The Heisman Trophy: Style Over Substance

I know the Heisman is one of the most hyped awards, but - let's be honest - it's also the most meaningless sports trophy this side of the Governor's Cup, Golden Boot and the Iron Skillet.

Here's how it usually works: A university school of medicine's top student goes on to be a successful doctor. The best writer at a college student newspaper matures into a solid, professional reporter at a big-city paper. The hottest sorority girl gets married and becomes a MILF.

There are hiccups, of course. But seems to me they happen more frequently in the transition from college to pro football. More than any individual sports accolade, the Heisman is a flawed indicator of future success.

Granted it's an extremely subjective study and results may vary, but with a little digging and remembering I came to the conclusion that college football's Heisman indeed is far less important than basketball's Naismith Award or college baseball's Golden Spikes Award.

Taking into account their careers as pros - that includes stats, all-star teams, longevity, etc. - I slapped a simple label on a handful of award winners: Win or Loss. For example, the Heisman's Tony Dorsett went on to win a Super Bowl and get enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. That's a win. On the other hand, the Naismith's Jay Williams was the NBA's second overall pick in 2002 but suffered major injuries in a motorcycle accident and wound up getting cut by the minor-league Austin Toros before retiring in obscurity. That's a loss.

Get it?

Using that very unscientific formula, the results were shocking.

With a record of 21-11, the Golden Spikes Award is the most accurate fortune teller, followed by the Naismith (22-15) and the Heisman (21-18). That's right, while 65.6 percent of college baseball's best go on to successful careers in Major League Baseball and 59.4 percent of college basketball's best have star-studded NBA legacies, barely half - 53.8 percent - of college football's best produce standout careers in the NFL.

This proves that either I have too much time on my hands or we need to shrug and ignore when this year's breathless Heisman Watch List starts making the rounds.

If you're interested in my breakdowns, jump on ...

HEISMAN TROPHY

69 Steve Owens - W

70 Jim Plunkett - W

71 Pat Sullivan - L

72 Johnny Rodgers - L

73 John Cappelletti - L

74-75 Archie Griffin - L

76 Tony Dorsett - W

77 Earl Campbell - W

78 Billy Sims - W

79 Charles White - L

80 George Rogers - W

81 Marcus Allen - W

82 Herschel Walker - W

83 Mike Rozier - W

84 Doug Flutie - W

85 Bo Jackson - W

86 Vinny Testaverde - W

87 Tim Brown - W

88 Barry Sanders - W

89 Andre Ware - L

90 Ty Detmer - L

91 Desmond Howard - W

92 Gino Torreta - L

93 Charlie Ward - L

94 Rashaan Salaam - L

95 Eddie George - W

96 Danny Wuerffel - L

97 Charles Woodson - W

98 Ricky Williams - W

99 Ron Dayne - L

00 Chris Weinke - L

01 Eric Crouch - L

02 Carson Palmer - W

03 Jason White - L

04 Matt Leinart - L

05 Reggie Bush - W

06 Troy Smith - L

07 Tim Tebow - L

08 Sam Bradford - W

NAISMITH AWARD

69 Lew Alcindor - W

70 Pete Maravich - W

71 Austin Carr - L

72-74 Bill Walton - W 

75 David Thompson - W

76 Scott May - L

77 Marques Johnson - W

78 Butch Lee - L

79 Larry Bird - W

80 Mark Aguirre - W

81-83 Ralph Sampson - W

84 Michael Jordan - W

85 Patrick Ewing - W

86 Johnny Dawkins - L

87 David Robinson - W

88 Danny Manning - W

89 Danny Ferry - L

90 Lionel Simmons - L

91 Larry Johnson - W

92 Christian Laettner - W

93 Calbert Cheaney - L

94 Glenn Robinson - W

95 Joe Smith - W

96 Marcus Camby - W

97 Tim Duncan - W

98 Antawn Jamison - W

99 Elton Brand - W

00 Kenyon Martin - L

01 Shane Battier - L

02 Jay Williams - L

03 T.J. Ford - L

04 Jameer Nelson - W

05 Andrew Bogut - L

06 J.J. Redick - L

07 Kevin Durant - W

08 Tyler Hansborough - L

09 Blake Griffin - L

GOLDEN SPIKES

78 Bob Horner - W

79 Tim Wallach - W

80 Terry Francona - W

81 Mike Fuentes - L

82 Augie Schmidt - L

83 Dave Magadan - W

84 Odibe McDowell - L

85 Will Clark - W

86 Mike Loynd - L

87 Jim Abbott - W

88 Robin Ventura - W

89 Ben McDonald - W

90 Alex Fernandez - W

91 Mike Kelly - L

92 Phil Nevin - W

93 Darren Dreifort - L

94 Jason Varitek - W

95 Mark Kotsay - W

96 Travis Lee - W

97 J.D. Drew - W

98 Pat Burrell - W

99 Jason Jennings - L

00 Kip Bouknight - L

01 Mark Prior - W

02 Khalil Greene - L

03 Rickie Weeks - W

04 Jered Weaver - W

05 Alex Gordon - L

06 Tim Lincecum - W

07 David Price - W

08 Buster Posey - L

09 Stephen Strasburg - W