Topical Tuesday 36 - East Coast Bias

I don’t like the SEC.

I know there are a lot of people who like the SEC and they are a really strong conference, but I still don’t like them. Undoubtedly I prefer the PAC-12 because I live on the west coast, watch USC games and just generally like this part of the country better than the parts I don’t live in. But my dislike of the SEC is a lot stronger than simply preferring the place I live over another; my deep dislike of the SEC is rooted in ESPN’s preferential treatment of and fawning over the conference.

ESPN has an east coast bias which extends south to include the SEC. It seems as if in the eyes of ESPN, the SEC can do no wrong. Last night after the game, Brent Musburger and the dreamy Kirk Herbstreet kept dumping praise on Cam Newton for how well he endured the trials he faced this season. Despite what the NCAA ruled, it seems that some of the trials Newton faced were self inflicted. Newton played great but he I don’t know if anybody who was under as much scrutiny as he was deserves such blind devotion and adulation.

This sort of biased coverage will continue for the foreseeable future, though, since ESPN and SEC signed a 15-year contract in 2008. So those of us on the west coast will have to continue to endure ESPN’s east coast bias, in hopes that 2023 will bring some change and recognition of the other half of the country.