Which is the better coast to watch sports on? It’s one of those questions- like what ever happened to He Hate Me, and when did Kurt Warner’s wife get hot- that has plagued sports fans for years.
There’s no debate about which has better weather (manifest destiny baby!) and there’s no debate about which has more attractive women (I mean, have you seen the Chargers cheerleaders!?!)
But I’m talking straight time-zone battle. So I’ll break it down Cut-Man-style with a Tale of the Tape to decide once and for all who enjoys the better sports viewing experience.
Weekday, during the day
East Coast- nothing except SportsCenter reruns.
West Coast- Cubbies game starts at 11am
There are a few factors here for me. One is that on the East Coast your earliest game won’t start until 2pm if the Cubs play early, meanwhile on the West Coast we get to have the perfect Sick (read: ditch) Day by watching the Price is Right then the Friendly Confines at 11am- pretty sweet if you’re not at the office (also sweet if you sign up for MLB’s online viewing and you watch it at your desk.) This also means you can occasionally get a game during your lunch break.
The East Coast does get a small victory in that PTI isn’t on until 5:30pm. It’s not available to watch online, so it takes a special occasion for me to get to see Kornheiser/Wilbon. But like I said, that is a small consolation. Advantage: West Coast
Weekend, during the day
East coast– for those of you in the EST, I don’t think you fully appreciate how much more time you have in your weekends. You get to sleep in, run some errands, get things done around the house, and you still haven’t even missed the pregame.
West coast– meanwhile those of us on the West Coast have to be ready by 10am for kickoff. Then the 1pm game. Then the Sunday night game. Suddenly it’s nearly 9pm on a Sunday and you literally got nothing done. Don’t get me wrong, a day watching the NFL is a day well-spent but it was Valentine’s Day before I took my Christmas lights down.
I know the price the East Coasters pay is of course a late night (which we’ll get to later) but there’s definitely something to be said for having no sports on until 1pm. Of course there’s also something to be said for not having to watch pre-game shows. But ultimately I’d rather not have to set an alarm to make sure I don’t miss the morning games. Advantage: East Coast
After work/ Early evening
East Coast- If you work a normal 9-5, you never miss the beginning of a game because of work. For someone born and raised on the West Coast that is astounding to me. Monday Night Football doesn’t begin til 8, in fact absolutely no games begin before 7pm for you. I had tickets to a Chargers game on a Monday night and I had to take the entire afternoon off, not because I was gonna tailgate- I just had to make sure I was in my seats by kickoff. Meanwhile that game didn’t start til after 8 for you guys.
West Coast– When I’m on the East Coast everyday I check my watch, see that it’s 4:30, and be ready to find a TV…and tip-off wouldn’t be for another 3 hours. Maybe it’s just because I’m so use to games starting earlier but I just love having games on right when I get home (remember coming home and watching Braves games on TBS when you were younger?) I feel like I’d want to work til 7pm everyday just so I wasn’t so bored when I got home. West Coasters: imagine coming home, making yourself dinner, sitting down, and watching Sportscenter for 2 and a half hours before a single game began. I mean, what a waste of time, right- what are you supposed to do talk with your family? Sesh, get a game on quick!
Again, this is probably my bias coming out but I just can’t stand not having any early evening games. Out here we get to watch Red Sox/Yankees early at 4:30, and if you don’t care about that, well the Dodger game doesn’t start til 7:30 so you’re fine. Advantage: West Coast
Late Evening
Let’s say you had to work late or you were at a dinner party until like 11pm.
West Coast- you’ve missed an entire night of sports.
East Coast- you’ve missed the first quarter of the Laker game.
But then again, let’s say you’ve got work at 9am, so you need to be in bed by a little after midnight
West coast– you’ve caught every game, a Sportscenter, and Conan’s monologue
East coast– you didn’t even make it to the 7th inning of that Angels/Yankees game
This one is truly tough for me. On one hand it’s definitely cool to have the games still going after network primetime, but on the other hand it seems very obvious how East Coast bias becomes real. No 75-year-old coach of an Eastern college is gonna stay up to watch Boise State play Utah, it’s just not gonna happen. But then again who wants to get up at 9am on a Saturday morning to watch Penn State play Wisconsin? So I’m calling this one a TIE.
After Hours
East coast- the single biggest selling point to me for the Eastern seaboard (and I don’t mean the time zone, but the entire East coast) is that on a Friday you could work a full day, go out to a nice dinner, and go out all night drinking and there is a game on whole time! That’s outstanding. Picture this- it’s almost last call and the Ducks game is headed to OT; on the East Coast sports becomes a battle of wills, you and that final game are mano-y-mano fighting for who can last longest.
West coast- remember the Jets comeback against the Dolphins on MNF- the so-called ‘Midnight Miracle at the Meadowlands’? You do remember it? Then you must be on the West Coast. If your team is losing by 23 points in the 4th, there is no reason to stay up late. But if you’re at home, it’s early evening, you’re only half-watching while you get some work done…and then, suddenly, you see the greatest comeback in Monday Night history! When it’s midnight, you check out of a blowout; when it’s 9pm, you’ve got nothing better than to hope for history and occasionally you get it.
And yes on the West Coast the bar is showing reruns all night while you’re there, but then again you got to see the end of the game before you leave for that party. Game, Set, Match: West Coast
Of course as much as I swear by the West Coast, the East is still the homebase for sports. 75% of Major League Baseball teams are in the Eastern half of the country. The “West” in the NBA somehow includes- Oklahoma, Minnesota, New Orleans, Memphis, and 3 teams in Texas. That said, at least we don’t have to deal with East Coast fans; so, ya know, another win for the West. I don’t expect my opinion to be the end of this, I do expect this debate between East and West to be ongoing; but I hope that at least we can all agree that we’re better off than North Dakota.