The love for the BlowSux by ESPN

[Brandon]

Of course there is bias. But look where ESPN is. I bet the majority of people that work for the company are Red Sox fans or grew up as such. The reason they gush about the Yankees and Sox so much is because most of their viewer base is located in that part of the country. Outside of the Lakers, there isn't a team in the western part of the United States that gets constant National coverage. I think the closest one would be the Cowboys.

It's because they bring ratings and ratings bring dollars.

Teams like the Angels, Vancouver Canucks, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers aren't huge fan bases that drive numbers for them.

It's just economics. But the way they talk during broadcasts of their horses is pretty ridiculous.

[Kenny]

They were just talking about Pedroia's "hot zone".

[tdawg87]

The Red Sox do have the best record in the AL... in addition to having a large fan base that includes many annoying if not obnoxious SoCal natives that show up when they play in Anaheim.  

 

Two people sitting next to me last night we wearing no gear, but started cheering when the Red Sox hit foul balls, so I assumed they were Red Sox fans.   Then, they cheered when Kendrick hit a home run. I was confused.  Maybe I had misjudged them.  They later made it more clear they were Red Sox fans, but it was a bizarre experience.

 

That was just pimpmyteam's family. He still has his 30 MLB team hat and jersey on back order so he had to just wear normal clothes.

[jsnpritchett]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=schreiber_leanne&id=3534299

 

http://baseballcontinuum.com/tag/east-coast-bias/

[ScottT]

[jsnpritchett]

 

 

WEST COAST BIAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ScottT]

[jsnpritchett]

 

WEST COAST BIAS Part Deux!

[tdawg87]

I don't see how reporting on what is actually happening in the game is validation to your point of views, but ok.

[Brandon]

Yeah, it's just their Sunday showcase event. If it was the other way around they would show the same.

[ScottT]

So, not that much bias. 

 

It exists, and there are business reasons for it, but at the same time, west coast fans are looking for it... and crying about it when it isn't really there.  

[Tank]

Of course they're going to give a lt of attention to the sox, who have the best record in the AL right now. They're a very good team.

My issue in these games is that they spend so much time slobbering over one team that they don't give a reasonably fair amount of balance in covering the other team. Unfortunately, it seems to happen too frequently to the halos. If the Angels were playing better maybe there would be more balance in their coverage.

[disarcina]

BREAKING NEWS -- ESPN and other major networks favor Boston/ New York games (any sport).

 

Well, at least, these days with all the media outlets and games on TV through MLB.com etc. you can watch games involving other teams.

 

Some of us are 'mature' enough (age wise) to remember Curt Gowdy and Tony Kubek on NBC's Game of the Week.......the schedule looked something like this:

 

Boston vs. New York

 

Boston vs. Detroit

 

New York vs. Boston

 

New York vs. Chicago

 

Boston vs. Chicago

 

St. Louis vs. Chicago Cubs (an NL game, usually St. Louis, would make it once in a while)

 

New York vs. Baltimore

 

Baltimore vs. Boston

 

Boston vs. New York

 

you get the picture -- and since it was the GAME OF THE WEEK -- that was pretty much it for TV games.

 

although back then the Angels were on KTLA 5 and telecast more games than other teams (like the Dodgers).

 

this was back when Dick Enberg was still the sports guy at KTLA-5 and wasn't the pbp guy yet. Enberg used to broadcast the latter innings of the Angels games as from the Big A as part of the evening sports report........

[2002_halos_II]

All you have to do is look at the programming schedule for ESPN/MLB.network. TBS too. WGN is the Chicago network so no surprise there 'cept they showed the Cubs games when  La Angels were playing the ChiSox. Then we have FOX who routinely blacks out the Angels games (I think I've seen 2 games aired this season.)

[Futch Winkleman]

The Sox have the best record in the AL.

 

The Halos are third place in the AL West. 

 

Yeah, I agree... I have no idea why the Halos aren't getting as much love as the Sox.

[tdawg87]

I don't see anyone arguing that the Angels should be getting "as much love" as Boston.

[ScottT]

[tdawg87]

You can keep posting those pictures but they don't prove your point at all. It's the Sunday night game. Those are always on the front page for every Sunday night game.

[tj_]

I really don't understand this thread. Orel said many times that the Angels outplayed the Red Sox throughout the course of the broadcast. You have a former Dodger, former Philly and a Canadian play by play guy up there. While ESPN in general has a bias, I certianly didn't hear it in this game, especially as the game went along and went the way it did. There was one Rangers vs Tigers Sunday night game where they hardly talked about the Rangers....I didn't hear that tonight. They called out Shuck and Trumbo on crappy defense, they gushed over Trout, talked about Albert's injuries and how he should be DLed, they were even praising Hamilton. They said Howie Kendrick should be an all star.

 

Somebody mentioned they they showed Pedroia's hot zone...they showed Hamilton's as well. That was when he had a called 3r dstrike despite it being out of the zone....did you complainers even watch the whole broadcast?

 

 

I think the difference is I think Victor and Mark are TOTAL ANGEL HOMERS, and if you interpret what they do as 'normal' for a broadcast, I can see why a national broadcast would be frustrating to you.

[Brandon]

I think Victor and Gubi call games as Angels fans, but don't think ESPN should. Every local broadcast calls games to their viewers, ESPN is national and shouldn't have the bias they do when calling games.

[shellback]

espn announcers went almost(approx 50 min) into the play by play with 2 one sentence mentions of the angels.

i will not watch this network. they are the fox news of sports journalisim.

thier sportscenter segments are nothing but poor informercials for events they are carrying.

icannot convey in words how much i detest this network.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

They were just talking about Pedroia's "hot zone".

 

They called those "erogenous zones" back when I was in college. Maybe "hot zone" is the new politically correct term for them.

 

ESPN is driven by ratings. They spew ad nauseam about the Yankees and Red Sox because coverage of them brings in a lot of money. It doesn't hurt that ESPN is located in Bristol, CT, right in the heart of Red Sox country (and the home town of one Aaron Hernandez, but I digress). West coast teams are never going to get that kind of recognition unless they are truly dominant. Most of the east coast is asleep by the time our home games are in the fifth inning. The only thing east coasters know about us is what they see on SportsCenter the next morning while they're getting ready for work. I understand the irritation, but I'm over it because I understand what is behind it. The way to get coverage is to keep kicking the asses of the clubs they overhype.

[m0nkey]

espn announcers went almost(approx 50 min) into the play by play with 2 one sentence mentions of the angels.

i will not watch this network. they are the fox news of sports journalisim.

thier sportscenter segments are nothing but poor informercials for events they are carrying.

icannot convey in words how much i detest this network.

show your work

[shellback]

anybody know where i can get a BSPN t shirt?

XXL

[saangels]

I love how Kruk says he is planning an hour and a half long interview with Pedroia.  Because ESPN clearly doesn't spend enough time researching the Red Sox.  

 

They can't even hide their bias on television.  Every ESPN announcer knows the minutest of details regarding every Red Sox player.  But they make uninformed comments like "Howie Kendrick is a subpar defensive player," and "another quality pitch by Jeff--errr, Jared Weaver."  They call us the California Angels.  It never ends.  

 

But you can be damned sure that they know what Dustin Pedroia ate for breakfast this morning, what David Ortiz's favorite vacation destination is, and what kind of music Jacoby Ellsbury likes to listen to.