The Deciding Vote

After TigerBlog posted the picture of the Princeton and Penn field hockey teams last week, he received this email:

"When have you have seen Tigers and Quakers who were smiling together before?"

That's easy. Here you go, from 2017:

That's Zack DiGregorio, at the time a Penn student, before he and TB did the stats for a men's lacrosse game at Franklin Field. Zack was a student-worker in the Penn athletic communications office.

See? A Tiger and a Quaker, unless you consider TB to still be a Quaker nearly 40 years after graduation. Or, with all of Zack's close ties to Princeton Athletics through his father Steve, maybe he's more a Tiger than a Quaker.

For his money, TB will call this a Tiger and a Quaker. When Zack worked as a student, he worked for Michael Mahoney and Chas Dorman. Of course, Chas is now a Quaker turned Tiger, as he now works for the Princeton OAC.

Zack, by the way, turned his back on what could have been a great career in athletic communications to go into politics. TB supposes it's noble.

Had Zack stayed in athletic communications, he would have had a vote for the possible name change for the organization that since 1957 has been called "College Sports Information Directors of America."

As you recall, TB has mentioned this twice now. The vote was held last Wednesday, with the results announced late Thursday — and the results were stunning.

First, TB will remind you of what was on the ballot. The choice was either to keep the existing CoSIDA name, or to change it to "College Sports Communicators." 

Then, he reminds you of what it would take to make the name change. There were two things that had to happen: 1) at least 10 percent of eligible voters had to vote and 2) at least 60 percent had to vote to change.

So what happened? 

Well, there were 3,619 eligible voters, so obviously 362 votes were necessary. The total number of votes was 1,235, so that satisfied the first requirement.

Next, the vote was 741 votes to make the change and 494 votes not to make the change.

In case you don't have your calculator with you, the percentage of yes votes would be the number of such votes divided by the total votes cast. That would be 741/1,235 — or .600000.

Not .601. Not .600001. Exactly .600000.

Had one person who voted "yes" instead voted "no," the percentage would have been .59919. If one person who didn't vote had instead voted "no," the percentage would have been .5995.

That's just craziness.

TigerBlog voted "yes" for the proposal. It's very weird to think that had he simply clicked "no," then it wouldn't have passed. How many times have you heard that every vote counts? And how many times have you thought no election can ever be decided by one vote.

TB had never heard of a voting for anything where one vote either way would have swung it, so he did  a search. It turns out it has happened once on the federal level, in a New York Congressional race in 1910, when Charles Bennett Smith defeated incumbent D.S. Alexander 20,685-20,684.

So now what? CoSIDA, as it's always been known, will be rebranding. TB voted yes because he thinks the term "sports information" is part of a bygone era of the profession. 

Sports Communicators is a more modern name, as well as one that does a better job of reflecting what exactly those in the profession do these days. This is from the story on the website:

The name change is a major step in a larger strategic plan to highlight the association’s evolution and expansion. This move better aligns with its membership makeup and further positions the organization to support and advocate for its members who serve in the communications, digital and creative college sports industry, regardless of position or title.

TB is okay with all of that. At the same time, he's always liked the "CoSIDA" acronym. 

CSC? He'll get used to it.

He has to. After all, he's the one who cast the deciding vote.