Meaningless Capital One Cup results

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I was alerted this morning by a breaking press release that Penn's own women's athletics program finished No. 51 (out of 62) in the Capital One Cup!

The Penn women finished with 4 points overall (winner Standford had 121), which according the release "was [the] result of [a] top 10 finish in lacrosse this spring season." The Quakers tied for 51st (full standings here) with the Michigan State Spartans and the Stony Brook Seawolves, which, as always, begs the question: what is a seawolf?

A little digging around on Stony Brook's website reveals that: "The Seawolf is a mythical sea creature of the Tlingit tribe, said to bring good luck to all those fortunate enough to see it." Okay.

Anyway back to the important stuff: Brown was the top Ivy finisher in the women's standings, finishing with 20 points at No. 27. (For those who don't follow NCAA women's rowing, Brown won it all this year, propelling them into the upper echelon half of this competition).  Princeton followed with 18 points in 31st place. While men's sports are still dragging on, Cornell is currently in 30th, Yale in 61st and Brown in 71st. Last time I checked, none of those programs is going to win the College World Series, so their stock can only fall at this point...

If you, like me, are wondering how this competition works, Capital One awards points to programs for Top 10 finishes in NCAA championships and final coaches polls. According to the Cup's website, "Sports are grouped based on fan interest, school participation and other factors."

The winning programs receive a swanky trophy and $200,000 toward graduate-level scholarships for student-athletes. In case you hadn't heard, "the Capital One Cup is college athletics' new premier award." Don't tell the Heisman, BCS Championship trophy, Naismith Award or basketball championship trophies.