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You can find all of shortened responses on the SI.com site. In addition, Maggie at SI.com suggested I share the full Q&A from the interview with you guys. Enjoy:
Q: Isn’t the Harris poll the BCS poll but the BCS people know they are hated and so they changed the name?
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Unfortunately, it turns out that Terry Bradshaw, Congressman Steve Largent, Gov. Benson DuBois, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg are among the voters. I assume that Justice Ginbsurg was the one to place Idaho on her ballot. Only she could make such a controversial and illogical call. Upon further review, my Katherine Harris idea wasn't so bad.
[Photo: Katherine Harris...not a great football mind of our generation]
Q: Should polls be released in the preseason?
PWD: Definitely not. All voters have biases. However, it's much harder to showcase your biases once every team has 4-5 games under their belt. I would release the first poll in October.
Q: Do people freak out to much about polls?
PWD: YES! I'm just a blogger pulling 50-60k page views a month. Yet, every week I get snide remarks or even hate mail from across country regarding the so called "lunacy" of my ballot. After only 4 weeks of this, I'm suddenly sympathetic to the mail Stewart Mandel gets (some of which I may or may not have sent). The real comedy is when I get email from Georgia Tech fans. Guys, it doesn't matter whether I rank you *this week* or not. My influence on the Bowl Committees simply isn't that great. Then again, maybe the Bowl Reps from The Silicon Valley of the Dolls Classic or the Boise Potato Bowl ARE subscribers to my site? That would explain the visitor named "FrenchFriesStainedBlueJacketWearingBowlRep2005". That guy seems pretty excited about Georgia Tech.
Q: What’s so bad about polls? They are fun to debate, don’t be so uptight.
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[Photo: Tuberville poses with Auburn's last championship trophy. Likely that Auburn fans will disagree with my opinions on this issue.]
Q: What are some flaws in the current polls?
PWD: After 4 weeks as a blog pollster, I can see MUCH more clearly the flaws of all polls. First and foremost is the limited number of games that a pollster can actually watch on a given Saturday. Especially, sports writers who are on location covering a game. How could they possibly see more than 3 games in a weekend? They are voting in the dark. The second major flaw is the mindset of the voter. Most voters fill out their ballots based on a prediction of where teams will end up. This fosters a self fulfilling prophecy problem. What they SHOULD be doing is basing their ballots on who would win on an neutral field THIS WEEK. Also, I have no problems with teams that lose head to head match ups being ranked over the winner late in the season. The Polls should look at where you are today. Not where you were a month ago or where you'll be in January. Lastly, they come out too early.
Q: Will there ever be a perfect system?
PWD: No. Even a playoff would be deeply flawed because how would you decide who was involved? Polls? Conference Champs? Computers? All of those have huge shortcomings. College football is great BECAUSE it's so unique. It's the greatest sport in the world.
Q: What exactly is the blog poll? How does work, etc.?
PWD: The Blog Poll aggregates the opinions of about 50 of the best fan run college football blogs on the Web. We vote each week using the criteria of "Who would beat Whom on a neutral field THIS WEEK." The positive things about the Blog Poll are the passion of the voters, the transparency of the voting process, and the ability to attempt to persuade another pollster that his ballot is either wrong or that he needs mental help.
-- HUGE thanks go to Brian of MgoBlog for asking me to participate in the Blog Poll this has been a blast so far.
PWD
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