Do national sports announcers hate your team too?

In My Humble Opinion
21

Bill Walton is a jackass, and he has always blatantly favored west coast teams. If your team is matched up against the Lakers, Sonics, Trailblazers, Suns or Kings you’ll get the shaft all night, and its nearly certain he’ll be calling your game. His secondary bias was always towards any team with a “star” center. He always hated the Bulls since their team was built around Jordan and they basically built the template for minimizing the factor of a center. I think it was a threat to his reputation, and his nightmare is a game where point guards rule, which they would if the officials called the game like they should these days. Walton ruined the 90’s for me since he always gave Shaq or Ewing and the Lakers, Blazers, Suns or Sonics a constant blowjob in the finals.

Don’t get me started on Joe Morgan and Jon Miller.

Anyways, I think most broadcasters have a built in bias, and if you’re already a self-concious fan you’ll probably pick it up pretty quick. Considering most are former managers and players, its logical. McCarver is an asshole and clearly is very New York biased. There are certain broadcasters who I think do a better job than most at being impartial. For example, Bob Costas was always the model for it. And I must say for all of Madden’s faults, he does a reasonable job of being unbiased for a ex-coach with his fan-like demeanor. Granted he might get on one topic and ride it into the ground, but I never get the impression its biased, just the most interesting facet of that matchup and he’d be equally likely to do it for either team. He did really over-build Ray Lewis, but frankly for 2+ hours there wasn’t much else worth discussing. I have little doubt that 5 years from now he might do the exact same thing with Courtney Brown without any reservation. On the other hand, I can’t say Theisman and McGuire have the same even-handed tone, they’ll always be biased towards that NFC East.

In short, I’d say in some cases its just paranoia, in others actual prejudice, and occasionally deserved disrespect. Honsetly, how long do you think the Bengals will have to actually be good to deserve consistent hype? Would you honestly rather the announcers made phony praise of every team and player just to keep things level?

22

McGuire is just the very poor man’s Dan Dierdorf - who, incidentally, had a major bias against the Eagles, back to before they were as good as they are now.

23

Well my home teems are the Detroit Lions and Tigers. They get no respect what-so-ever.

Which is exactly the correct level.

Thank the stars for the Denver Broncos. (My other home team.)

24

You can’t have two home teams unless you have two homes! (Do you?)

25

Man, this thread is hilarious. I mean, this is an absolute scream.

So far, the following cities just get no respect from the sports media:

Cleveland
Oakland
Atlanta
St. Louis
Detroit
Chicago
San Antonio
Washington
Philadelphia
Baltimore

I’ll throw in Toronto and Ottawa, both of whom also complain incessantly about media bias.

This is quite a pattern. Ummm… do you think maybe sports fans have a tendency to see bias where there is none?

26

RickJay, let’s run down the list here:

Cleveland: No World Series wins since 1948, basketball team that doesn’t score very much, and a football team that had to start over from scratch because some jagoff moved the old team. The football team is slowly becoming respectable now, but the others still suck. And, of course, the Cuyahoga was once on fire.

Oakland: Small town compared to it’s neighbor, San Francisco. And as a Steelers fan, I hate the Raiders on principle.

Atlanta: Baseball team is too good, so I get satisfaction from their yearly choke in the playoffs, basketball team sucks, and football team is getting better, but they still suck. And when they were good, the Dirty Bird was a loathsome dance.

St. Louis: Who disrespects them? LaRussa is a great manager, what he does every year is nothing short of amazing.

Detroit: Even Barry Sanders didn’t want to play there. The Tigers are horrible, and the Lions are perennial bottom feeders. The Pistons aren’t too bad. But Detroit suffers a bad reputation as a city, and I think that translates to the sports teams.

Chicago: What does a mama bear on the pill and the World Series have in common? No Cubs. The Sox never seem to get it together, and those shorts were a felony offense back in the day. The Bears? I still remember how cocky they were when they did the “Super Bowl Shuffle”, so I like seeing them lose, even though that was a long time ago. And it’s nice to see the Bulls down on their luck. Reinsdorf forgot where his bread was buttered, and he paid the price.

San Antonio: Again, who disrespects the Spurs? Usually they’re a good team. And David Robinson and Tim Duncan (and Sean Elliott) had some class.

Washington: Dan Snyder is a jackhole. The Bullets and Caps are OK, though. Yes, I said Bullets.

Philadelphia: Ask the guy who got his face destroyed last year why nobody likes Philly. They have a courthouse in the stadium, for Pete’s sake. The Flyers, well, they had the Big Baby, Lindros. Now that he’s gone they don’t offend me so greatly. And the Sixers have Iverson, a true American douchebag.

Baltimore: The baseball team sucks, the stolen football team is on the downs. The only thing they have going for themselves is that their stadiums are spectacular. And I like seeing Modell eat dirt, it’s well deserved, IMO. Not to mention that I have to go to a bar to see Steelers games now since they moved here and took the TV rights. I couldn’t care less about the Ravens, my taxes went to the Steelers’ stadium.

Toronto and Ottawa: They’re Canadian. I’m not Canadian. 'Nuff said.

You named the teams, I gave you reasons.

27

I’m pretty sure they no longer do this - anyone know for certain?

28

Couthouse: I’m pretty sure it is still used. Media spotlight dwindled, but it’s there.

29

Why do all the sportscasters have such huge hard-ons for notre dame, even when they clearly suck? Luck of the Irish, indeed! If they didn’t have luck, they wouldn’t score at all.

I hate notre dame.

Thats what I think, so you should too!

30

Probably just for that reason - ever notice that when a team has a national unfollowing (that is, there are lots and lots of people who despise it), the announcers will try to compensate for it by going the other way and praising more than they need to?

31

Oh, so it’s OK for Cleveland to bitch and scream when they lose their NFL franchise but Baltimore is just expected to SHUT UP and deal? At least Modell didn’t sneak out of town in the middle of the night during a goddamn blizzard like Irsay did. And I just love how the NFL refuses to let Baltimore have the new franchise be named the Colts, because “There already is a franchise with that name.”:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

What’s this about a guy getting his face destroyed during a game in Philly? Info please. It’s not that I don’t believe you, I just hadn’t heard anything about this, not that I would expect anything less from the sports fans in the City of Brotherly Love.

32

Yes, the Spurs are usually a good team, and are usually full of stand-up guys (we got rid of Rodman as soon as we could.) We’ve had, IIRC, at least half of the last three sportsmanship award winners in San Antonio. Who could find a reason to hate us? Not many, except…

Again, Bill Walton disrespects the Spurs. He hates them with a passion, and I have no idea why.

Also, my mother was on a flight with him once, and she says that he was a jerk, so I guess that kind of skews my views a tad.

Also, notice how there was no mention of a New York or Los Angeles on your list. Anyone care to guess why?

33

AllI know is that the national media has an east coast bias. At least as far as baseball is concerned. Even this year, all the talk was about the Yankees, Red Sox, Braves and Mets.

It wasn’t till it was clear to all that the majority of talent was in the west that ESPN took any notice.

34

I’m not sure most of North America is aware there’s a professional hockey team in Edmonton. They’ve only been playing the most exciting hockey in the league for four years now.

35

Ummm… Duh. This is half (at least) the fun of being a sports fan!

I’ll go ahead and chime in, as an Atlanta native, about bias against Atlanta teams. C’mon, Airman Doors, hating the Braves because they’re “too good”? Give us a break! I stuck with the Braves through the Dark Years (Phil Niekro, Bruce Benedict, Bob Horner, Dale Murphy, Rafael Ramirez ring a bell?), and dammit, now that they’re good I refuse to apologize for it.

And the Falcons? Oh, my poor Falcons. Remember the post-Steve Bartkowski years? Yeah, I’ve tried to forget them too, but as far as the national media are concerned, they never ended. It’s as if the Falcons never had a 14-2 season, won the most exciting game I’ve ever seen by beating Minnesota in the NFC Championship game, and went to the Super Bowl.

If you want to see the bias against certain teams, I’ll tell you exactly where it’s TOTALLY OBVIOUS. It’s in those series of very quick-cut clips they use to lead-in football shows from commercials and such. You know, a shot of a great catch, then a savage hit, and so on. My entire life, these have shown the Falcons on the losing end of all these plays…

Except during the 1998 season, when the Falcons went 14-2. That season, the Falcons were shown on the winning end, making great plays instead of having them made on them. As soon as the Falcons went back to normal (i.e., 6-10), they went back to losing on the clip montages too, as if they never made an interesting play in an entire season.

OK, I’ll stop ranting now (even though I’m only just warming up). But watch those clip montages.

36

I think the Indianapolis Colts do not get any respect and that is just fine and dandy with ME.

The Pacers might get a bit of respect since they have had Larry Bird and and now, Isaiah Thomas. Go Pacers!! Lakers SUCK!

37

Cheer, cheer for old Notre Dame,
Wake up the echoes cheering her name,
Send a volley cheer on high,
Shake down the thunder from the sky.
What though the odds be great or small
Old Notre Dame will win over all,
While her loyal sons are marching
Onward to victory.

:smiley:

38

Our Seattle Seahawks get no respect, but then they couldn’t defend against a Mylar balloon with a Ziplog bag full of hyena hair hanging on the string.

39

At no point did I say you couldn’t whine. Whine away to your heart’s content. If the Colts were still there I’d still hate Baltimore because they’d still keep me from seeing my beloved Steelers. Truth is, I only harp on the fact that they were stolen because I can, and it just rubs salt in the wound. Besides, I think Irsay’s a genuine piece of garbage too. Fair enough?

Behold, the Tragic story of Chris Patrick. The 700 level of the Vet is a war zone.

Eagle’s Court, Judge Seamus McCaffrey presiding, is alive and well. Attend a game at the Vet at your own risk.

Incidentally, the last time the Braves didn’t win the division, I was 15. That’s 42% of my entire life to this point. If you think I’m jealous, hell yeah I am. My Pirates suck monkey balls, and I’m still a die-hard fan. That’s how fans should be. So yes, I do indeed take unholy pleasure in seeing the Braves choke, and I will for at least the next 20 years or until I’m sure they suck again. Then, maybe, I might feel a little bit of empathy for them. But I doubt it.

40

Ok Lions fans (degrance and SNenc so far, but whoever else) I feel your pain. While not a Lions fan persay, due to circumstances beyond my control, I watch a lot of Lions games, and you have to admit that during the Barry years, the gushing of national announcers was a bizarre thing. Granted, a great athlete, but the Lions would be down by about a hundred and six points, have given up about 45 interceptions, and failed to recover a few dozen fumbles, and STILL, the only thing talked about on air was how magnificent Barry was. Opponents would score for the umpteenth time, and the announcers would say “well, not as good as Barry, but they scored. But anyway, back to Barry …”

Anyway, so RickJay doesn’t think I’m paranoid, I don’t think there is any coordinated conspiracy against my own home team, the Buffalo Bills, but Randy Cross as an individual has some major problems. I was watching a game, minding my own business, when all of sudden, the camera cut to a fan who, admittedly, was sporting some red and blue face paint. Randy then says

“In a town like this, you know there’s an idiot in every section.”

A town like what? A town with a lot of football fans? And it wasn’t as if the face-painted fan was roasting a baby on a spit during half-time or anything, he was just cheering. I also like how Randy can then deduce that we’ve got one in every section, because we don’t want all our idiots in one basket, we like to spread them evenly around.