West Coast Bias: Classic

Regardless, I am taking a stand. It is time for us all to look east once and a while, and give those stars the attention they deserve. I’m sick of stories about the heroes from Seattle – King Felix, Tyreke Evans, David Lee, Zach Miller.

            Felix Hernandez wins the American League Cy Young Award. Shocker. I could have told you this back in Spring Training that this is guy who would win.

            This is a classic case of the voters and their West Coast bias.

seattletimes.nwsource.com

            Ever since the West Coast tried to play the role of copycat in sports, they have been the center of attention in every sport. Come on. The games start later, the sun is always shining and they are just so damn cool over there. It is like a 24-hour day spa.

            It started with football when all of the media had to focus on the resurgent Raiders. Every day, all I can see on ESPN was the Black and Silver. Jason Campbell this; Darius Heyward-Bey that. Where the hell are my Cowboys?

            The disease then spread to basketball. Kings, Warriors and Blazers, oh my. Will the NBA championship run through Los Angeles (The Clippers) again? How can I find out more about where LeBron is getting his doughnuts with this ongoing media blitz?

            Then it struck baseball; essentially, the nail in the coffin. The San Fran kids won the World Series – the team got more exposure than George Hamilton. I thought this Series was all about Josh Hamilton?

Let’s be realistic: we knew that the big-money superstars that were the Giants would obliterate the Rangers. This is textbook West Coast baseball with their wide-open wallets and teenage girl-like spending sprees.

But now it has infected the regular season awards; I always that was a staple of Major League Baseball. Felix Hernandez, or King Felix as the world knows him as – yeah, a king, what a proper title for the brat.

Hernandez was awarded the Cy Young after earning 13 wins for the Seattle Mariners. Oh, hey David Price. Sorry your 19 wins were not good enough. And CC, as in Sabathia, 21 just ain’t gunna cut it anymore, bro.

askmen.com

And an E.R.A. of 2.27 – what does E.R.A. even mean?

The voters tried to defend their decision by blaming the Mariners for not producing offensively to support their ace in the hole. Ichiro, Milton Bradley, Chone Figgins – this is starting to sound like the American League All-Star team.

I remember a night in April when so-called King Felix lost to the Kansas City Royals. Yeah, the dude got lit up for three runs, and was outpitched by Kyle Davies.

Oh yeah, and there was another time in August when Hernandez got battered harder than a bottle of Absolut in Lindsay Lohan’s limo. Six runs…from the Indians…is Manny Ramirez still on the team?

What I am saying is that there were clearly better options for the Cy Young this past season. Sabathia won over 20 games, and he plays for the New York Yankees. When was the last time an overrated ballplayer from the Bronx could get an award?

gossipbeat.com

Then there is Price of everybody’s darling, the Tampa Bay Rays. Price did not quite reach the 20-win mark, but he is a Ray. They play in the same division as those damn Yankees and the freakin’ Sawks; they should be a shoe-in for the World Series every year.

Am I out of my mind for thinking the voters having it in for the East Coast athletes? Maybe it is because they have to wake up earlier to watch their games, or that sometimes a jacket and gloves are required apparel.

From this point on, I am relying on SportsCenter for 24-7 coverage of the under-the-radar guys; tell me something about Derek Jeter or something.