This column is a test.
Every season, when we start a fan vote for one of our All-Region teams, I get an email or a tweet or a comment off Facebook that goes something like this:
“I don’t think having people vote on an online poll is the best way to select players for the All-Region team. It just turns it into a popularity contest. You (The Columbian) should just make the selections yourself.”
And then I reply:
“Thank you for your comment (I always like to respond by being cordial, even if the person sending the email was really, really rude). As stated on the All-Region fan ballot (I also like to point out the obvious. It’s sort of passive-aggressive for “Dude!”), the fan vote is only one component that goes into the section of the All-Region team. Results of the fan vote will be combined with selections made by area coaches and The Columbian staff to create the final team. I hope this answers your concerns, and thanks for reading (That last part is always completely genuine. We appreciate every one of our readers, even if they don’t like or agree with the content or are rude in expressing their opinions. Also, I like literacy).”
The All-Region fan vote starts on Monday, and will continue through Thursday. The same ballot that fans are asked to complete is also sent to all of our area coaches. The staff members at The Columbian also complete the ballot.
To make the ballot, a player must have been selected as a league player of the year or make the all-league first team. There have been a very few rare instances when we put a player on the All-Region ballot who didn’t meet the aforementioned requirement because we felt that the league coaches, who select the all-league teams, were off their rocker. That didn’t happen this fall, thankfully.
Any player who ranks in the top 12 in all three ballots makes the All-Region team. Generally, about four or five athletes appear in the top 12 of all three ballots. The rest of the team is usually comprised of players who appear in the top 12 in two of three ballots.
In the event of ties, we at The Columbian have the final call on who makes the final All-Region team. We also select the player of the year.
If a player appears in the top 12 of fan voting but doesn’t draw enough support from coaches or The Columbian, that player won’t make the final All-Region team.
So, you see, worries of a “popularity contest” are really unfounded.
We’ll start with the fan votes for volleyball. Girls soccer will follow and then football.
We don’t use votes for selecting All-Region teams for cross country and swimming, as the stopwatch is the best metric for selecting those teams. Also, All-Region teams for tennis and golf won’t be selected until after state tournaments in the spring.
That’s how we put All-Region teams. So go to Columbian.com and vote. Tell your friends to vote. Coaches, check your email. If you didn’t receive an invitation to vote, let me know. I’ll send it to you.
Hopefully, this will put an end to the “popularity contest” complaint emails. If I get any, it will indicate they didn’t read this column. So I’ll just send them a simple reply that includes a link to this column, which is my passive-aggressive way of saying “Dude!”
Congratulations. If you’ve reached this part, you’ve passed the test.
And, as always, thanks for reading.
Tim Martinez is the assistant sports editor/prep editor for The Columbian. He can be reached at 360-735-4538, tim.martinez@columbian.com or follow his Twitter handle @360TMart.
