While the league shouldn’t be micromanaging the process, it’s fair and appropriate for the league to generally desire that the voting will be handled responsibly and fairly. Too much is riding on these awards, which include MVP, comeback player of the year, offensive and defensive player of the year, offensive and defensive rookie of the year, and coach of the year. The 50 AP voters also determine the All-Pro team.
The process has plenty of flaws. Many of the awards aren’t defined. What does comeback player mean? What does it mean to be “most valuable”?
Also, if the AP is going to use only 50 votes (with one vote only per award, not a first-, second-, and third-place option), the list needs to consist of the 50 people best suited to make the assessments, without regard to business or political realities that necessarily corrupt the process. I’ve seen the list. Not everyone on the list should be on the list.
Starting with the guy who has said the quiet thing out loud, that he won’t be voting for the true MVP out of spite.
Florio wrote: