Bias towards the Lions

[South Pender]

Pennw makes a good point on the Mitchell thread about disregarding the outrage towards Mitchell from other teams' fans. I think this goes without saying, but pennw's point about media outrage--as we saw to some extent in Schultz's and Dunigan's suggestion to cut Mitchell now--is interesting. I think pennw is right in noting that this stance taken by the TSN guys is likely league boilerplate and not necessarily of any use to the Lions.

Of course the fans of all the other teams will be obnoxiously bloviating at all times about the Lions. Envy will produce that: great team, solid organization, beautiful and comfortable stadium.... But my question is does it go deeper than that? First, is the media biased, do you think, against our Leos? If so, why? If so, is it merely the general envy and resentment that the rest of Canada feels towards Vancouver because we have it so much better here than do those in the other cities of Canada? Some forum members have opined that the TSN guys seem biased against the Lions. I haven't noticed this personally, but it's entirely possible I just missed it. Actually, I've found Glen Suitor to be quite good generally, as, I think, is Duane Ford.

What do the rest of you think?

[Toppy Vann]

I have felt there has been some obvious bias this year from the TSN Panel - Dunigan, Climie, and bit of Shultz towards the Argos. Some of that coincided with the arrival of Ricky Ray and this years 100th GC in Toronto.

I think it is in large measure due to proximity to the teams and players and BC is a long way from Toronto.

If I were in Wpg, I'd be angry with the kind of media talk that comes out of the Argos about Buck Pierce and the "soft melon" and just a tone that suggest headhunting.
I am very surprised that the Bombers didn't try to get to Ray but then Ray doesn't hold on to the ball and their offense unlike in Wpg doesn't lend itself to keeping the QB exposed. They dumped Cory Boyd for not blocking! Wpg just brings in a new QB.

Mitchell does need to just play football and the bizarre slash and crash move should have been stopped where it started IN PRACTICE!!! purrfect practice makes purrfect and your off field work reflects what happens in games. If the Lions as the HC says saw KM do this in practice they'd have done everyone a favour to stop it before it got out of control.

The media calling for Khalif to be cut or traded is bizarre and far over the top as these same broadcasters go on about how good that dirty cheap shot artist Brandon Isaac is. He even did another high hit on Pierce this past game.

[DanoT]

When I heard the TSN panel advocate Mitchell's release/trade I immediately thought that they did not look closely into the situation. What I mean by this is that KM used a racial slur word, but not in a derogatory sentence. If you believe KM's explanation that he did not know that the word he used is a racial slur and substitute the word "chinese", then there is no racial slur involved. I don't think the TSN panel is aware of this.

[Rammer]

When I heard the TSN panel advocate Mitchell's release/trade I immediately thought that they did not look closely into the situation. What I mean by this is that KM used a racial slur word, but not in a derogatory sentence. If you believe KM's explanation that he did not know that the word he used is a racial slur and substitute the word "chinese", then there is no racial slur involved. I don't think the TSN panel is aware of this.

Easy to cover their collective backsides and error on the side of the politically correct, to do otherwise would allow them to join Mitchell under the tree in a lightning storm. Have to think that they know how to stay in their jobs without asking for a ton of hate mail.

[notahomer]

I know this may sound 'out there' but have they ever filmed a 'CHAMP' ad with Lions and a BC Champ? I knew someone when I was much younger who had an artifical left leg. the CHAMP's organization has had a long history of filming ad's with kids/CFL players telling us to 'PLAY SAFE'. I like the ads. I just can't say I remember a BC Lions version. It's not a big deal. Limited budgets etc... I'd much rather CHAMPS spend money helping people than spend money making sure the BC Lions get their ad. Still I think it would be cool to have a BC CHAMP filmed with some Lions players.....

I think there is a natural bias in lots of things involving the 'Wet Coast'. As a lower mainlander, I get accussed (probably rightfully so) by people in other parts of BC, of having a bias towards Vancouver. Both are logical, IMO. The West has lots of mountains and its pretty far away from Toronto. The way Vancouverites get accussed of being vancouvercentric, I think applies to Easterners, especially Toronto, IMO. Unfortunately one of the reasons why I think media has a bias is that not as many of us care. If I won a contest saying I could HAVE FREE OF CHARGE, a seasons ticket to the Canucks, Whitecaps, Lions or Giants. I'd take the Lions of course but most Vancouverites wouldn't. In fact, I doubt three of those teams would get many votes. Still if you were to ask Canucks fans, I have little doubt they might talk about a similar 'bias'. Back three or four NHL work stoppages ago, I stopped caring too much, but back in the late 80's, early 90's, I thought there was a bias against the Canucks. So, I'm not surprised some of us, including me to an extent, feel there is one against the Lions.....

[DanoT]

Check out Riderfans, because over there there is a bias against them. Turns out same thing over at Eskfans(or whatever its called). In fact if you missed a game and need to know who won, just find the fans site with the newest thread about how bad the CFL refs are and you've found this weeks losing team.

[sj-roc]

I know this may sound 'out there' but have they ever filmed a 'CHAMP' ad with Lions and a BC Champ? I knew someone when I was much younger who had an artifical left leg. the CHAMP's organization has had a long history of filming ad's with kids/CFL players telling us to 'PLAY SAFE'. I like the ads. I just can't say I remember a BC Lions version. It's not a big deal. Limited budgets etc... I'd much rather CHAMPS spend money helping people than spend money making sure the BC Lions get their ad. Still I think it would be cool to have a BC CHAMP filmed with some Lions players...

I seem to recall a Lions one that Jason Clermont appeared in, where the kid laid a hit on him and he did a mock tumble back, acting like he'd been completely cold cocked. That would have been at least four or five years ago now. Just went googling for it but it didn't turn up.

[cromartie]

Bias is in the eye of the beholder.

That said, I think that one area that definitely needs better, and more forceful, coverage is for the league's lack of seriousness about blows to the head. Both the hit on Ianuzzi and the earlier hit on Pierce were done with intent to injure in the head area and warranted game suspensions. Instead, they received undisclosed fines. With all of the attention being paid to concussion safety on both sides of the border, the league's lack of discipline in this area is inexcusable and for TSN to just sweep it under the rug, and in particular Suitor's blowing off the Ianuzzi hit, is unacceptable.

[Toppy Vann]

Cromartie is right on both counts.

As they say, where you stand is based on where you sit so we can see bias as it in the eye of the beholder.

There are far more serious complaints than KM's latest issue which was wrong but nothing like a head shot.

[ziggy]

We live in an age where you don't cheer for your team,you cheer against everyone else's. People seem to love to heap negativity on others organizations especially if they are doing well. Fans use mock outrage to hopefully get calls from refs,create disharmony and annoy other fans. Sadly I think TSN has unwittingly bought in and the panel is giving the fans what they think they want. As for Suitor , he seems like a local guy with some sort of jilted bride syndrome,maybe he always wanted to play here?

[South Pender]

Bias is in the eye of the beholder.

Not necessarily. If one feels that there is bias when, in fact, there isn't, then maybe one could say this. However, if one approached this empirically and found that, say, on the TSN half-time shows or the CFL webpage, the Lions were mentioned 5% of the time, whereas the other teams were mentioned, on average, 13.5% of the time, this would suggest true bias. Similarly, if one took all mentions to the eight teams and tabulated the mentions that were mildly or strongly negative, and found that, for the Lions, 30% were negative, whereas for every other team, the percentage lay between 5 and 15%, this would indicate true bias. It's this kind of empirically-demonstrable bias I'm interested in.

[cromartie]

Not necessarily. If one feels that there is bias when, in fact, there isn't, then maybe one could say this. However, if one approached this empirically and found that, say, on the TSN half-time shows or the CFL webpage, the Lions were mentioned 5% of the time, whereas the other teams were mentioned, on average, 13.5% of the time, this would suggest true bias. Similarly, if one took all mentions to the eight teams and tabulated the mentions that were mildly or strongly negative, and found that, for the Lions, 30% were negative, whereas for every other team, the percentage lay between 5 and 15%, this would indicate true bias. It's this kind of empirically-demonstrable bias I'm interested in.

Yes, but what one attributes to bias could also be reasonably explained as laziness on the part of the person/persons or network of whom you are accusing. The Lions could just not be very interesting. Or, they could be oversaturated at some early point in the season (the season opening Geroy lovefest, for instance) and people have such short memories that we may perceive a bias of neglect when really the coverage, in terms of time, is just grossly imbalanced.

[DanoT]

I gather that most of the Toronto Sports Network staff live in Toronto and they struggle with the fact the Argos have the smallest fan base in by far the largest city in Canada. So, imo it is not a bad thing for TSN to over promote the Argos or even the TiCats as the CFL needs more fans in southern Ontario.

[South Pender]

All true, cromartie, but analyses of this kind of thing require a long-term approach. If I wanted to systematically investigate bias, I would do so over the span of a whole season so as to rule out the peaks and valleys distorting the overall pattern. I don't know this for a fact, but I would be surprised if the TSN folks weren't told to try to feature each team equally (to the extent that this is possible) over the long term. I would also think that laziness on the part of the TSN commentators, unless it was very short-term, would lead to some corrective action by the suits upstairs.

I can't say that I've ever thought that there was bias (in the sense that I'm using the term) in the broadcasting and reporting wrt the Lions, but I've noticed that, over time, a number of forumers have expressed this belief.