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HE'S VOTING FOR EASIER DECISION ON HEISMAN.


Byline: STEVE DILBECK

I'm conflicted.

Get honored, chosen for something you feel is special, and naturally you want to rise to the occasion. Want to step up, feeling secure that you gave it your best.

And in this case, were unfettered by bias.

So here I am, excited to be added this year to the Heisman Trophy Heisman Trophy

Annual award given to the outstanding college gridiron football player in the U.S. The trophy was instituted in 1935 by New York City's Downtown Athletic Club and was officially named the following year for the club's first athletic director, the player-coach
 selection committee, and unexpectedly not feeling all that comfortable about it.

All because of Carson Palmer Carson Palmer (born December 27, 1979 in Fresno, California), is an American football quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League. He attended the University of Southern California, where he won the Heisman Trophy Award in 2002 in his senior season. .

He's giving me trouble again. Creating anguish over one more season.

The USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code.  quarterback obviously is a deserving candidate for the award. Trouble is, he's also from a local university. Someone I've watched play for four-plus years. Someone I've written about several times.

Vote for Palmer, and do I open the door to cries of hometown favoritism? Just another local partisan, another hack promoting his town's guy?

You can't take this honor lightly, even if it puts me in the same group with O.J. Simpson. The Heisman is the most cherished award in collegiate sports, if not all of sport. You want to get this right. Want to do all those who came before you proud.

Most previous winners are the legends of the sport: Tom Harmon Thomas Dudley Harmon (September 28, 1919 - March 15, 1990) was a star player of United States college football, a sports broadcaster, and patriarch of a family of American actors. , Glenn Davis Glenn Davis can refer to:
  • Glenn Davis (baseball player) (born 1961)
  • Glenn Davis (football player) (1924–2005)
  • Glenn Davis (musician)
  • Glenn Davis (web design)
  • Glenn Robert Davis (1914–1988), U.S.
, Paul Hornung Paul Vernon Hornung (born December 23, 1935 in Louisville, Kentucky) is a former all-around athlete who played college basketball but is best known as an American football player. , Billy Cannon William Abb "Billy" Cannon (born August 2, 1937) is an All-American and 1959 Heisman Trophy winner from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, and one of the American Football League's most celebrated players. , Roger Staubach Roger Thomas Staubach (born February 5, 1942 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is a businessman, Heisman Trophy winner and former American professional football player where he was the quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys for most of the 1970s during their reign as America's Team. , Gary Beban, Jim Plunkett, Archie Giffin, Tony Dorsett, Earl Campbell, Herschel Walker, Bo Jackson, Tim Brown, Barry Sanders, Ricky Williams.

First time out, and I'm longing for a year where the winner was an easy pick. Where his game and his numbers just jumped out and demanded the award.

Instead, in what seems more typical of the 1990s, there is no clear-cut guy. There are at least five players who will receive first-place votes. And strong cases can be made for all of them.

Iowa quarterback Brad Banks led the nation in passing efficiency. He threw for 2,369 yards and 25 touchdowns. Led the Hawkeyes to a 11-1 season and berth in the Orange Bowl.

Penn State's Larry Johnson became only the eighth player in history to rush for more than 2,000 yards (2,015) and averaged 8.02 yards a carry, breaking the record of Mike Rozier (7.8), who won the Heisman in 1983.

Miami's Ken Dorsey threw for 3,073 yards and 26 touchdowns, hasn't lost a game since the Reagan administration and will quarterback the top-ranked Hurricanes back to the national-championship game.

Miami running back Willie McGahee rushed for 27 touchdowns and 1,686 yards.

And then, of course, there's Palmer.

They all can stake a legitimate claim. How do you choose among them?

Ballots are due today. The Downtown Athletic Club The Downtown Athletic Club was an athletic club in a 35-story building located at 19 West Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It was founded in 1926. By 1927, it had purchased this site next to the Hudson River to construct its own building.  of New York New York, state, United States
New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of
 offers little assistance, other than calling it an award for this year's outstanding player.

No guidelines on whether to consider career achievements, character, the success of his team or his value to the team. No nifty little voting handbook came in the mail with the ballot.

And because sports writers and sportscasters are covering games Saturdays - and covering local teams - they're not sitting around watching a lot of live football on TV. They rely on highlights and, more often, sheer numbers.

So when it came time to fill out the ballot and send it off to New York, without prejudice Without any loss or waiver of rights or privileges.

When a lawsuit is dismissed, the court may enter a judgment against the plaintiff with or without prejudice. When a lawsuit is dismissed without prejudice
, I respectfully wrote in ... Palmer. Simply because, this season, I think he was the best player in the land.

He threw for more yards (3,639), more touchdowns (32), and against tougher competition, than Banks and Dorsey. Unlike Johnson, after Kansas State in the third game of the season, Carson had his best games when they mattered most - on a national stage against UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles
UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University)
UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX
 and Notre Dame. He got better as the season went on.

McGahee and Dorsey have an unfortunate nullifying effect on each other. If people in Miami can't figure out whom the best player on the team is, how can the country get behind one of them as the nation's best player?

There hasn't been a West Coast winner of the Heisman since USC's Marcus Allen in 1981, and even with the late Carson push, he remains something of a long shot.

But he is a deserving, worthy choice. Not a clear-cut one maybe, but a good one. Good enough, that I shouldn't feel so conflicted.

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A HEISMAN EXIT POLL
COPYRIGHT 2002 Daily News
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2002, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Article Details
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Title Annotation:Sports
Publication:Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)
Date:Dec 11, 2002
Words:717
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