My grandfather recently handed me the Oct. 7 issue of Sports Illustrated and demanded I read the sports version of the U.S. News and World Report college rankings. These demands always mean the articles are worth reading, but this one was given with more urgency than usual.
Written by Phil Taylor, the article gives an analysis of all 324 Division I athletic programs, some of which you've probably never heard of. If you have younger siblings who are high school athletes looking to continue their sports, you should remind them to read through this article before they disregard schools like Louisiana-Monroe or North Texas.
Texas and Stanford, respectively, take the top two spots, and looking down that list you can apply one general rule -- you've got to be good in football or basketball to be in the top 10.
That apparently is a good argument (if there is a good one) for placing Virginia as low as 38th, which of course has surprised many students here, despite last year's late-season men's basketball collapse and the first losing season in decades in football.
I might be biased because I covered the sport, but I must point out that SI mentions the women's basketball team for making the NCAA tourney.
Let's get some more fans out this year, folks.
Speaking of which, fan support is another big criteria for SI, and the University athletic department has taken steps toward improving available attendance with the recent renovation of the football stadium, and a plan for a larger basketball arena.
That might not help out for sports like volleyball, a common sellout at Stanford, but it surely will generate more revenue in the long run for scholarships, thus aiding our recruiting process and leading to better players. To my friends from Minnesota, you should know your school invented cheerleading, and you're riding high at No. 8. It is about the home crowd.
It's not about the money, though -- it's about the spirit, the hard work, and the pleasure of sporting events. To be honest, No. 38 should not hurt or excite us too much. Without looking at specifics, the rankings could be quite different depending on who the judge is.
After all, how fair is it for a school that doesn't have a football team to be ranked among the top 200? On the other hand, should there be a handicap for teams without sports like football and basketball?
Some analyses are very fair. I know it surprises many University students that SI ranked in-state rival Virginia Tech a full 40 spots below Virginia after the school repeatedly walked over the Cavalier football squad. But one needs a high-caliber spring sport to impress the powers that be at SI.
As for the added urgency in my grandpa's voice, well, that might have been there because of all the interesting little tidbits about the rest of Division I, even beyond the top 200 schools. At Rhode Island, students grill burgers from the roofs of their dorms, right across from the football stadium, and Arsenio Hall and Lou Holtz went to No. 58 Kent State. What!? Did somebody say Arsenio?
Yeah, not all of the famous people listed in these issues are athletes, and that's confusing for some people who go to the movies or read books.
Why does Taylor include all these arts and leisure details? Well, I suppose he feels we need to know something about each university -- for instance, there's history beyond sports. At least they didn't have to write that Thomas Jefferson founded U. Va., but rather that we've got some alumni playing World Cup soccer and that the world has noticed the large number of you going to the AFC and Mem Gym.
The truth of the matter is, you could do a feature on each of these schools or one of their programs, and this article attempted to cover everything sports-related to every individual school. One use of the information I see is to give journalists a boost in generating story ideas, taking in one or two of the random details and focusing in on it.
One can only go so far backing up the rankings, of course, and since the author was not among the voters, he only can be so subjective.
We can rest assured that, although these rankings were fun and informative, they're quite arbitrary. It follows this year that when they're on the field or in the arena, your University athletes really won't be paying attention to that No. 38.
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