Jay Paris Strikes Again

I’ll acknowledge that there really isn’t any good way to vote on post season honors in sports; everyone screws it up. When control rests in the hands on the fans, people like Alexei Kovalev are picked to start the NHL All-Star Game over superstars like Alexander Ovechkin. When players and managers vote, mistakes like Rafael Palmeiro’s 1999 Gold Glove Award happen (he only played 28 games at first base, and well over 100 as DH). And when the media votes, people like Jay Paris screw it up, badly.

Paris, who writes for the North County Times, first came to national prominence when he was one of three writers to vote for Edinson Volquez for NL Rookie of the Year. This would be a perfectly defensible vote, if only Volquez hadn’t made his major league debut in 2005. Not only did he debut that year, but he also pitched in the majors in 06 and 07. He was well beyond the inning threshold for rookie status, and had easily blown past the limit of days on the active roster. If he hadn’t spent his first three years in the American League he probably would have accrued the minimum number of at bats too. So, naturally, Paris voted for him.

So when Paris got to vote for NFL Defensive Rookie of the year, he had the opportunity to partially redeem himself. The clear choice here was Jerod Mayo, of the New England Patriots. Mayo received 49 out of the 50 votes, blowing away the competition. The only voter who didn’t vote for him was, of course, Jay Paris. But it’s not who Paris didn’t vote for that’s perplexing (well, it is that too), it’s more puzzling who he did vote for: Keith Rivers, of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Rivers, who at least was a rookie, only made one notable play all season: getting absolutely obliterated by Hines Ward in week 7. Rivers was placed on IR with a broken jaw, ending his season after six games and four plays. Somehow Paris though that this merited a Rookie of the Year vote.

Someone needs to take the ballot out of Paris’ hands before he ruins a vote that I actually care about.