While ABC/ESPN doesn’t seem to think it’s an issue, Jeff Van Gundy wasted no time admitting his bias when it comes to the Magic/Lakers NBA Finals. With his brother Stan Van Gundy coaching Orlando, Jeff admitted he’ll be rooting for the Magic:
“I’m going to try to be as objective as possible, but I want my brother’s team to win; there’s no question about that.”
When Stan Van Gundy’s Magic took a 2-1 series lead over the Cavaliers, his younger brother discussed the looming potential conflict with his coordinating producer, Tim Corrigan.
“I said, ‘Hey, listen, if you guys don’t think it’s best for me to call the Finals, I’m fine with that, and I understand,’’’ he said. “I don’t want to compromise anything. They said they wanted me to do it.’’
Hmm, why is it not a surprise that ABC and ESPN, the guys who never see a foul that isn’t a “good no-call,” unafraid to put together a partisan product? I understand they deem Jeff to be part of their “top team” and that it’s difficult to just stick new partners together, but you have to make a change when this sort of thing arises. Not to say that Jeff will be openly cheerleading on-air, but when it comes to a national telecast that’s supposed to be called evenly, there’s no room for bias. Laker fans can listen to Mychal Thompson if they want homerism, Magic fans can do the same with Dennis Neumann. When it comes to a national telecast, things should be objective and unbiased. That’s pretty hard to accomplish when one announcer has already let it be known that he favors one team over another.
(via Awful Announcing)
