Never root for the northeast

I am not quite done with my hockey posts, but I'm getting closer. There is one thing that I want to clarify. When I say that I never root for the northeast, that's not just about hockey.


My hatred of the northeast comes from my disgust of the American media's over-the-top bias. They love the northeast. That is where they consider their money to come from. Most viewers are in the northeast, and it's easier to delay things three hours for the west than to adjust things originating from the west for the east. In sports, it's easier to sell an east coast team to western fans than a west coast team to eastern fans. While hockey sacrifices the southeast in favor of Chicago, the media usually goes more by time zones. Regardless, the northeast receives preferential treatment from the media in all sports.

The media provides a common influence. This is not just an influence on fans. It can also be an influence on athletes, league executives, and officials. Players who want to succeed are more likely to be interested in teams that the media portrays as teams that can challenge for championships, such as the Yankees and Red Sox. The leagues make decisions that typically relate more to what the east wants than what the West wants. The NHL has even modified draft rules and messed up realignment just to help northeastern teams. Officials can get it stuck in the back of their minds that the east are good guys against the bad guys from the West.

What all of this means is that northeastern teams in all sports consistently have unfair advantages over Western teams. It may not be the same as conspiring to assure the right teams win, but it always leaves lingering doubts when one of those teams win. Could these teams have won if they had to play by the same rules as the Western teams?

I am not someone who believes in winning at all costs. Similarly, I don't like the idea of embracing unfair advantages. I want championships to establish who has the best team. If a team from the northeast wins, you can't be certain that the best team won. If a team from the West wins, you know they had to overcome unfair disadvantages. While there can be questions with how some Western teams are treated in comparison to others, those teams always have to earn it.

What all of this comes down to is that I prefer championships to answer questions, not raise them. If you have a team from the Northwest (the most mistreated region by the media outside of locations that lack major sports teams such as Alaska, Hawaii, and territories) facing a media darling from the northeast, the Northwest needs to win. That's the only way you can know the championship went to the right team.