Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
March 30, 2005
Baseball Idol

My daughter is an American idol fan, and I just found out Ozzie Smith's son is in the competition.

Idol does have a problem that was very obvious tonight. I caught the end when they announced the singer being voted off the island. The judges agreed neither of these singers should be at the bottom of the vote. They need a different voting system. Right now, I would guess the voting gets distributed pretty evenly between the contestants. But if they used something similar to the MVP voting in baseball, they would end up with a better ranking. In a popularity contest like this, the consensus 2nd choice would likely be first, and the poorest singer would likely end up on the bottom. It shouldn't be too difficult to implement over the phone, and it would likely prevent a result like tonight's from happening.


Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive during March. Click here for details.


Posted by David Pinto at 09:44 PM | Other | TrackBack (0)
Comments

My son picked up on that from almost Day 1 and has been a Nikko fan all the way because of it.

The problem is that two of the judges think they are judging a singing contest, however America is voting in a popularity contest.

Posted by: Chris at March 30, 2005 10:31 PM

Nice way to add baseball to an AI post. :)

Fact is, the other guy was spot-on bad this week... only error was that HE should have gone.

Popularity contests and nepotism happen in baseball, too... just something we have to live with.

I mean... Billy Ripken had a few years of a career.

Posted by: rob at March 31, 2005 02:34 AM

That would overcomplicate things. The system works fine as is.

And the public's vote is not just based on the most recent performance (what the judges specifically were referring to last night) but can also include the performances by a finalist over time. Or it can be on the most recent performance. Crapshoot. And fun.

Nothing wrong with the results last night IMO. I would have had Federov in the bottom 3, though.

Posted by: Edw. at March 31, 2005 05:29 AM

Remember, actual talent in the entertaiment industry has never been a requirement for "success". That's why the value of the product created is essentially zero (as determined by the popularity of downloading music for free in the face f declining music sales). The music industry would do well to read some Economics 101 textbooks....

Posted by: Scott at March 31, 2005 10:36 AM

The voting system is ridiculous if the idea is to eliminate the voters' least favorite singer each week. But if the goal is to create an incentive for more people to vote each week (and thus increase interest and revenue), the system makes more sense.

Posted by: Capybara at March 31, 2005 01:38 PM

I agree that the system as-is guarantees the most viewer participation.

This is not about picking the most talented singer, or the singer most likely to be popular for the next 5 years. They may tell you that, but that's not what it's about.

This is American capitalism at its glory: get millions of people interested in some common cause, and make them come back as much as possible, so that sponsors will pay even more to reach that very specific target audience. If that means signing kids and young adults to a reserve clause, all the better. If that means that every now and then, you get a surprise in the bottom three, like last year's eventual winnger Fantasia, all the better.

Drama, loyalty, and money.

American Idol = Hollywood at its height

Posted by: tangotiger at March 31, 2005 02:24 PM
Post a comment









Remember personal info?