The Right to Vote

[Bzerkap]

It may have been a mistake for me not to vote. If so, I apologize. Let me explain why I don't usually vote for these things.

I'm generally uninformed. I care about this league a lot, and I love watching the games and checking out results the next day if I can't be there. I always check on my team and my player, and I pay close attention to what's going on with those things. What I don't do, however, is analyze much about other teams or their players' performances. I'm not a GM, so I don't keep track of these things for professional reasons like they do. I don't know which QB has done the best this season. I don't know which receiver is leading the league in yards or touchdowns. I know some about defensive performances, but I don't even know a great deal there. I could tell you which players on my team have done well, but that's it. I especially don't know much about what goes on in the ASFC.  Should I just vote for players on my team at every position? That doesn't seem very fair, impartial, or becoming of HO.

So why don't I just check the index and vote based on that? The simple answer is that I know some people hate that. I don't know if this is the way most people feel, but I also didn't realize so many people cared if I voted or not. I can easily look at the index and fill in the names at the top of the list for each category. But is that doing a service to the league? I honestly don't know. Which is worse: an uninformed vote or no vote at all?

The best option, obviously, would be to better inform myself throughout the season, and I would love to be able to do this. I think, after having been in the league for a few seasons now, I can probably do better on that front. But I haven't felt confident enough that my vote would add anything meaningful to the conversation so far. Why should I be one of ten or fifteen people voting if they all are more qualified to vote than I am? It seemed better to let the people who know the league the best, carry the vote without my interference.

None of this is meant to whine or blame anyone else for my own failing, if this should be called that. It's a simple explanation, and a pledge to do better.

Maybe I should propose a potential solution: We could make it allowable (or clear, if it already is allowed) to submit incomplete votes for the Pro Bowl. I'd be happy to vote for LBs and DLs. Maybe DBs as well, given my current level of knowledge. Maybe I will only vote for NSFC. But if it's an all-or-nothing vote, it has seemed more appropriate for me, personally, to go with nothing. I don't know if anyone else feels this way, but maybe it's something to consider.

So then I submit the question for feedback: Assuming a person cannot make a fully informed decision, which is better -- an uninformed vote or no vote at all?

Thanks for explaining. I think an incomplete vote is better than no vote at all.

For the positions you are unsure of, ask some of us GMs about why we picked a certain player over another, we will usually give you a reason. In fact, a lot of us wrote reasoning into our awards votes, but not the pro bowl votes.

If you really feel uninformed I understand the feeling of not wanting to tarnish the award in some way, but I think you can learn a lot from the index, and if you want further reasoning you can ask one of us.