{"id":3541,"date":"2009-07-21T05:49:00","date_gmt":"2009-07-21T05:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/sports\/couch-commentary-east-coast-or-west-coast\/"},"modified":"2009-07-21T05:49:00","modified_gmt":"2009-07-21T05:49:00","slug":"couch-commentary-east-coast-or-west-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/couch-commentary-east-coast-or-west-coast","title":{"rendered":"Couch Commentary: East Coast Or West Coast?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/span>Which is the better coast to watch sports on?   <\/span>It\u2019s one of those questions- like what ever happened to He Hate Me, and when did Kurt Warner\u2019s wife get hot- that has plagued sports fans for years. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s no debate about which has better weather (manifest destiny baby!) and there\u2019s no debate about which has more attractive women (I mean, have you seen the Chargers cheerleaders!?!)  <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

But I\u2019m talking straight time-zone battle.  <\/span>So I\u2019ll 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.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

Weekday, during the day<\/o:p><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

East Coast- <\/em><\/span>nothing except SportsCenter reruns.             <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

West Coast- <\/em><\/span>Cubbies game starts at 11am  <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

There are a few factors here for me.  <\/span>One is that on the East Coast your earliest game won\u2019t 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\u2019re not at the office (also sweet if you sign up for MLB\u2019s online viewing and you watch it at your desk.)  <\/span>This also means you can occasionally get a game during your lunch break.  <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

The East Coast does get a small victory in that PTI isn\u2019t on until 5:30pm.  <\/span>It\u2019s not available to watch online, so it takes a special occasion for me to get to see Kornheiser\/Wilbon.  <\/span>But like I said, that is a small consolation.  <\/span>Advantage: West Coast<\/strong><\/span>  <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

Weekend, during the day<\/o:p><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

East coast<\/em><\/span>– for those of you in the EST, I don\u2019t think you fully appreciate how much more time you have in your weekends.  <\/span>You get to sleep in, run some errands, get things done around the house, and you still haven\u2019t even missed the pregame.  <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

West coast<\/em><\/span>– meanwhile those of us on the West Coast have to be ready by 10am for kickoff.  <\/span>Then the 1pm game.  <\/span>Then the Sunday night game.  <\/span>Suddenly it\u2019s nearly 9pm on a Sunday and you literally got nothing done.  <\/span>Don\u2019t get me wrong, a day watching the NFL is a day well-spent but it was Valentine\u2019s Day before I took my Christmas lights down.  <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

I know the price the East Coasters pay is of course a late night (which we\u2019ll get to later) but there\u2019s definitely something to be said for having no sports on until 1pm.  <\/span>Of course there\u2019s also something to be said for not having to watch pre-game shows.  <\/span>But ultimately I\u2019d rather not have to set an alarm to make sure I don\u2019t miss the morning games.  <\/span>Advantage: East Coast<\/strong><\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

After work\/ Early evening<\/o:p><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

East Coast- <\/em><\/span>If you work a normal 9-5, you never miss the beginning of a game because of work.  <\/span>For someone born and raised on the West Coast that is astounding to me.  <\/span>Monday Night Football doesn\u2019t begin til 8, in fact absolutely no games begin before 7pm for you.  <\/span>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.  <\/span>Meanwhile that game didn\u2019t start til after 8 for you guys.   <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

West Coast<\/em><\/span>– When I\u2019m on the East Coast everyday I check my watch, see that it\u2019s 4:30, and be ready to find a TV\u2026and tip-off wouldn\u2019t be for another 3 hours.  <\/span>Maybe it\u2019s just because I\u2019m 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?)  <\/span>I feel like I\u2019d want to work til 7pm everyday just so I wasn\u2019t so bored when I got home.  <\/span>West Coasters: imagine coming home, making yourself dinner, sitting down, and watching Sportscenter for 2 and a half hours before a single game began.  <\/span>I mean, what a waste of time, right- what are you supposed to do talk with your family?  <\/span>Sesh, get a game on quick!  <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

Again, this is probably my bias coming out but I just can\u2019t stand not having any early evening games.  <\/span>Out here we get to watch Red Sox\/Yankees early at 4:30, and if you don\u2019t care about that, well the Dodger game doesn\u2019t start til 7:30 so you\u2019re fine.  <\/span>Advantage: West Coast<\/strong><\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

Late Evening<\/o:p><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s say you had to work late or you were at a dinner party until like 11pm.  <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

West Coast- <\/em><\/span>you\u2019ve missed an entire night of sports.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

East Coast- <\/em><\/span>you\u2019ve missed the first quarter of the Laker game.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

But then again, let\u2019s say you\u2019ve got work at 9am, so you need to be in bed by a little after midnight<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

West coast<\/em><\/span>– you\u2019ve caught every game, a Sportscenter, and Conan\u2019s monologue<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

East coast<\/em><\/span>– you didn\u2019t even make it to the 7th<\/sup> inning of that Angels\/Yankees game<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

This one is truly tough for me.  <\/span>On one hand it\u2019s 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.  <\/span>No 75-year-old coach of an Eastern college is gonna stay up to watch Boise State play Utah, it\u2019s just not gonna happen.   <\/span>But then again who wants to get up at 9am on a Saturday morning to watch Penn State play Wisconsin?  <\/span>So I\u2019m calling this one a TIE.<\/o:p><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

After Hours<\/strong><\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

East coast- the single biggest selling point to me for the Eastern seaboard (and I don\u2019t 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!  <\/span>That\u2019s outstanding.  <\/span>Picture this- it\u2019s 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.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

West coast- remember the Jets comeback against the Dolphins on MNF- the so-called \u2018Midnight Miracle at the Meadowlands\u2019?  <\/span>You do remember it?  <\/span>Then you must be on the West Coast.  <\/span>If your team is losing by 23 points in the 4th<\/sup>, there is no reason to stay up late.  <\/span>But if you\u2019re at home, it\u2019s early evening, you\u2019re only half-watching while you get some work done\u2026and then, suddenly, you see the greatest comeback in Monday Night history!  <\/span>When it\u2019s midnight, you check out of a blowout; when it\u2019s 9pm, you\u2019ve got nothing better than to hope for history and occasionally you get it.  <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

And yes on the West Coast the bar is showing reruns all night while you\u2019re there, but then again you got to see the end of the game before you leave for that party.  <\/span>Game, Set, Match:  <\/span>West Coast<\/strong><\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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.  <\/span>The \u201cWest\u201d in the NBA somehow includes- Oklahoma, Minnesota, New Orleans, Memphis, and 3 teams in Texas.  <\/span>That said, at least we don\u2019t have to deal with East Coast fans; so, ya know, another win for the West.  <\/span>I don\u2019t 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\u2019re better off than North Dakota.  <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You can decide for yourself\u2014but Leaky Pipes has the tale of the tape for you to peruse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":16996,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-3541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3541"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=3541"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=3541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}