Below you'll find the Heath Bell Effect. What's that you say? It's what happens when he pitches and then opens his mouth: Padres win, people start talking.After Bell saved game #1 in Citi Field's history he proceeded to bash ESPN's Baseball Tonight for never featuring the Padres and never even mentioning SD in the build-up to the Mets' opening night. Fair enough....we know that on the West Coast we play second fiddle. So I shall propose two things to you, San Diego Sports fan:
- Check out the time-line below.....it is the chronology of The Heath Bell Effect.
- After reading the chronology (and listening if you have the time) follow Heath Bell's lead and make a little noise....I have a suggestion.
[XX1090-Audio]
April 16th: HB then went on Baseball Tonight and spoke with Karl Ravech:
Click:[ESPN Video Link]April 17th: The following afternoon Baseball Tonight's Tim Kurkjian spoke with Darren Smith:
April 17th: Miami radio personality Sid Rosenberg (a native New Yorker and Met Fan) and Scott & BR regular hooked up to talk about a few things...the last of which was a brief commentary on the Padres where he bashed them mercilessly!
[XX1090-Audio]
April 19th: Bell's remarks ring true about almighty ESPN
[Union Tribune-Nick Canepa]
That folks, is the Heath Bell Effect:
- Heath Saves Games:
- Heath Drops Mad Quotes:
- People Start Talking About Heath....And The Padres.
- Let's E-mail Scott & BR's regular Radio Active guest: Sidney Arthur Rosenberg
sidsback2001@yahoo.com
Dear Sid:
We ruined your opening night and took the series from you....we know, we know...we listened to your interview with Scott & BR---"The Mets didn't take the series seriously"---"The Padres are an awful baseball team"---"We only have two players, and some guy named Headly who gets lucky every once in a while"---"And when the season's over the Padres will be where they belong...in last place".
Well let's look at last year: The (last place) Padres took 5 of 7 from the Mets and the Phillies won the East by 3 games....do the math and chew on that Mighty New York Fan. Your overpriced team will likely cave again and we'll just keep on battling....see you on August 8th!
For those of you who are the regular rebel-rousing-Thomas Paine-types but lack the time required of a full-time insurrectionist: feel free to copy & paste the above gibberish. Or get creative as you keep in mind that the national information outlets think San Diego and its fans are a joke....so you don't have to be nice.
How many e-mails can we inundate ol' Sidney Arthur Rosenberg with?
Editor's Note: It appears that there is another component to The Heath Bell Effect......when someone else tries to close a game......it's kind of ugly. Well, you can't win 'em all. A great week had by both the Padres and....Dodgers.
19 comments:
I lived in Vegas 30 yrs. Now in SC. This is nothing new for me to see the reporters from the east coast not caring anything about the west teams. Especially the low market teams like the Padres. All they ever report on are teams from NY Chicago Philly and LA. It seems to me this year the Padres are making these reporters look SO BAD. GO PADRES.
True...it is nothing new. Its good to see HB take the big boys to task for it. We'll always be ignored unless we force people to talk about us which is best done by winning.
If the Padres were good they would get coverage.
A team that lost 99 games last year is not in a position to be crying about a bias.
The lack of coverage is not because the Padres play on the west coast; it is because they have been dismal.
The Mariners had great exposure when they were good. Ditto the Giants and the A's. The Dodgers and Angels get coverage and exposure.
Blame the media???
What a bunch of nonsense!
Mr. Housekeeper
On the surface your argument has merit but examination would lead most anyone to disagree with you...I will disagree with you on the following points:
--By your rationale the Tampa Bay Rays did not deserve any coverage last year due to a "dismal" 2007 season....wait, let's call it more accurately for what it is: a "dismal existence". To not give the coverage that the Rays deserved would have been unjust...they had a lot of great story lines but in order for those stories to be exposed we needed to see balanced coverage by the larger Media outlets (ESPN).
--While the Padres were "dismal" last year they did have a very successful run from 2004 through 2007. By your rationale the Padres received coverage during those years because they were good. I'm here to tell you that was not the case. In 2007 we had a very strong team until Mike Cameron and Milton Bradley were injured in the same game during late September. Prior to those injuries John Kruk was providing analysis of the Padres during the summer (probably a few weeks after All Star break). I use the word "Analysis" very loosely....Krukky went on to explain that the Padres were in for a rough spell because second basemen Marcus Giles had suffered an injury that would keep him out of the line-up. Was this sound analysis? No. MGiles had played horribly and had actually been injured AFTER he had already been benched in favor of Geoff Blum.
Shouldn't a studio analyst (one with SD ties no-less) have more knowledge of this team he is "analyzing". Well, the answer is of course! Anyone in SD would have said, "WHAT!?"....MGiles sucks and he's not even playing anymore but the World Wide Leader doesn't focus too much on the NL West.
--If you bothered to read or listen to any of the links related to "The Heath Bell Effect" you would have heard HB complain about two things:
1. Baseball tonight doesn't talk about the Padres.
2. The lead up to Citi Field's opening night said NOTHING about their opponent. The Padres were an after thought....a cute little team that a $120 million dollar juggernaut could destroy on its way to an inevitable NL East Championship.
Do those two complaints illustrate media bias in any way?
--Story lines sell...how about, "Was the Padres 2008 season an anomaly or a future norm?"...."Kevin Towers is famous for finding arms...who are these guys he's getting and will they help the Padres rebound?"Ignoring these story lines and only reporting on the larger market teams is in fact bias (baseball is not your typical business enterprise....the Yankees actually need rag tag teams like the Royals because without them...they couldn't play a game. Even smaller market teams need to be covered as they are part of each team's business model--but not ESPN's business model)
--Perhaps they're justified in not covering the NL West based on profit motive (as Canepa points out). ESPN's bread is buttered in the East where the majority of teams and fervent fans reside....while truthful, that my friend is still bias.
Of course the best way out of the mess is to just win....hopefully our farm system develops players who can contribute to that cause...I just don't think ESPN will be covering it with the same gusto that we see for your teams.
...one last point.
The fact that you think the Padres "have been" dismal shows one of the following:
1.Either that your head is up your ass.
2.Or that you just haven't been given the exposure necessary to make sound analysis (due to: MEDIA BIAS).
Although those qualifiers are not mutually exclusive: Media Bias does exist and you might also be that clueless.
The media isnt reporting what the Padres are doing this year. Right now. They have the 3rd best record in the majors and not getting any recognition for it by the eastern media. So we have to blame the media. The Padres beat Lidge the other night and what did the media say. VERY LITTLE. First time Lidge missed a save in 47 tries. This has been going on for too many years. Back in the 90s when UNLV won the national championship. All the eastern media had to say was they was a run and gun team with no DEFENSE. But they sure beat up on DUKE by 30 points. Remember Im from the east coast now.
Foghorn8
SC--South Carolina or Southern California?
Anderson Hunt
Greg Anthony
Stacy Augmon
Larry Johnson
George Ackles
Sick Runnin' Rebels team!
It is not ESPNs fault that the Padres lost 99 games last year, and John Moores failed to live up to his taxpayer subsidized promise.
I spend enough time on both coasts to see who gets coverage and who doesn't.
Teams losing 99 games usually don't get much coverage, regardless of where they are located. And divisions where a .500 record is good enough for first place, usually don't provide very good pennant races.
I agree with the point that 99 loss teams are not compelling....but when the Padres rally from 6 down against Cole Hamels and the defending champs it's worth coverage....when Brad Lidge's 54 game save streak gets broken by a team that was chosen as a consensus last place team it's noteworthy....and I actually think it received a little bit more coverage due to HB's whining (although the coverage still seemed a bit thin in comparison to the Yankees early season melt down we've been inundated with).
Don't you think? Do Yankee fans even watch ESPN or do they get adequate coverage from YES?
I get the weak coverage in '08 to a degree. But explain to me the lack of coverage in previous years while the team was successful.
And this is no longer 2008...you don't base your '09 coverage on '08 results (see: TB Rays analogy).
WHTNEP,
In my opinion, losing 99 games qualifies as dismal.
Go ahead and call me clueless, but your problem rests with your own team, not with the national media.
Your anger and obnoxious behavior is misdirected.
Foghorn,
It is April 20 for chrissakes!
If the Padres are still playing at this pace in another month or so, I am sure it will generate some attention. The 2008 Padres had a good first half of April too. After that it was all downhill.
It is still very, very early in the season.
MH
I totally AGREE that losing 99 games is dismal (and I'm not putting that in caps to make it sound like I am yelling at you and breaking things in an angry fit.)
I also AGREE with you that the larger issue is that John Moores is to blame for any failures and NOT the media.
I also AGREE with you that it is only April....let's not get carried away with what the Padres 'are' or 'are not'.
Our disagreement is on whether or not Media coverage is equitable between Eastern Market and Western Market teams and I don't need to spend time on the east coast to be able to tell that when I watch ESPN the coverage is slanted east.
Outside of saying that your head might be up your ass I think I made an argument on behalf of my position that was absent of any anger.
If you find the site too divergent from your closely held belief system thus making it obnoxious, you do have the freedom to post somewhere else.
"If you find the site too divergent from your closely held belief system thus making it obnoxious, you do have the freedom to post somewhere else."
Nice try!
You use gutter language and call someone who disagrees with you "clueless". Then you claim that it is somehow my fault???
Why not just focus your outrage on your teams shortcomings, instead of blaming the national media, and anyone who disagrees with you?
Also, the name of your site is "Hate The Patriots". Your credibility in discussing bias seems highly suspect.
I live in Union South Carolina now. I know this is 2009 now. Its not what happened last year should be taken for whats happening this year. 2009. Yes Padres lost 99 games in 2008. But its 2009 and the media should be reporting whats happening now. I know its only April. But when a team comes from 6 runs down and every little is said about it gets me. Also what relief picter has the most saves this year in MLB. Yes MLB. Heath Bell has 7. Has that been said in the eastern media. NO NO NO 2 against the Dodgers 2 against San Francisco 2 against the Mets and one against the Pillys. 3 against your high and mighty east coast teams with double or triple the payroll as the Padres. Also remember the Mets traded Bell to Padres saying he would never become a closer.
MANNY sure gets the coverage. Thats because he came from Boston.
Foghorn,
Manny gets the coverage, Bonds got the coverage, and Lincecum gets lots of coverage. The Angels also get very good coverage.
In the mid-to-late 1990s, Griffey and the Mariners were the poster boys for ESPN and MLB. Griffey was everywhere.
That's why I have a hard time buying the alibi that the Padres are victims of some sort of provincial plot.
The Padres woes seem self inflicted. Blaming the media seems like the highest form of denial.
dear mr Housekeeper.
Its not an alibi. ITS THE TRUTH. The media only writes about teams or people that they think will make them more money. Since SD is a low market team they dont write about them. Its not only SD they dont write about. They build up someone so big that they seem like SUPER STARS. I like Griffy but what is he really doing. Not much as I see. Hes had a few hits at the right time but whats his batting ave. Lincecum got beat pretty bad by the Padres but the media didnt say much about that did they. Remember SD is so BAD OF A TEAM. What Im say is the media NEEDS TO REPORT THE NEWS AS IT IS now. Not using what a team did last year. But what it is doing at present.
So now you are claiming that San Diego doesn't get coverage because they are a small market team.
Yesterday your argument was that they don't get coverage because they are a west coast team.
You are going to need to make up your mind. Pick one alibi, and stick with it.
Lets just agree to disagree. I have no alibis. I speak my mind and dont want to argue with idiots like you that have no common SESCE. But I sure wold like to know where you live.
If you are going to call someone an idiot, it is best to do so with correct spelling.
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