In a grand fit of delusion, we have decided that beside “Real Stanford Sports for Real Stanford Fans,” “Keeping them Honest” will be the new motto for DailyAxe.com. Who’s “them,” you ask? Well, anyone we feel like, really. But considering that we are a Stanford sports site, “them” will probably center mostly around the national media, which often cannot grasp the concept of elite athletic programs that aren’t located on the East Coast. So get ready, ESPN and the New York Times: respect Stanford or we’ll be coming for you with our tiny little campus operation based 3,000 miles from Connecticut.
To really make the Bristol media behemoth tremble, we decided to look into its preseason college football power rankings and determine whether Stanford and the rest of the PAC-10 (we’re loyal like that) were getting their respective dues. Were they? Well, not so much.
Sure, Stanford appears in the Top 25, albeit in the 25th spot and with a disparaging explanation that pretty much tells readers that the Card are a perennial dumpster team. Stanford has won 5 Rose Bowls, won over 650 games, a national championship (1926), and produced a Heisman winner (Jim Plunkett in 1970, when the team was still called the Indians). Nice try, jerks.
Stanford also appears in just 6 of the 15 voters’ personal top-25′s. A few notables about the ESPN intra-corporation ballots:
- On-air personality Rece Davis placed Stanford in the #15 slot, the highest that any of the 15 voters put the Card.
- ESPN PAC-10 blogger Ted Miller has the Cardinal at #16 in the nation.
- We really like Pat Forde. He writes good pieces and he knows what he is talking about. Alas, he slotted Cal in at #23 and left Stanford off his ballot entirely. The media poll predicts Stanford to finish fourth in the conference and Cal to finish seventh. Cal is a dying program. Stanford is a rising program. Forde once suited up as Tree on the Farm during a basketball game. This is unacceptable.
- Bruce Feldman, however, didn’t just disappoint us: he went crazy. Michigan–that’s right, the University of Michigan Wolverines from Ann Arbor–are #25 on his ballot. Stanford is not on his ballot, either. Mr. Feldman, what were you thinking? (He faced a huge number of critical emails about the decision–LeBron, anyone?–so apparently America is with the Daily Axe on this one.)
All in all, the Card are all right. But Cal over Stanford in the preseason rankings of a Stanford friend? And Michigan in the top 25 at all?
Michigan?
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