East Coast Bias

by SonDog

From ESPN.com this afternoon: "Alexander's great, and Peyton is near perfect, but the NFL's 2005 MVP race might just be determined by two guys with the initials T.B. Tom Brady and Tiki Barber have carried their teams lately. "

That should have read, "T.B. and T.B. have carried their teams... last week."

At any rate, let me see, should the MVP be Tom Brady of the 9-5 Patriots of Boston? Or, should it be Tiki Barber of the 10-4 New York Giants? I suppose it has to come from New York or Boston, right?

Aren't we sexy bitches? We are from Boston and New York, you know.

I guess it doesn't matter that Peyton Manning, by ESPN's own admission, has been, along with his team, near perfect; or that Shawn Alexander leads the league in rushing and touchdowns and has pretty much carried his team, which has the second-best record in the NFL. I mean, they're in Seattle and Indy... so who cares, really, in the grand scheme of things, right? Seattle and Indy might as well be in Papua New Guinea and Bangladesh, if they're not Boston or New York.

Here's my point: Tiki Barber, I guess I can live with in the debate. I mean, he did have a great game last Saturday, which is probably why there's a late bandwagon campaign for him. But, Tom Brady? Why? I know he's the quarterback of the defending champs, but c'mon. Why not the amazing Carson Palmer of the 11-3 Bengals? Oh, he has a better supporting cast, you say. Wait... what? The Bengals have a better supporting cast around Palmer than Brady does in New England?! Puhhhhhlease.

What about Jake Plummer? His team is 11-3 too, by the way. But, I guess Jake the Snake is no Tom SuperHunk Brady.

To me, even mentioning Brady in an MVP discussion just screams out blatant East Coast bias from the self-proclaimed Worldwide Leader in Sports. There are exactly 8 teams with a better record than the Pats, and exactly 3 teams with an identical record as New England. The MVP award is supposed to go to the player who has meant the most throughout the entire season for one of the top teams in the league. The most important player in New England isn't even a player... It's Bill Bellichick. AND New England has not been one of the top teams in the league this year.

Next week on Mile High Ramblings, we'll discuss who has had a more deserving MVP season: Alex Smith, Cody Pickitt, Kerry Collins, or some guy named Touuiossoppoiulewhe, or something.