ESPN/Baseball Tonight

I haven't watched ESPN or Baseball Tonight in a while. Mainly because of their North-East coast bias towards the Red Sox, Yankees, Mets and Phillies. Oh and that's only baseball.   So I've switched over to the MLB Network as many people who actually follow baseball have.  But watching the 30 minute Baseball Tonight show this morning, I noticed they "revamped" their show, well at least for today.  They are talking about 30 teams in 30 minutes or so they say.  But still, they show their bias by talking about the AL East first, NL West second, NL East third, AL Central fourth, NL Central fifth and finally the AL West.

But there's a catch to all of this.  They left 10 teams to talk about in the last 2 minutes show and all teams are at least 10 games out of first place, except Florida (8.5).

Baltimore, Kansas City, Cleveland, Seattle, Florida, Washington, Milwaukee, Houston, Pittsburgh and Arizona.

Granted, these are the bottom teams in each division. But to me, there's a lot to talk about with each team. Rather than devoting the majority of their time about AL East.  Buster and Tim had trouble talking about other teams other than the AL East, stuttering and looking at notes through the segment.  But for everyone oblivious about ESPN's bias towards Boston and New York, just watch the first segment of the BBTN then you'll notice how much time they put into the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers and Rockies. But giving little love to the real headliners this year, the Reds, Padres, Rangers and Braves.

ESPN loves the ratings more than giving the teams their due respect. Don't believe me, look at who they follow during basketball or football seasons, college or pro.

NBA- They covered the Knicks more than the Thunder, well they covered Durant at least.

NCAA Basketball- Given that ESPN has a deal with the Big East, it's pretty easy to say they cover the Big East more than anyone else.  But I'm sure outside the Big East I'm pretty safe saying that North Carolina and Duke get a little more love than most.

NFL-They Cover Brett Farve more than any team.  Outside of the Patriots, Jets and Giants, ESPN covers most of the other teams in a similar fashion. That is from popularity.

NCAA Football-Well they have a contract with the Big 10, but it's pretty safe to say that TCU and Boise State get the shaft on airtime.

I complain about all this, because it's great to see ESPN actually have to compete with these new 24/7 networks that give more insight and airtime to each team.  Where they give viewers the knowledge about the sport, rather than a team.

And here's where ESPN is moving more towards; High School and College Sports. They're tapping into these athletics where they can promote the product more than anybody else.  It's pretty sad that "amateur" sports are coming to this, dollar signs.