Earlier this week, CBSSports.com's Dennis Dodd wrote a piece on the Heisman Trophy Trust potentially revoking votes from writers who reveal their choices before the trophy presentation. While it appears 95% of the 928 who voted in 2012 adhered to the sound of silence, some voters publically discussed their choices before the ceremony:

"In a letter dated March 4, Heisman president William Dockery wrote: “We are distressed to have been made aware that your 2012 vote was revealed publicly prior to the December 8th announcement.” Dockery said it's “against our policy” to release ballot selections prior to the official announcement on ESPN."

They are now asking these recalcitrant voters to commit, in writing, by April 8, that they will keep their lips zipped and Twitter handles free of who they chose.

Dockery also notes:

“In the event you are unable to assure non-disclosure of your vote in the future, we will be required to reassign your vote to another member of the college football media.” 

This is interesting. I honestly don't remember this being an issue in the past. With the explosion of social media and sports fans begging writers to reveal their picks, choices, winners and losers, it definitely makes adhering to certain policies harder.

On the other hand, why buy the cow if you can get the milk for free? Or something. If enough writers revealed their choices, no one would watch the ceremony. I personally planned a Saturday night around the 2001 ceremony only to see Ken Dorsey finish behind Eric Crouch (gag) and Rex Grossman (sob). Don't judge me! 

Anyway. The ceremony is a long-standing tradition and the award is highly coveted, so I can see why the trust wants to keep the winner under lock and key (kind of like the Oscars, I suppose).

On the other hand, the Heisman trust seems to be overreacting as fans spend many an hour atwitter (ha! see what I did there? I will see myself out) trying to gauge who voted for whom, and this rule will take away a level of interaction and intrigue a lot of fans will miss. If anything, that adds to the hype and build-up to the presentation on Saturday night. Maybe the Heisman Trust should be more focused on who actually gets to vote and whether or not they pay attention to the college football season (looking at you Mike Francesa).

It will be interesting to see if any votes get reassigned, not that anyone would tell us anyway.

[CBSSports.com]

About Reva Friedel

Reva is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and the AP Party. She lives in Orange County and roots for zero California teams.

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