The last time I sat down to "pen" a column for the masses was November of 2002.
That is, I think it was 2002.
In reality, it doesn't matter. I was a burnt-out, lazy, unimpressive part-time sports reporter who wanted the glitz and glamor of big-time whatever, without first paying his dues at a rinky-dink weekly.
You see, apparently even the rinky-dink weekly genre gives a hoot about spelling and accurate reporting. It's a shame I didn't back then, because if I had, by my calculations I'd have replaced Rick Reilly on the back page of Sports Illustrated when he bolted for ESPN The Magazine not too long ago.
Sure, time has left me rusty (I'm writing a column about myself, journalism school teaches you not to do that), but time also brings clarity...
...and clarity brings perspective, and perspective brings humility. The fact is, I'm humbled and honored to have been asked to bring my recently discovered perspective to this unique web-adventure. By my understanding, I have license to cover whatever the heck I want from the world of sports as it matters to the good people who live on or have love for the left coast.
I like those guidelines.
I could go on for hours about Pac-10 football, the old Pacific division of the NBA and why I will remain a Barry Bonds apologist until the day I die. What I can't do is tell you anything you don't already know about the Yankees and Red Sox or why I would prefer Johan Santana ended up in Boston, rather than the Bronx. To tell a family secret, I didn't even know that Santana played for the Minnesota Twins until Sports Center told me so earlier this week.
I would have guessed Detroit, because I'm a west coast guy.
More specifically, I'm a Portland, Oregonian who bleeds Beavers orange and Trailblazers red. The only thing that comes to mind when I think about Santana is Black Magic Woman. I'd rather talk about college baseball and Oregon State's back-to-back national championship runs through the College World Series than I would Major League Baseball west of the Rockies. That goes triple for Pac-10 football.
Under the cover of East Coast darkness and general ignorance some fine sports are played. Six different Pac-10 teams have played in the BCS since 1998, including USC, who will make its sixth appearance this January.
Not enough for you? Don't forget that Boise State beat Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl (one of the greatest football games ever played) and Hawaii gets a shot at Georgia in this season's Sugar Bowl
In hoops, UCLA has returned to its familiar place at the top of the college basketball world, USC has improved dramatically under Tim Floyd, Arizona remains strong and Oregon has reached the Elite-8 twice in the last six years.
Go back to the last 40 NCAA baseball champions and more than half of them were won by teams considered "west coast".
The argument isn't that the West Coast is better than the East Coast, its that it's relevant and competitive on a grander scale than most people here or there realize. We walk different, talk different, eat different and think different than our East Coast cousins so why have we limited ourselves to listening to them tell us what matters in the world of sports?
Hopefully, this West Coast Bias thing puts a stop to all that.
