Friday, September 19, 2008

Eli Manning and The East Coast Bias

As a sports fan growing up in Seattle, I have become disappointed every year with the lack of skill that are most of our teams have. With the exception of the Seahawks, the past 5 years have been dark ones. The mariners are a joke, the Sonics are now the Oklahoma City Thunder and Husky football is just a big mess (though Jake Locker is looking as though he will turn that around). Husky basketball was pretty good for a few years but has dropped recently and I don’t count the storm since it averages five fans a game. What makes it worse is that when we do have good season (2005 Seahawks), we are hardly mentioned in the sport media powerhouses (ESPN, Sports illustrated). What frustrates me the most is how a team in New York having a mediocre season will get twice as much coverage as a team setting a record in wins (2001 Seattle Mariners 116 wins). The East coast Bias at its finest.

Another example of this is Eli Manning. Eli manning was on the New York Giants team that won the Super bowl in 2008. He did not lead them to it. His passer rating that season was an outstanding 73.9!! That’s just under Joey Harrington. : l….. Eli Manning sucks. Just because he was the starting quarterback on a super bowl winning team doesn’t mean he automatically becomes a great player. Since winning the super bowl Eli has appeared in numerous commercials and televisions shows. People say “Eli manning led the Giants to the super bowl”, well no. If it was up to Eli, he and his 73 quarterback rating would lead a team to a 6-10 record and the #10 pick in the draft. If Eli was in Seattle, he would be barely mentioned and would be quickly forgotten to the rest of the nation. I would rather have Matt Hasselbeck any day but he is rarely mentioned on Sportscenter. But you can’t help the East Coast Bias and there will always be one. Oh well.

There is something about being the team that no one knows that makes you feel good. You’re always the underdog and no one knows that you’re a great team. It makes me feel as though whenever we make sports illustrated we have risen above the expectations to get national attention. Seattle is the city of underdogs and we are proud to say it. A winning season is a good season in our books and it will stay that way. Seattle is like a colt you don’t know what it is like until you’re in it. It’s a colt, but a good one.

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