Just How <i> Do</i> They Pick Heisman Trophy Winner?

I suggest that the award be renamed the “Hype-man.” It seems as though the trophy these days goes to the college football player who we have been told most often is the best player in the country, regardless of the truth of such claims. There is a very high correlation between the amount of publicity a given player receives (whatever the source) and that player’s chances of winning.

The real travesty is that players who emerge as potential contenders after the first two or three games of the season (like Syracuse’s Don McPherson this year), are all but counted out since the “preseason favorites” have the edge, not only in name recognition, but in the level of talent attributed to them by the voters.

TREY BLALOCK

Santa Monica