| | | Dear Heisman voters:
|  | | Chris Weinke might only be 28, but he's already facing age discrimination. |
Maybe I'm taking this too personally. I'm 57, and I spend half my working life trying to prove to my boss I can still edit and chew gum at the same time.
But, really, this "controversy" over Chris Weinke's age is so stupid, it's beginning to make me pine for the relatively sane and logical world of politics.
I know -- and I know that you know -- there's nothing in the rules that prohibits anyone over a certain age from winning the Heisman. In fact, there's nothing in the rules that allows a player to be excluded because of his age. Yet some of you have chosen to leave Weinke -- clearly, at the very least, one of the two best college players in the country -- off your ballot entirely, presumably because at 28 he has an "unfair" advantage over the competition.
Since you are obviously people of philosophic bent, you won't mind considering a couple of questions:
Would you vote for him if he were 27?
No? How about 26?
No? How about 25?
24?
23?
Am I getting warm yet?
Is there a point where a Heisman candidate would be old enough that you would consider his age a disadvantage, and therefore deserving of extra credit?
Since many of you believe Weinke has an unfair advantage over Josh Heupel and Drew Brees because of his age, in the future will you vote for a true freshman quarterback over, say, a senior running back, just because of how old they are?
If you had the opportunity, would you vote for a 38-year-old pro quarterback for MVP of the National Football League? How come? Wouldn't most of the other candidates likely be a lot younger and, therefore, at a disadvantage in terms of experience?
Oh, and one other thing: Why should Shaq get to be MVP of the National Basketball Association just because he happens to be big and strong and quick? When you think about it, that really doesn't give Sherman Douglas much of a fair shot, now does it?
While you're at it, why not exclude candidates who play in California, Florida or Hawaii? The weather in those places is so pleasant that almost anyone can get loose and stay loose. Can you imagine how much harder it is for Drew Brees, desperately trying to shake off the chill, to complete a pass in Wisconsin in late November than it is for Chris Weinke to complete the same pass in the Orange Bowl on the same weekend?
By the way, I think I read somewhere that Weinke once read a book on military strategy. Someone should look into that, because, if true, that's so unfair to Josh Heupel, it makes the Miami-Dade butterfly ballot look like Mother Teresa.
Your pal in reason,
Jay
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