ESPN and East Coast Bias

I was thinking the other day how hard it was before the internet to be a fan a team that wasn't from the area where you lived.  A fan was limited to daily box scores, "This Week in Baseball", and the rare appearance on network television's Saturday game of the week.  If you were lucky, one of the national sports magazines such as Sports Illustrated or the Sporting News would do a story about one of your team's players who was having a stand out season or a brief write-up about the team's recent accomplishment.  That was it.  I currently live 2000 miles from Anaheim, but I get to watch every game, read the local rags' write-ups and get daily reports about what's going on in the Angels' baseball world.  It was kind of fun being an Angels fan because they were always under the national baseball radar.  It was like being in a secret that only a few other people knew about.  Even in Southern California the Angels were treated like the ugly step-kid after their new brother or sister was born.  The Dodgers were always the lead story on the local sports reports, the top story in the sports section and favorite area team among the "cool people".  After their 2002 World Series win, the Angels gained a large bandwagon following in SoCal, but remained ignored throughout the rest of the nation.  Which was alright with us, our secret was still intact...at least outside of Orange County. But now ESPN has heard a rumor.  The Angels have a pretty good team.

ESPN has been the network of Red Sox Nation and Yankee fans for as long as I can remember.  It's just like being in California again, sitting through the Dodgers' highlights on the local news and sifting through the sports section to finally get some Angels coverage.  But now it's stories about Giambi's mustache, Peter Gammons Red Sox reports (hey Pete, you don't work for the Boston Globe anymore!), or either team's pitching problems.  Three weeks ago in ESPN's power rankings, the Angels' note read, "The Angels open the second half tied with the Cubs for the best record in baseball", but the Red Sox ranked ahead of them.  It was only after sweeping the Chowds in Anaheim did the Angels move above them (and yet the Sox remained in the #2 slot ahead of the Cubs).  And then, after sweeping the Red Sox twice and leaving the Sucks looking like a team of bobble heads on top of an out-of-balance washing machine, did ESPN place the Halos at the top of their power rankings.

I haven't even mentioned the number of times the nationally televised game features the Yankees or Red Sox.  I tried going back and counting the times one of these teams were on the telecast, but ESPN doesn't list their television schedule after the games have been played.  It seemed like every time I turned on ESPN, I was treated to another East Coast telecast featuring announcers falling all over themselves trying to win the favor of Yankee or Red Sox fans.

Well, it now looks like the secret is out.  The Bristol Boys have jumped on the bandwagon and have started to notice that team out west with the best record in baseball.  I admit, its kind of cool seeing Halo red placed so prominently on the ESPN site.  Welcome to the party guys, where ya been?