As I peer into many of my fellow bloggers respective blogs, I notice a peculiar thing about most but not all….are we so entrenched into our own hometown love that it clouds our actual view? Is someone that talks only about the town that they claim as home an actual sports fan? Of course we see this bias in our great sports writers today…I enjoy Mark Stein’s basketball articles…but then he gets on these rants about his beloved Cal team…and Bill Simmons….will he ever run out of things to say about Boston? The list goes on and on and you can also see where the “hometown love” creates a vacuum of more biased than actual unbiased journalism.

I will tell you the truth, the second I read a blog about one certain team, I immediately check to see where the writer is coming from. I see at times that the “hometown love” takes over and the writer is more entrenched in writing on feeling that actual fact. That’s when I stop reading. Because, if I wanted biased journalism, I’d listen to Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, and Ann Coulter more.

It’s unavoidable, especially when a big city reporter or announcer talks more about their respective teams than most. That’s the way it should be. What I can’t stand though, is, say, when I’m watching an NBA game on a Foxsports channel from that respective city, and the color commentators are clearly showing more love to the Hometown team. I don’t care how much love you feel for the Hometown team…but, during a game, and a ref makes a bad call, it’s a bad call…plain and simple…for either team…not just for your beloved Hometown squad. It takes me back to the days when I watched Pro wrestling…and the “bad guy” color commentator always showed more love for the antagonist, and the “good guy” color commentator cheered on the protagonist. Totally biased…no true facts…just favoritism.

I love NBA basketball…all of NBA basketball…of course my heart belongs to the Chicago Bulls (thanks MJ). It’s the city I’m closest to, even though I live in Michigan…(I’m in the southwest, so Chitown is 1 hour closer than Detroit)…but when I try to write these articles, I try to span the many aspects of NBA basketball. I once wrote an article about the Detroit Pistons, and immediately started getting trash from many different bloggers….all of whom were admitted Detroit fans, living in or around Detroit…the only ones that saw my point, were the ones not from Detroit or Michigan.

Being from Michigan, I was chastised by many people, friends and family, for saying that the Spurs were taking the title last season. So I was labeled the enemy. All I did was look at both teams, took an unbiased approach, and predicted that the Spurs would win. Many figured that since I am from Michigan, that I SHOULD be rooting for the Pistons. I think that’s just hogwash if you are a true sports fan.

I’m a gambling man as well. And anyone who has lost money gambling on a team knows that when you place that bet, you must decide if you are betting with your heart or your head. If you’re betting with heart, you’re not actually gambling, your picking a favorite and HOPING that they win. A true gambler has no favorites…a true gambler looks at the stats, looks at the trends, and makes an unbiased guess. Most sports analysts have to go about it this way for the sake of keeping their job. And the same goes for nationwide sports writers as well.

So when your writing your umpteenth blog about your favorite team, remember that with this internet comes a broader audience. A worldwide audience that doesn’t care about where you come from. It’s great to love the “Hometown team”. But to call yourself a Sports fan…means that you should love the sport….not just the particular team that is playing that sport.

And GO BULLS!!!...