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Rankings system sparks firestorm for Safina, Williams at U.S. Open

We now enter the Hit Parade portion of the athletic calendar, the annual Casey Kasem phase, when first college football, then basketball, is consumed by weekly
Frank Deford|
Rankings system sparks firestorm for Safina, Williams at U.S. Open
Rankings system sparks firestorm for Safina, Williams at U.S. Open

We now enter the Hit Parade portion of the athletic calendar, the annual Casey Kasem phase, when first college football, then basketball, is consumed by weekly rankings.

Sports has always loved rankings. Like it or not, it's one more gift from sports to the culture at large, because now everything is ranked. Rich people are ranked. Colleges. Best-dressed celebrities. Somebody has actually ranked the top explorers. Really. Marco Polo edged out Columbus and thus, I believe, Marco Polo qualifies to play in the Fiesta Bowl.

The college rankings, by The Associated Press and USA Today, are created by sports reporters and coaches. The coaches changed their system this year, so their ballots can remain secret, and thus they're free to vote to inflate their own team and conference, and get back at coaches they don't like without anybody knowing.

But we believe in rankings.

Then again, the whole process is, well, rank, because, after all, nobody can possibly compare teams all over the country with any degree of intelligence. Nobody can even see many of them play. It's like being in Congress and voting on bills you know nothing about. So, it's very American.

Of course, no system is going to satisfy everybody. The latest brouhaha is in women's tennis, where rankings pretty much operate on Woody Allen's famous axiom that just showing up is 80 percent of life. In order to please sponsors, the Women's Tennis Association wants its best players to drag themselves to as many tournaments as possible, so the ranking system rewards attendance over good grades.

As a consequence, when the U.S. Open began last week, Dinara Safina was ranked No. 1, even though she's never won a Grand Slam tournament, while Serena Williams, who's won three of the last four Grand Slams, was, ridiculously, ranked No. 2. And, sure enough, the brittle Safina lost in just the third round. Apparently, choking is the other 20 percent of life.

Serena, of course, enjoys all the fuss. Not so long ago, for example, she said: "I'm like one of those girls on a reality show that has all the drama, and everyone in the house hates them." But then, she wouldn't be ranked No. 2 if she cared more about playing in the lesser tournaments, where she all too often only goes through the motions.

That's odd for a champion. For example, her current superstar peers like Tiger Woods and Michael Phelps simply don't want to lose anywhere.

But all of Serena only shows for the Grand Slams -- and hey, it works for her. On Tuesday night she got safely through to the semifinals.

So tennis fans have even more reason to beat up on poor, sweet, No. 1 Dinara Safina for always trying hard, but too often losing when it counts. Serena will still remain No. 2 in the goofy rankings, even if she wins the Open once again. She's hard-boiled, she's a fierce competitor, but then, as her shirt said the other day, "Can't spell dynasty without nasty."

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Frank Deford
FRANK DEFORD

Frank Deford is among the most versatile of American writers. His work has appeared in virtually every medium, including print, where he has written eloquently for Sports Illustrated since 1962. Deford is currently the magazine's Senior Contributing Writer and contributes a weekly column to SI.com. Deford can be heard as a commentator each week on Morning Edition. On television he is a regular correspondent on the HBO show Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel. He is the author of 15 books, and his latest,The Enitled, a novel about celebrity, sex and baseball, was published in 2007 to exceptional reviews. He and Red Smith are the only writers with multiple features in The Best American Sports Writing of the Century. Editor David Halberstam selected Deford's 1981 Sports Illustrated profile on Bobby Knight (The Rabbit Hunter) and his 1985 SI profile of boxer Billy Conn (The Boxer and the Blonde) for that prestigious anthology. For Deford the comparison is meaningful. "Red Smith was the finest columnist, and I mean not just sports columnist," Deford told Powell's Books in 2007. "I've always said that Red is like Vermeer, with those tiny, priceless pieces. Five hundred words, perfectly chosen, crafted. Best literary columnist, in any newspaper, that I've ever seen." Deford was elected to the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame. Six times at Sports Illustrated Deford was voted by his peers as U.S. Sportswriter of The Year. The American Journalism Review has likewise cited him as the nation's finest sportswriter, and twice he was voted Magazine Writer of The Year by the Washington Journalism Review. Deford has also been presented with the National Magazine Award for profiles; a Christopher Award; and journalism honor awards from the University of Missouri and Northeastern University; and he has received many honorary degrees. The Sporting News has described Deford as "the most influential sports voice among members of the print media," and the magazine GQ has called him, simply, "The world's greatest sportswriter." In broadcast, Deford has won a Cable Ace award, an Emmy and a George Foster Peabody Award for his television work. In 2005 ESPN presented a television biography of Deford's life and work, You Write Better Than You Play. Deford has spoken at well over a hundred colleges, as well as at forums, conventions and on cruise ships around the world. He served as the editor-in-chief of The National Sports Daily in its brief but celebrated existence. Deford also wrote Sports Illustrated's first Point After column, in 1986. Two of Deford's books, the novel, Everybody's All-American, and Alex: The Life Of A Child, his memoir about his daughter who died of cystic fibrosis, have been made into movies. Two of his original screenplays have also been filmed. For 16 years Deford served as national chairman of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and he remains chairman emeritus. He resides in Westport, CT, with his wife, Carol. They have two grown children – a son, Christian, and a daughter, Scarlet. A native of Baltimore, Deford is a graduate of Princeton University, where he has taught American Studies.

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