Guide to being a fan of Boston sports

[haltz]

I don't think it's fair to say "don't watch ESPN" either. It's the pre-eminent national sports news outlet. If you want to follow sports and see game recaps, that's pretty much where you have to go.

Why not? I follow baseball just fine without turning it on. It has nothing to do with bias, it's just not good for my temper. If you don't like the product, then find an alternative. No use making yourself miserable.

[MDCardsFan]

I don't think it's fair to say "don't watch ESPN" either. It's the pre-eminent national sports news outlet. If you want to follow sports and see game recaps, that's pretty much where you have to go.

Why not? I follow baseball just fine without turning it on. It has nothing to do with bias, it's just not good for my temper. If you don't like the product, then find an alternative. No use making yourself miserable.

Words of wisdom to live by Haltz. I rarely turn on ESPN unless I'm watching a game.

[Popeye_Card]

Is the Red Sox hatred stronger in St. Louis than elsewhere (not counting New York)? I just don't sense it around Chicago like I am sensing it on this board.

The Red Sox haven't beaten the Cubs in the World Series since...well 1918. I think maybe the anger/jealousy towards the Red Sox in Chicago has died down since then.

The Rams were awesome in '01, and got upset by the Patriots in the Super Bowl. The Cardinals were awesome in '04, and got swept by the Red Sox. We don't care to have obnoxious fans remind us of that.

I'm not talking about the run-of-the-mill guy at the corner bar, wearing his Red Sox hat and not bothering anybody. I'm talking about the ones who can't wait to rub your nose in it. Sort of like the Cards fans who can only say "1908!" to Cubs fans.

--P--

[ghostrunner]

I don't think it's fair to say "don't watch ESPN" either. It's the pre-eminent national sports news outlet. If you want to follow sports and see game recaps, that's pretty much where you have to go.

Why not? I follow baseball just fine without turning it on. It has nothing to do with bias, it's just not good for my temper. If you don't like the product, then find an alternative. No use making yourself miserable.

I can generally like what they have to offer and have problems with the specifics. I like most of the commentary there and I like being able to watch recaps. I may wish that they didn't run Joe Torre specials and that sort of thing. Nothing unreasonable there. Miserable is also not a term I'd self-apply.

Take MTV in the early 90's for example. I liked seeing the videos, but they were already becoming increasingly rare. I liked the stated purpose of the channel, but it didn't live up to it's potential most of the time. Suppose I had a Nielsen box on my TV. If I stopped watching the channel entirely, I'm only contributing to the problem because the videos have one less viewer than they used to.

[Leroy]

You people all should be ashamed of yourselves.

[haltz]

I can generally like what they have to offer and have problems with the specifics. I like most of the commentary there and I like being able to watch recaps. I may wish that they didn't run Joe Torre specials and that sort of thing.
Nothing unreasonable there. Miserable is also not a term I'd self-apply.

Then by all means watch it. I don't recall you being over-the-top whiny about it, anyway. Someone at ESPN has decided that it's in their best interests to cover baseball the way they do. It's a business, and I don't blame them for it. Same goes for the Red Sox. They have found a way to compete with the Yankees. Which is having an incredibly savvy front office and tons of revenue. More power to 'em.

Take MTV in the early 90's for example. I liked seeing the videos, but they were already becoming increasingly rare. I liked the stated purpose of the channel, but it didn't live up to it's potential most of the time. Suppose I had a Nielsen box on my TV. If I stopped watching the channel entirely, I'm only contributing to the problem because the videos have one less viewer than they used to.

Somewhere there is going to be a breaking point if it's that bad. Once again, it's a business. If their programming becomes less desirable and that is reflected by the amount of viewers, things will change (whatever happened to MTV2?). If you're OK with it, then watch.

Anyway, my point is that it's up to you. E.g., you can come here or go to VEB instead of Cards Talk. I don't think that's unreasonable.

[Popeye_Card]

I can generally like what they have to offer and have problems with the specifics. I like most of the commentary there and I like being able to watch recaps. I may wish that they didn't run Joe Torre specials and that sort of thing.

This is pretty much where I'm at. I watch it in the morning while I get ready, to catch up on the happenings in sports. I only really get annoyed when they've obviously beaten a subject to death. It isn't only the big name teams. I'm tired of hearing about how the Rockies have won 21 of 22 games--I know all of their highlights from the last month by heart. I know that the Patriots are still undefeated. What I'd like to see is longer highlights from games that are still going on. They show like 5 total minutes of NHL highlights, even though it's the only pro sport that's going on during the week these days when the baseball playoffs are on hiatus for days at a time.

So in short, instead of telling us again about the stories involving a few teams/players, use that time to show us more highlights of other games. I could also do with less "Is this team better?", "Is this player better?" analysis. More highlights please. Let us decide for ourselves.

--P--

[Socnorb11]

I don't think it's fair to say "don't watch ESPN" either. It's the pre-eminent national sports news outlet. If you want to follow sports and see game recaps, that's pretty much where you have to go.

Why not? I follow baseball just fine without turning it on. It has nothing to do with bias, it's just not good for my temper. If you don't like the product, then find an alternative. No use making yourself miserable.

Even if we don't watch, we'll still know that the bias is there. The bias IS what's annoying, and it's not going to stop simply because I change the channel.

Maybe I'm not as good at pretending that it doesn't exist......

[jim]

I don't think it's fair to say "don't watch ESPN" either. It's the pre-eminent national sports news outlet. If you want to follow sports and see game recaps, that's pretty much where you have to go.

Why not? I follow baseball just fine without turning it on. It has nothing to do with bias, it's just not good for my temper. If you don't like the product, then find an alternative. No use making yourself miserable.

Even if we don't watch, we'll still know that the bias is there. The bias IS what's annoying, and it's not going to stop simply because I change the channel.

Maybe I'm not as good at pretending that it doesn't exist......

It's the free market system. There are more people that care about the Red Sox and Yankees than the Devil Rays and Pirates. Networks want advertising dollars. Advertisers want people. Therefore Networks show more Red Sox and Yankees.

[JL21]

This is pretty much where I'm at. I watch it in the morning while I get ready, to catch up on the happenings in sports. I only really get annoyed when they've obviously beaten a subject to death. It isn't only the big name teams. I'm tired of hearing about how the Rockies have won 21 of 22 games--I know all of their highlights from the last month by heart. I know that the Patriots are still undefeated. What I'd like to see is longer highlights from games that are still going on. They show like 5 total minutes of NHL highlights, even though it's the only pro sport that's going on during the week these days when the baseball playoffs are on hiatus for days at a time.

So in short, instead of telling us again about the stories involving a few teams/players, use that time to show us more highlights of other games. I could also do with less "Is this team better?", "Is this player better?" analysis. More highlights please. Let us decide for ourselves.

--P--

I don't mean this in any smartarse way, but I wonder... had ESPN been as big in the 70's as they are now, would this same sentiment exist about their bias towards the Reds, Pirates, and Orioles? I'm just speculating if the "bias" is because those two particular teams are from the markets that they're from, or if it's because they're generally year in and year out two of the very best teams in the game?