East Coast bias (1 Viewer)

[Sabertooth]

I never really paid much attention to the bias of announcers. The guy who does the youtube "Chilly Report" each week pointed it out and I thought maybe it was a Peter King thing. But watching the Packers - Jets game yesterday you'd have sworn the Jets were just toying with the Packers and there was no way the Pack would win that game. It occurred several times, Siragusa was pretty bad about it.

It got me to wondering about how this can effect a fantasy football team. You hear glowing reports about players like Brady and Sanchez when they are really right in there with guys like Freeman as far as PPG. Shonn Greene was a hot commodity this offseason. I remember Cecil and Sig laughing about how he was considered a "value" in the second round. What other instances have we seen or are we still seeing where the hype is just way bigger because of the geographical location of the team?

 

[theplayer11]

It's more a NY thing

 

[TankRizzo]

If anything, I think that's big market bias, not necessarily an East Coast bias.

 

[jmo87usc]

It's also more of a "real" football thing than a "fantasy" football thing. There are definitely alot of guys who get overhyped, but most of the time, reporters and announcers aren't speaking in fantasy terms.

 

[renesauz]

If anything...I thought it was a good team on a roll playing at home against a talented team that's been struggling after getting decimated by injuries.

O wait...that isn't bias, is it?

Good win for the Packers, but don't get carried away.

 

[Joe Bryant]

I think it's more a "hype" or "darling" type of thing. I agree some teams get the benefit of a strong bias for them.

I'd also say that from my experience writing about the whole league with the Random Shots column each where I get a lot of email feedback, there are a lot of fans that are overly sensitive to a perceived bias.

Any negative thing about the team from the announcer (or any positive thing about the other team) is instantly seen as bias. When in reality, it might just their honest opinion.

So I see both sides here.

J

 

[bengalbuck]

As far as fantasy football is concerned specifically, the only big bias I see is towards players that are on TV a lot. It's just natural that if 2 players are relatively equal, people will draft the guy they've seen a bunch on Monday night football, in playoff games, etc.

The example earlier in this thread of Sanchez vs. Freeman is a good one. The Jets last year played some primetime games and made a playoff run. Then Sanchez and the Jets were featured on Hard Knocks. I'm sure that contributed to more people taking a late flier on Sanchez than people doing the same with Freeman, who was never in the national spot light.

 

[Touchdown There]

Shonn Greene was a hot commodity this offseason. I remember Cecil and Sig laughing about how he was considered a "value" in the second round.

I am going to put this Fantasy Football Formula in my signature line. Talent + Motivation + Opportunity = ProductionShonn Greene's opportunity has been removed by the superb play of LT (a healthy hall of famer arguably in his last great year). Shonn Greene is talented, healthy and running hard. Once LT earned the starting role, opposing defenses figured out that it is "pound the rock time" when Greene is in the game. The box is then filled with 8 defenders and Shonn Greene is still hitting 4.5 ypc.I wish that I had not drafted Greene in a few leagues this year, both of which were in the second round. However, you have to be fair to Greene. He is producing according to his opportunities. He is now a role player and fantasy irrelevant, but prior to game 1 he was expected to get 20+ carries a game. This guy will explode if LT goes down.

 

[Sabertooth]

Shonn Greene was a hot commodity this offseason. I remember Cecil and Sig laughing about how he was considered a "value" in the second round.

I am going to put this Fantasy Football Formula in my signature line. Talent + Motivation + Opportunity = ProductionShonn Greene's opportunity has been removed by the superb play of LT (a healthy hall of famer arguably in his last great year). Shonn Greene is talented, healthy and running hard. Once LT earned the starting role, opposing defenses figured out that it is "pound the rock time" when Greene is in the game. The box is then filled with 8 defenders and Shonn Greene is still hitting 4.5 ypc.I wish that I had not drafted Greene in a few leagues this year, both of which were in the second round. However, you have to be fair to Greene. He is producing according to his opportunities. He is now a role player and fantasy irrelevant, but prior to game 1 he was expected to get 20+ carries a game. This guy will explode if LT goes down.

I can agree with all of this.

 

[huthut]

There has been an east coast bias for all sports, if anything I think baseball is much worse than football for this. ESPN is based on the east coast and there are more people on the east coast. While it would be nice if each area got equal coverage, and I am extremely sick of hearing about boston or NY teams, I kind of understand why they do it.

 

[Phurfur]

It's also more of a "real" football thing than a "fantasy" football thing. There are definitely alot of guys who get overhyped, but most of the time, reporters and announcers aren't speaking in fantasy terms.

People still think Dallas is one of the most talented teams in the league. The pre-game shows still pick them to win every week.

 

[Dodge]

I just know that every time Troy Aikman does a Dallas/Giants game he's a homer. In every other game he does for the Giants, he's pretty good.

 

[Crash Davis]

I'll admit to having been distracted by a cranky 6 month old, but every time I was listening Moose Johnston was talking about how the GB passing game was mixing it up keeping them off balance and the Jets D couldn't adapt. I thought that was funny because if you just listened to him you'd think Rodgers was having a 400 yard 3 TD day, he didn't throw a TD and didn't break 200 yards. They were also talking about how the Packers were shutting the Jets down. Yet the Jets out-gained them on the ground and through the air. The Packers just made the important plays to win stripping the ball from WRs, forced fumbles, and ultimately converting FGs while the Jet continually shot themselves in the foot.

 

[road warrior]

It's also more of a "real" football thing than a "fantasy" football thing. There are definitely alot of guys who get overhyped, but most of the time, reporters and announcers aren't speaking in fantasy terms.

People still think Dallas is one of the most talented teams in the league. The pre-game shows still pick them to win every week.

Couldn't agree more. And aren't they still picking Aaron Rodgers as their MVP?

 

[valhallan]

I was a little annoyed last night when most of the post-game analysis seemed to be about the Steelers losing rather than the Saints winning. Drew Brees and the receivers sliced up that vaunted Steelers defense in the 2nd half, while Will Smith and a banged up secondary kept an explosive Steelers offense in check on all but a couple plays. But so be it - teams like the Steelers, Giants and Cowboys will always dominate headlines until news outlets are forced to cover the contenders late in the season.

 

[FreeBaGeL]

Shonn Greene was a hot commodity this offseason.

Yeah, and when a west coast guy was in almost the exact same situation a few years back (Kevan Barlow) no one wanted him or hyped him up at all.[/sarcasm]Seriously though, those examples are pretty bad at getting your point across. You're wondering why Tom Brady has more name recognition than Josh Freeman? So then it's totally west coast bias that no one lumps Ryan Fitzgerald into the same category as Philip Rivers even though Fitzgerald actually has higher PPG numbers, right? Or how no one considers Peyton Hillis and Matt Forte to be in the same category as Frank Gore even though their PPG numbers are pretty much the same.Dang west coast bias, screwing things up for the rest of us.Newsflash, long term studs and super high draft picks generally get more attention. Shocking, I know. Matthew Stafford also gets a lot more pub on these boards than Josh Freeman (or Sanchez) and he's certainly not playing on the east coast.

 

[JamesTheScot]

Shonn Greene was a hot commodity this offseason.

Yeah, and when a west coast guy was in almost the exact same situation a few years back (Kevan Barlow) no one wanted him or hyped him up at all.[/sarcasm]Seriously though, those examples are pretty bad at getting your point across. You're wondering why Tom Brady has more name recognition than Josh Freeman? So then it's totally west coast bias that no one lumps Ryan Fitzgerald into the same category as Philip Rivers even though Fitzgerald actually has higher PPG numbers, right? Or how no one considers Peyton Hillis and Matt Forte to be in the same category as Frank Gore even though their PPG numbers are pretty much the same.Dang west coast bias, screwing things up for the rest of us.Newsflash, long term studs and super high draft picks generally get more attention. Shocking, I know. Matthew Stafford also gets a lot more pub on these boards than Josh Freeman (or Sanchez) and he's certainly not playing on the east coast.

This.Fantasy football is much less market biased. Why? Because it is stat driven rather than ratings driven. It doesn't matter how many people are tuning in to an east coast matchup. Everyone's got their laptop open to their league's website which is doing real-time stat updates. And since there is a competitive incentive to ferret out stud producers, up-and-comers and pick late round value, no one ignores the small market teams (or their rosters).Is there some old-school thinking in the press? Sure. Particularly the jurassic print media. Just let them die off. The consumer is actually already far ahead of them, which is evidenced by the explosion of internet news, which is causing the print media die-off. If the old school media guys won't evolve, they deserve to die off adn they will.