I am trying to be objective and read a blog about ESPN. I did what one guy said to do - set back and watch what they have done. I let them start with a clean slate and BAM!!! He was right. They are very biased towards Boston and it's area teams, especially Boston in general.
It is the Stanley Cup Finals. Not the Quarter or Conference Finals, but the Stanley Cup Finals. Seems like that would be the main lead in story since the NBA finals have not arrived yet. So with Pittsburgh and Detroit in the Stanley Cup Finals, and Game One, of course they would kick off SportsCenter with the SC highlights. Ahhhh, no. It was K-G and the Boston Celtics finally winning a road game. They spent seven minutes on the highlights of the game. The next segway went into Stuart Scott, Jalen Rose and (everyones favorite big mouth) Stephen A (as in a-s-s) Smith for another two minutes and 27 seconds and then went to the STANLEY CUP FINALS game one highlights! Those highlights lasted two minutes and six seconds, or 11 seconds less then Scott, Rose and Smith.
Can you be anymore biased to Boston, ESPN? Of course, the next story for two minutes and nine seconds was the Boston Red Sox and Oakland game highlights and breaking up Oaklands no hitter. A short time later, they went to Boston's no-hitter. Of course they related Lester's no - hitter to his bout with cancer and that is an incredible story. However, let's look at some other storylines.
It is Memorial Day weekend. There is the Pat Tillman story, the foundation that Lori Piestewa's family set up for native Americans that were also killed in the war, the double amputees that are in the Michigan schools telling high school students about their experiences.
They also are mentioning Matt Ryans' (where did he go to school - Boston College, went into the Boston Pistons game again, showed two scores from the Wings game, the no hitter breakup again and finally, oh yea, a little race called, the Indianapolis 500.
ESPN is continually showing why more and more their ratings are slipping. Hey, they still have the spelling Bee and the WNBA!!!
thats funny .......i am from boston and transplanted to fla (are there sports teams here?) i think the opposite,it seems they cannot spend enough time on spygate sometimes......and the part that kills me is nobody has admitted to or proven in any way that any of this video was ever used in a current game situation (the only place it would have been useful) . i think schlereth stays up late ,even past his wife's (woof-woof) late night heat..........thinking about ways to bash the pats themselves, i mean the team itself would have no knowledge of this anyway and we all know every team sends advance scouts to do this ,why is MOST everybody being so coy.like they all do TRY TO FIGURE OUT OTHERS SIGNALS. FACT.
Last edited by RIGHTGEOUS101 on May 25th at 8:51 AM.
I don't disagree that ESPN is biased towards the Celtics but as a Laker fan, I strongly feel that the referees are so biased against the Celtics that there could be a case made that there are a number of refs with huge bets against the Celtics going to the finals.
All things considered I bet the Celtics would prefer the refs be biased in their favor and ESPN against them.
YES I AGREE!!! and i will use an example??? in the united states ok!!! on the west coast (LOOKING AT A MAP)??? we have the state of washington... seattle being the sonics oops maybe leaving?? mariners but ??? ouch do they play MLB???? college the huskies.. and the WSU cougs.. etc etc etc.... now we slide down the coast to california... lakers, clippers,kings..NBA... colleges ooomy UCLA, USC, CAL ,STANFORD.. etc etc etc... small colleges as well!!! (san fran dons)!!! etc etc etc!!!!!! now????? isnt there a state between washinghton and CAL????? the state of ( jepardy music now)???? OREGON!!!!???? uug now as an oregon duck fan (THE BEAVER STATE)!!!! yes we have one NBA team the portland trail blazers!!!! no pro baseball teams!!!! we have the two major colleges the university of oregon and the oregon state beavers!!!! lots of small colleges sprinkled around our state!!!!! the one major film that was shot here in oregon was animal house!!! yes and lots of others!!!!!! sportscaster ahmad reshad (bobby more) played football at the university of oregon as well as dan fouts, sports caster ..monday night football, and now college football .... and yes more... came from our state!!!! i love to say about our state as we dont tan we rust!!!!! oregonians love to play in puddles or we build dams!!! AKA ducks, beavers!!!!! yes and its still around is the oregon trail!!!! how the west was won (MOVIE) was shot here to!!!! but!!! wait my point!!! oregon will never ever and yes its called reality !!! get the respect!!! thank you
Last edited by kellyscott on May 25th at 10:33 AM.
but wait??? didnt ESPN GAME DAY VENTURE OUT HERE TWICE LAST COLLEGE FOOTBALL SEASON WITH GAME DAY????? WELL THEN I STAND CORRECTED!!!! I NEED A NAP!!!!
Last edited by kellyscott on May 25th at 10:40 AM.
i didnt see SC last night but i can tell you why it may appear that they are Boston Biased. The reason why they didnt start with hockey is because they never start with hockey because alot of people dont know or care that the finals are going on. SC is going to focus on the NBA because people watch basketball. Next you said that they showed the Red Sox break up a no hitter, they would have shown any team breaking up a no hitter it was just a coincidence that it was a Boston team. ESPN is baised but on the whole east coast not just Boston, trust me they love NY just as much
It seems that if an announcer speaks kindly of one team, they are automatically biased. It’s the old, if you aint with us, you are against us, credo. I do believe, given ESPN’s location is in Connecticut, that there would be some regional bias, both positive and negative. However, ESPN loves numbers. And the numbers bear out that the most interesting franchises reside in the big market cities. They also know that some teams have a national following (Patriots, Red Sox, Yankees, Cubs, Lakers, etc) and they will program highlighting those teams. As an intelligent fan who loves sports, I separate the wheat from the chafe to gather information. In the 1980’s, when the NBA was on CBS, fans had to deal with former Celtic player Tommy Heinsohn as an analyst on the national broadcasts. However, when the Celtics were playing in the nationally broadcasted game, Mr. Heinsohn forgot he was no longer an objective analyst, as the Celtic bouquets just kept on coming. The late Johnny Most would have been so proud. So perceived or real bias by networks or talking heads is nothing new. I have learned to care less if the announcers or the network has a bias, because its about the GAME itself, and not about the noise around it.
They are totally biased when it comes to big market teams, particularly the Sox, Yanks, Lakers, Pats, Cowboys, etc. At least, they don't seem to have that Notre Dame bias that NBC has.
Everybody on ESPN talked trash, when the Sonics and Blazers had the first picks in last year's draft. As if the Northwest side of the country never existed at all.
I tend to agree that there is an East Coast bias on ESPN. And I also agree that hockey is so down in this country that it couldn't lead off SportCenter. But the seeming cheerleading makes me mute the TV and do my own commentary. It sounds weird, but since I'm studying journalism, it sorta like practice for me. In summation, I think ESPN has that bias, and all of their commentators have a bias. Stuart Scott has his NC bias, Mike Golic has his ND bias, Stephen A. has his no point bias, etc.
What people need to realize is that ESPN doesn't have to be impartial; they're a business. The job of a business is to maximize the profits for themselves and their shareholders. How would ESPN do that? They cater to the fans of teams in large markets, like New York and Boston.
That's why you see an inordinate amount of Red Sox/Yankees coverage. That's why they lead off with the Celtics.
They're not going to make money by catering to hockey fans because covering hockey extensively will not make them the most money.
I stopped taking ESPN seriously more than 5 years ago. The more ESPN focused on its profit margins, the lower the quality of their programming became. That's what happens when you live in a country with a capitalist economy: the consumers get screwed.
The thing with the hockey is that they don't have the rights to broadcast it, so they always put it second to other sports, but they do seem to favor Boston.
The consumer most definitely gets screwed, ask anyone in the middle class or below how the economy has treated them lately. Or ask the millions of drivers who have gone from paying just over a dollar for a gallon of gas to close to four dollars, despite the oil companies earning record profits.
What choices do you have there, assuming you have a commute to your job? Walk? Out of the question. Public transportation? If you live in an area like the one I'm in, public transportation is both costly and a hassle (it's a 25-minute drive into Philadelphia by car; an hour and a half most times if you use public transportation). Quit your job and get a new one elsewhere? Unfathomable with the current job market and economy.
A small correction: an economy isn't "Communist;" it is socialist. Communism is a socio-economic philosophy that is authoritarian with social issues (what the ruler says goes) and it removes the class system since everyone gets the same amount (there are no Bill Gates and there are no bums eating out of trash cans).
So, in regards to ESPN, they're not doing anything wrong by favoring certain cities and teams. You don't have to like it, but ESPN isn't in the wrong.
Retired military now with another Federal Government Agency. Are thankful to have served with many great soldier and will continue to have my
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