A vicious circle: Bias, media and the fair-weather fan

By Steve Reynolds  |   Monday, October 23, 2006  |  Comments( 7 )

St. Louis Rams
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Bias: noun, 1. a personal and sometimes unreasoned judgment.

It's a word that carries a negative connotation that most people would never want to be labeled with. Unfortunately, the NFL as an entity is replete with bias. This is not necessarily its fault; the league tries to adhere to it's own doctrine in leveling the playing field through collective bargaining, even as league spokesmen tout that the new age of the salary cap has brought parity to the league.

No, the problem lies in the entities that prop up the league and give it popularity and influence, and the monster is a two-headed beast.

The first problem lies not in our stars but in ourselves; that being, the dreaded media. One would think that traditional sports media outlets have a very selective palate concerning teams when they dish out the weekly NFL news (Mind you, I'm not singling out any particular outlets here, but its theme music goes: da da da, da da da).

Many outlets act as if they had never heard of the St. Louis Rams or any of the other teams that they feel the league's fans aren't clamoring for. Likewise, media outlets dote on particular players. While the better players do deserve the lion's share of the attention, outlets don't base their major storyline decisions solely on who is good, but also on who generates the most controversy or hype.

When you hear a discussion pertaining to the best wide receivers in the league, you always hear the same names: Terrell Owens, Randy Moss and Marvin Harrison. Outlets only now are making mention of Torry Holt, who is on his way to posting his seventh consecutive 1,300-yard season, a feat no receiver has ever matched. Holt doesn't suffer drug-relapses or go on weekly crime-sprees. He doesn't catch passes from Peyton Manning, so he therefore must generate Herculean numbers in order to even be considered in the same company as the aforementioned players.

When you listen to a conversation regarding the best quarterbacks in the league, you are bombarded by the same players ad nauseam: Peyton Manning, Donovan McNabb and Tom Brady. Outlets completely ignore the accomplishments of Marc Bulger because he is quiet, unassuming and doesn't play for one of the teams the media favors. Bulger's career quarterback rating is in the 90s (bettered only by Manning); however, in a discussion of the top players, he doesn't even get a seat at the table.

Bulger doesn't play for one of the league's media-darlings and it will be difficult for him to procure the recognition he deserves. If one didn't bother to watch the games and relied solely on the largest media outlets for their NFL updates, they would think the league featured only the following teams:

Steelers (Ben Roethlisberger - Super Bowl champs)
Patriots (Tom Brady - Three recent Super Bowls)
Giants (Eli Manning - New York is the center of the universe)
Bears (Currently undefeated)
Packers (Brett Favre is on retirement watch)
Saints (Feel-good story, plus Reggie Bush)
Falcons (Michael Vick)
Colts (Peyton Manning, the Michael Jordan of commercials, er, football)
Cowboys (Terrell Owens)
Eagles (Used to have Terrell Owens)

The bias in the media can be blamed partly for influencing the second half of the two-headed monster, while the rest of the blame resides in simple human nature. Ladies and gentlemen, introducing the second half of our bias double-threat, the fair-weather fan.

The fair-weather fan is by no means a recent phenomenon. I covered the Rams in college when they played in Los Angeles. When not furnished tickets for a game, I would watch the telecast on one of those old-school satellite dishes that was large enough to generate its own gravitational field. I'd watch (pre-NFL Sunday Ticket days) satellite games that would never cut away from the field for commercials, and while the rest of the nation was watching advertisements, I'd be treated to John Madden picking his nose during the break.

Truth be told, the Rams were lousy back then; they'd generally be out of playoff contention by the midpoint of the season. In the years between Rams quarterback Jim Everett rolling into the fetal position against an imaginary San Francisco pass rush in the 1990 NFC Championship Game and the "Greatest Show on Turf" days, the Rams never had more than seven wins in any season. I can't tell you how many "playing for pride" games I endured in those days and I felt for the fans still sitting in the seats - often outnumbered by supporters of the opposing team - loyally watching every game. Yes, their team was terrible, but they still showed up to watch, because they always watched their favorite team, that's what real fans do.

In my days covering the Rams prior to their 1999 Super Bowl run, it seemed every discussion I ever had about football went something like this:

Typical fan: So, man, I hear you write about football.
Me: Yes, I write a column about the Rams.
Typical fan: But, dude, the Rams suck.

I can't begin to quantify how many of these insightful conversations I had throughout the '90s. Some stereotypically brainless football fan was letting me in on the fact that the "Rams suck," as if it would trigger an epiphanic moment and I'd go to my editor and say, "Hey, the Rams DO suck; what have I been doing all these years?"

The regularity with which such conversations occurred proves one thing today: despite what they may believe, most people who follow the NFL are fair-weather fans. How many Patriots jerseys have you observed outside of the New England states these past few years? How many Cowboys jerseys did you see last decade? How difficult was it to be a 49ers fan in the '80s?

I have the utmost respect for ardent fans of teams such as the Houston Texans and the Arizona Cardinals. These teams have never gotten close to a Super Bowl, let alone won one. Likewise, I feel for longtime Patriots fans who are nauseated by the sight of Tom Brady jerseys as far as the eye can see. Where were all the New England jerseys when the Pats were terrible? Anyone can wear an Indianapolis Colts jersey today and feel good about themselves. Fair-weather fans are biased by definition because they only follow a team when it is doing well.

The media feeds fans what they think they want. In turn, fair-weather fans want what the media gives them because - unless you're looking for it on a site such as this - that's all there is; fair-weather fans are only aware of the favored teams and the hyped players. It's an endless, self-aggrandizing monstrosity, and the only way the circle will be broken is by fans becoming truly loyal to a single team, and thus introducing true parity into the NFL. The bias will end because there will be a proportional number of fans for each team, and the media outlets will finally stop covering what Terrell Owens had for breakfast and focus on what the true fans want.

Therefore, to all NFL fans, I pose this challenge: Whichever team you root for should be your favorite team until the day you die. Whether their record is good, bad or average, wear your team's jersey with pride. Granted, a true fan should feel bad when their team loses and many take it personally. This is what being a fan entails, highs when your team wins and "they'll get 'em next week" when they lose. If your ego strength suffers from such fragility that you must leap onto another team's bandwagon because yours is losing, then you epitomize the fair-weather fan.

Many of you are already in tune with what I'm saying and answered this challenge long ago. Unfortunately, the rest will finish this article and promptly run to the store to pick up their new Peyton Manning jersey.

Original St. Louis Rams commentary, courtesy of RealFootball365.com
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