waste.
Just look what’s happened to college basketball. It isn’t enough
to have one set of rankings put out each week? Instead there are
three, just to be sure the brainwashing is complete.
The fun that comes with skillfully debating which teams are the
best based solely on our opinion gets pushed aside, as we are told
who to like and why. If you disagree, then the NCAA invalidates
your test scores.
If that’s not bad enough, check out what the ranking system has
done to the world of tennis.
Pete Sampras, the epitome of the American dream, a guy who gave
up everything; high school, friends, a personality, finally makes
it to the top, winning virtually every tournament there is (except
those silly ones played on dirt), yet suddenly he loses his hold on
number one because of some midget who comes in second a lot.
Why? Because the rankings said so.
Is this justice? Absolutely not. These ranking systems have
persecuted Pete and others just like him long enough. They have
stripped us of our right to choose for far too long.
So join me, all of you marginalized sports fans who are sick and
tired of being told who is number one, who are fed up with not
being allowed to decide for yourself, who have had it up to here
with someone else telling us who’s the best.
Join me Thursday at noon in Westwood Plaza with your placards
and T-shirts; we’ll march on Westwood, we’ll stop traffic on
Wilshire.
We’ll do whatever it takes, because it’s time to take the power
back, so shout our war cry loud and hearty …
Rankings, never! Free choice, forever!
Mark Shapiro is a Daily Bruin staff writer and columnist. E-mail
responses to [email protected]