When the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year voting was tallied, it was no surprise that New England Patriots linebacker Jerod Mayo was the runaway winner, with 49 votes on the 50-member media panel, chosen by the Associated Press.
But it was a big surprise that the one other vote went to Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Keith Rivers, who played in only seven games all season. How on earth could anyone pick Rivers over Mayo? To find out, I asked the guy who voted for Rivers, Jay Paris of the North County Times.
Via e-mail, he told me he had no excuse -- he just made a mistake and voted for Rivers even though he acknowledges that the award should have gone to Mayo.
Paris wrote:
I wish I had a good insightful reason for it. But it was just a mistake that I didn't realize until after the vote came out.So there you have it. When awards are chosen by human beings, sometimes there's human error. Jerod Mayo, feel free to consider yourself the unanimous selection for Defensive Rookie of the Year.
When it came time to turn in the votes Monday, I was working on a Chargers playoff piece on Philip Rivers at the same time. I switched back to my early DROY watch list, which included Mayo and Rivers, and was going back and forth from the two screens.
I had Rivers on my mind, kept Keith Rivers' name on the voting balloting, and deleted Mayo.
My bad. Obviously Mayo is the clear choice -- I'm a UCLA honk so giving Rivers' that vote is really troubling!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-03-2009 @ 3:37PM
pparkersd said...
Thanks, from a Bengal fan that dies on a yearly basis.
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1-03-2009 @ 3:59PM
jUDY said...
Why wasn't Joe Flacco considered in the contest for Rookie QB of the year? Some have to win, some have lose, but to be overlooked? Why?
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1-04-2009 @ 12:34AM
Lance said...
Well I guess Jay can't spell CNT without the U. The guy needs to lose his voting privileges.
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1-04-2009 @ 5:42PM
T-man said...
Even after the explanation, it sounds a bit "fishy". Mr. Paris indicated he had an "early" list. Did he have a middle or late list or did he basically abrogate his responsibilities and stop paying attention and stop compiling a list "early" in the season?
Further, he had 2 names on this early list, and stated that he deleted one of them, Mayo's, Well, submitting the ballot involves another step. Did Mr. Paris really do at least one more step, submitting the vote, without looking at the computer screen?
It just seems his explanation has some holes in it.
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1-05-2009 @ 12:36AM
Dloc said...
Everyone realizes this is the same guy who voted for Edinson Volquez as ROY in the MLB balloting. Only problem was that Volquez wasn't a rookie.
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1-05-2009 @ 12:39PM
jeremy said...
Uhhhh. Time to lose your voting priveledges for idiotic mistakes like this. See, in the real world, these type of inexcusable errors can cost us our jobs.
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