Power Rankings -- an objection to commenters

Every Tuesday when ESPN posts their weekly Power Rankings I read them. Then, for some unexplainable reason, I start to read the comments left by readers. Then I get mad. Then I finally make myself stop. People who comment about sports on ESPN.com or Sports Illustrated.com are pretty much exclusively... stupid. I'd love to phrase it another way, but I can't think of another word that expresses the nature of the comments left. People start arguing and giving reasons why the rankings are wrong, and why their favorite team should be ranked higher than they are. It's weird because the all get upset as if the rankings actually determine something.

One commenter says, "Is anyone else pissed that the Panthers dropped a spot during their bye week?!?!"

This commenter obviously does not realize that a bye week does not automatically mean you stay put. Some teams move up a spot or two (if the team or teams immediately ahead of them perform poorly), and some teams move down a spot or two (if the team or teams immediately behind them perform very well). Besides, I don't quite understand being "pissed" about anything the rankings have to say. At the end of the season, there are a lot of determining factors that contribute to who makes the playoffs and what their seeds are... and not ONE of them is ESPN's power rankings.

Commenters also regularly confuse standings with rankings. They'll argue that their team beat team A (in week 1) and team B (in week 2) and at some point team B beat team A, so their team HAS to be ranked higher than both... which is not necessarily the case. Rankings are based on expert opinions of who would win if a game between teams was played right now. That essentially means that the #1 ranked Titans would be a favorite against ANY team if they played today. The Giants (#2) would be favored in any game except one against the Titans, and so on.

Dallas is ranked 19th this week. My opinion (notice I'm not arguing the absolute truth of my opinion) is that that's a little low, but do I care? Nope. If Dallas ends the season with a better record than other wild card contenders, they'll make the playoffs, and their week 10 #19 rankings doesn't mean squat.

Anywho...