As someone who doesn't live in New York, LA, Boston, Chicago or Philadelphia, I get really annoyed these days trying to watch a Sports TV Network or read a big time Sports Website.
Why you ask?
Because they all but ignore teams that don't play in the above cities.
Sure, they pay attention to Oklahoma City because Kevin Durant plays there. And they slobber over the Dallas Cowboys, because they are the Dallas Cowboys and will pay attention to the Philadelphia Eagles, well, because they are a big city not far from New York.
But by and large they ignore the rest of the country.
And my example of this....happened Wednesday night.
The Atlanta Hawks played the Los Angeles Lakers in Atlanta. The Hawks were without 2 of their best players, Josh Smith and Jeff Teague, the Lakers were coming off a win against the pitiful Orlando Magic. Oh, and the world....ESPN in particular proclaimed "The Lakers are Back" after Dwight Howard shot 39 free throws against the moronic Magic defense.
Well, the Hawks beat the Lakers Wednesday night, but you'd never know it watching or reading the morning match ups.
No, the only thing mentioned, highlights of the Lakers and Kobe Bryant got hurt.
For the record, Bryant was hurt trying to land after missing a jump shot, he landed on the foot of Hawks guard Dhantay Jones and sprained his ankle.
The highlights I saw this morning. Kobe shooting jumpers. Dwight Howard (Lakers) struggling to score. Kobe getting hurt. Kobe whining that Jones tried to hurt him. Kobe whining "Shooters should be Protected". (No, they shouldn't)
That was it.
No mention of the undermanned Hawks. No mention of them playing a good team game. No mention of the Lakers not being as good as advertised. And then an attack on Jones. And now the National Reporters are convinced Jones tried to hurt Bryant.
What Jones did isn't against the rules guys. Sorry. It may not be the cleanest move, but its done....frequently. Basketball is a game where you get hurt. From time to time you land on people's feet. If this happened to ANYONE else, it wouldn't even get a mention.
**NOTE**---We predicted the Lakers would SUCK last year, and explained why back in July of last year. You can read it RIGHT HERE
Honestly though, this isn't directed specifically at a particular team. Just coverage in general.
Yeah, some of it is bitterness because when I worked in local TV, they used the "ESPN" excuse as one of the many reasons they didn't need a Sports Department. No, ESPN, CBSSportsNetwork or the NBCSportsNetwork don't pay attention to lower profile teams either. Yet the perception is they do.
So in the meantime, we get endless diatribes on things like "The Greatness of Tim Tebow" or "Seth Greenburg gives his version of the 'Oscars'" or Herm Edwards talking about Danica Patrick. We get an endless stream of daily live updates from New York Yankees training camp...or the 5-11 Jets. But no mention any other teams.
And we continue to watch. Because we have no choice. Because there are no longer any other options. You will occasionally get some information on "Other" teams from smaller websites, but you have to look for it. In the meantime, much like everything else, the business continues to thrive because of the ignorant masses who don't pay attention or don't realize the Sports Cable News Networks of the world aren't pandering to them, they are pandering to the dumbest of them.
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