Two days after the annual New Year's Bowl-a-Thon, climaxed by the Hurricanes' 22-0 defeat of the University of Nebraska in the Orange Bowl, Long confirmed his vote in a sports-page column, beneath the headline, "A close vote for the Huskies - no apologies."
"I knew it wouldn't be popular," he says, "but it didn't sway me from what I thought. I wished one of those two teams played themselves out of it so it was an easy call, but they didn't." Indeed, the Huskies' Rose Bowl victory over a highly regarded University of Michigan team was enough to secure first place in the USA Today/CNN poll of NCAA coaches. The Hurricanes eked out the AP title by the closest margin in that poll's 56-year history. (United Press International, which polls former players, coaches, and administrators, as well as journalists, ranked the University of Washington number one. The New York Times computer rankings gave UM the edge.)
The day Long went public with his stance, he received eighteen messages on his answering machine. Still more messages were taken by clerks, fellow writers, and editors in the Herald's sports department. "There wasn't a positive one in the bunch," Long says. (Unless you count the call from a pair of Seattle radio DJs who telephoned to congratulate him on his honesty and integrity and to say the check was in the mail.) Long also says he heard some people had canceled their subscriptions in response to his decision, and that one of the paper's advertisers (he doesn't know which) was pulling its account. In his own column, fellow Herald writer Bob Rubin jokingly referred to his colleague as "the dirty traitor."
As a guest on several local call-in radio and television programs, Long defended his stance, each time pointing out that although both teams finished the season with perfect 12-0 records, Washington faced a tougher schedule. He also felt that the Huskies' Rose Bowl victory was more impressive than Miami's Orange Bowl shutout because the Hurricanes were playing at home. The callers weren't swayed. "I just want to know why you bother working for the Miami Herald," one irate viewer blasted during Long's visit to Channel 33's Sunday Night Sports Rap. "You really should go to Washington. Being a Miami man, you should be for Miami."
No doubt much of the clamor stems from the popular belief that the hometown newspaper owes its allegiance to the hometown team, and that the sports section is the traditional venue for detailing every aspect of that team's success. An understandable belief - especially given the vast amount of newsprint devoted to sports coverage - but not an entirely accurate one.
Disturbing as the post-vote flak may be, however, it won't elicit the backlash from Long that some might expect. "It disappoints me," he admits. "People don't understand. They think you're supposed to be a homer. They think you're supposed to write like a homer. You can't help covering [a team] and having a feeling because they're somebody you know," he explains. "But it doesn't affect how I do my job. It doesn't affect how I write."
And it doesn't affect how he votes. One of only 60 AP voters in the nation - and one of just two in Florida - Long takes his position seriously. The votes are distributed proportionally throughout the nation according to the number of major college football teams in each region. Sportswriters and broadcasters are chosen as voters based on their knowledge of the game and their coverage of a major college football program. Long, who has been with the Herald for 26 years, has cast an AP vote for the past twelve. Florida's other representative in the poll is David Alfonso of the Tampa Tribune. He voted Miami number one.
A poll ranking can mean more than a simple statistic. The prestige and media exposure that accompany a number-one ranking certainly don't hurt a school's enrollment or endowment. "Winning is easier to sell than losing," notes Larry Siddons, an AP deputy sports editor who helps oversee the poll. "These guys are under a lot of pressure from local fans. To do what Gary did takes a good amount of bravery. I take my hat off to him."
"The easiest thing in the world is to jump on the home team," concurs Jim Mandich, host of Sports Rap. "The right thing to do is what you have to do as a journalist. I think he made a very well-reasoned decision. If that poll comprises guys like Gary Long, who really care and do the research, then I've got a lot of faith in the AP poll."
If anyone can identify with what Gary Long has been going through, it's Bryan Jacobson, sports editor for the Moscow/Pullman Daily News and one of the two AP voters in Washington state. He voted for Miami. But the consequences of his actions thus far have amounted to no more than a few irate phone calls from loyal Huskies fans asking how he could turn his back on Washington. "It hasn't been a public outlash," he says, then adds, "at least not yet."
As he walked through Channel 33's parking lot on his way to appear on another sports show across town, Long expressed confidence that Miami fans will eventually dismiss their hard feelings toward him. But for now, he warns with a smile, "Don't stand too close to my car while I start it.
