Originally Posted by Stardust  Wasn't there an Iowa poster or something after NCAAs this year when they listed all their championships but had it say "since 1975" or something like that, so it showed them having more wrestling championships than any other team.
There's always a way to tweak the numbers to make your team look like a "dynasty" |
Stardust,
The Iowa Hawkeye wrestling media guide does this. There's a two-page spread "Iowa Wrestling History" that basically starts in the early 70s, as if the Hawkeye program began 35 years ago. (It started in 1911.) One chart labeled "NCAA Team Titles" gives the misleading impression that Iowa has more team titles than Oklahoma State. True, since 1974, the Hawkeyes have won more team titles than the Cowboys... but, since 1928 (the first year of the NCAA championships), the Stillwater boys have won more.
Now, as an advertising person, I can understand the rationale -- "present yourself in the best possible light." Product advertising does this every day. The Iowa "dynasty" was born in the Nixon administration; before the early 1970s, Iowa had never won a team title. However, I think presenting stats from 1974 is misleading and/or confusing to the casual reader... and, perhaps, worse, it could be construed as diminishing from the legacy of the pre-70s Hawkeye wrestlers who achieved great things -- individuual Big Ten and NCAA champs like Scarpello, Govig, McCann, Roberts, Leuer, Kurdelmeier, Craig, Thorson...
Mark