re: Media Bias...You be the judge.

quote:

---

USC is 5-1 in BCS bowls (their 5 wins weren't even close and the loss was in an all-time classic game). How does that record reconcile with your overrated/media bias claim?

---

What about injuries?
USC is far superior, athletically, to any other team in the PAC 10. They hand out the injuries, the don't suffer the injuries. The other teams aren't strong enough to hurt USC. On top of that, they can normally remove their starters by the middle of the 3rd quarter, which means they have less opportunity to get hurt.

Fresh Legs?
USC is able to rest their first stringers, and they are able to win games without really asserting themselves. Last year LSU had tough games almost every week. Against teams with players every bit as athletic and powerful as LSU. No one can say that ab out USC.

I could argue the point all night. Their are those who will disagree, but I don't think anyone can argue that USC's road is, by in large, easier to the NCG than any team in the SEC. That's why they get ranked higher. IMO.

quote:

---

I could argue the point all night. Their are those who will disagree, but I don't think anyone can argue that USC's road is, by in large, easier to the NCG than any team in the SEC. That's why they get ranked higher. IMO.

---

Now which is it? Are they ranked high due to bias or are they ranked high because of an easier road?

quote:

---

What about injuries?
USC is far superior, athletically, to any other team in the PAC 10. They hand out the injuries, the don't suffer the injuries. The other teams aren't strong enough to hurt USC. On top of that, they can normally remove their starters by the middle of the 3rd quarter, which means they have less opportunity to get hurt.

---

You really have NO clue cause as far as injuries go, USC may be THE unluckiest team. They have had SO many injuries in the last two years.

quote:

---

What about injuries?
USC is far superior, athletically, to any other team in the PAC 10. They hand out the injuries, the don't suffer the injuries

---

As already stated, USC has suffered so many key injuries the past few years it's difficult to keep up.

Are you really going to use the fresh legs argument for bowl games, which is specifically what I asked you to explain? Everyone has 4-5 weeks off, so that's an absurd argument. That may have some relevance during the regular season, but doesn't explain a 5-1 BCS record.

I have to give you credit, in spite of facts to the contrary you will not be swayed from your opinion.

quote:

---

quote:
All 65 AP writers work for the AP (Duh!) -- ONE organization, 100% of the vote.
___________________________________


No they don't and that would be a huge surprise to their employers.

quote:

---

Yes, all 65 work for the AP that is headquartered in NYC with bureaus in all of the states.

quote:

---

ABC and ESPN have two votes out of 65. Do you know if the two vote the same? This is about the AP poll and all you've written is blah, blah blah..

---

Neither ABC nor ESPN are among the 65 AP voters; those are separate organizations. Your post specifically asked for a demonstration of media acting differently from the media controlled by the AP. Now you find fault in the substantiation you required? Demonstrated were other media and strong economic incentives that explain in part a bias and how the lack of economic incentive led to different reporting behavior. My list was not exhaustive and could be further elaborated upon.

Media bias is evident in both the sports page and the op-ed page. The AP bias is expressed in its news reports (it has no op-ed page or sports section, per se, it has "beats" with writers and editors). Reporting a regional location for AP writers is meaningless. Like any national organization, it transfers its employees to any bureau it deems desirable. Like any company, the AP hand picks its employees to suit its corporate purposes. It would not be a surprise if many of the 65 were graduates of USC's highly touted School of Journalism. My request to the AP for this info remains unanswered.

quote:

---

quote:
Ignoring 2004 -- the NC title for that year is about to be vacated -- the few weeks LSU was voted #1 last season were the FIRST regular season weeks in 6 years that the AP correctly picked the eventual BCS champion in a regular season weekly poll. That is an astonishing record of being wrong. Can they be THAT awful, or are their selections guided by other concerns?
____________________________________

Yes they can be that bad. If you picked any right it was probably due to your biases (e.g. LSU or any SEC team is always best) and not any insight. But I would like to know what you think the AP's other concerns would be?

---

Oh-for-6 years (with 15 tries per year and only a dozen or so schools with any chance to speak of to select from) is not "bad," it is shocking and says that the AP is the last body that can be trusted to pick a champion. But you say their choices are based on bias rather than insight. That is the original assertion of this thread and a view my own reflections support. My sense is that it is not an anti-LSU or SEC bias. Media tends to be proactive and resorts to negativity as a strategic necessity when required.

The AP recently issued a policy statement alerting the public that its reports would henceforth carry opinion as well as its carefully selected presentation of facts -- as if it has not been doing that all along. Like ALL media, the AP is agenda-driven. In general it is leftist and prone to engender discontent under Republican administrations and paints rosy pictures under Democratic administrations. It minimizes or amplifies scandals consistent with their agenda. Leftists deny this.

The role of sports in the media's overall strategy of acquiring wealth, power and advancing its political agenda is complicated. It is the modern day equivalent of what Marx called "the opium of the people" carrying similar emotion and zealotry. It is also a source of great economic gain for different segments of the society. Add to this the personal allegiances of the individuals who write the stories and cast the votes and you see a mixture of influences that yield an oh-for-6 year outcome.

Whereas ABC/ESPN has a clear and huge on-the-record economic incentive to be pro-Trojan, the AP is not so transparent. Where their 65 writers/voters were born and what schools they attended is not public information. That certain schools are media darlings is a fact. The usual cast of characters are always queued up in the pre-season polls ready to claim their ticket to the NCG, if they can cruise through their cupcake schedules (not OU), while the SEC beats itself out of the running. Those designs have been thwarted by annual underperformances like Stanford and Cal, opening the door for the SEC. Those are not part of the script, though by now they should know it will be...Last year's Final AP Top 15 further supports the bias view. It voted USC #3 even though USC played not one Top 15 team all year while #1 and #2 LSU and GA were a combined 8-1 (if memory serves) against Final Top 15 teams. #3 based on what? They drop 2 games (Stanford??), play/beat no one and claim a 100th straight top 5 finish. That defines a media darling.

So the AP's concerns are multidimensional, convoluted, shrouded in secrecy, and ultimately dysfunctional. The record speaks for itself.

Thank you for quoting me in full context and for addressing the content without resorting to substanceless ridicule, straw dogs, and silly emoticons. That was fair of you and responseworthy.

quote:

---

Last year's Final AP Top 15 further supports the bias view. It voted USC #3 even though USC played not one Top 15 team all year while #1 and #2 LSU and GA were a combined 8-1 (if memory serves) against Final Top 15 teams. #3 based on what?

---

I love this brilliant logic. You cite the stronger record of 2 teams that were ranked ahead (that's right ahead) of USC in the final AP poll as a reason for media bias for USC. By the way, USC was 3-1 versus the top 25 as was Georgia.

Which teams do you believe should have been ranked higher than USC?

quote:

---

It would not be a surprise if many of the 65 were graduates of USC's highly touted School of Journalism. My request to the AP for this info remains unanswered.

---

You could easily find out this information for yourself, and it would prove as meaningless and without merit as your post.

quote:

---

So the AP's concerns are multidimensional, convoluted, shrouded in secrecy, and ultimately dysfunctional.

---

You are trying too hard to sound intelligent.

quote:

---

tigers

---

quote:

---

Geauxtiga

---

Two people who actually follow college football intelligently.

Coaches poll bias is more possible than the AP.

What he is not bringing up is the Coaches poll which is actually used in deciding the BCS champion, not the AP.

I posted information awhile back which illustrated that an overwhelming majority of the coaches who vote in the AP are from the South and that the SEC has considerably more votes than the Pac 10 which only has 5. The South had something like 33% of the vote while every other region only had around 20%.

I am not saying that coaches are biased (Mack Brown) or that they vote dishonestly and protect their own (Steve Spurrier) but it's been known to be done (2005 Cal v. Texas vote for Rose Bowl Berth) and that is AN INTERESTING FACT.

This if anything, balances out any crazy notion of AP bias.

So stop whining; the SEC will always have a greater advantage than any other conference in making the title game. Biggest conference, most revenue, they don't share a major network (CBS) with other conferences, and a major voting advantage in the coaches poll. So c'mon...move on.

I think it's hilarious that all the hard liner right wing conservatives on here constantly belly ache about the "liberal bias" in the general media but can't somehow conceive that a so called bias could exist in the sports media as well.

Bias is in they eye of the beholder. Oh, the irony.

quote:

---

Let me just clarify, I was not even commenting on media bias, just the overall terribleness of the original post.

---

Exactly.