Players love them, coaches hate them and sports media members are supposed to take them seriously.

Yet, some high school sports rankings have turned into a popularity contest where those voting pick teams who they want, rather than those who deserve to be recognized.

I voted in the latest NCPreps.com basketball polls and I appreciate Deana King from the Web site for allowing me to do so.

I took my voting seriously. I did not vote for our local teams just to vote them in. If you were deserving I gave you a vote.

However, it seems as if others in my position do not share my voting techniques. I question several votes in terms of legitimacy. For example, do people really think that just because a team is 15-3 overall it is among the best teams in the state?

Do some sports writers think just because they have been given an opportunity to vote that they need to put their local squads in the rankings?

Those people are what I call Homers (DOH!).

Yes, I agree that compiling basketball rankings is more difficult than football and soccer.

We the media have an opportunity to check various sites for records and schedules for high school football and soccer teams across the state.

Yet, not having an updated site where one can evaluate basketball stats, standings and schedules is not an excuse for some people to do a poor job in voting.

Again, there is not excuse for being a Homer and there is no excuse for picking teams based only on overall records.