The Giants are Breaking Through the East Coast Bias With Showtime Series

I have to admit when I first heard of the idea of the Giants being followed around by cameras for the first half of the season for a Showtime Series I was a little skeptical.

Well after hearing the Giants talk about how they weren't too concerned and hearing Giants Managing General Partner Bill Neukom talk about the opportunity for furthering the teams exposure and fan base my fears were calmed. Oh and being in first place at the All-Star Break has sure helped too.

This is a big chance for the Giants to expand their reach among a national audience and to cement them as the West Coast power team for a good while.

The move to go with the Giants is some what surprising seeing as other big market teams also expressed interest in having the show feature their teams. Which is really a no brainer, as any team that wants to try to expand their tentacles outside of their little region should be open to the national exposure that this would bring. What is refreshing is that MLB specifically chose the Giants over some of these big rating teams on the East Coast.

MLB, who had the final say in this thing and is in charge of the filming, decided to go with the defending champion Giants and I think it was probably the right choice for baseball, even discounting my own feelings of wanting to see the Giants become the powerhouse team of the West Coast.

The Giants have a young, marketable team that should create good story lines and allow fans to connect to the personalities on this team. Brian Wilson is made for TV and is ready to be a rock star, Tim Lincecum is "The Freak" and the face of the franchise. Finally, there is Buster Posey who even though he is injured, is the perfect All-American boy to connect to middle America. This doesn't even touch on the cast of supporting characters that Giants fans know and love that America will too after getting to know them.

It is past time for MLB to try to do some proactive action to expand the limelight outside of the Acela Express corridor. The recent trend of low ratings for teams not from New York, Boston, or Philadelphia can only be reversed when teams outside of these cities get national attention too.

Right now, baseball is in a viscous catch-22 where only the big teams get ratings and, therefore, only teams that draw ratings get national attention. This is the first step in breaking this cycle and hopefully the beginning of the end of the worst of the "East Coast Bias" that plagues our wonderful sport.

The show premieres Wednesday, July 13 at 10pm, be sure to tune in.

Below is the latest trailer and here is a link the website with more information and videos.

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The Giants Plan for fighting East Coast Bias

Major League Baseball is dominated by teams on the East Coast more than any other sport. This is something that shouldn't be surprising, as the topic of East Cost Bias is pretty prevalent in the blogosphere and also in the regular media.

The Giants are working hard to try to overcome this obstacle and it also appears to be something that is on MLB's agenda, too.

The Giants are going to be the feature of a documentary for Showtime, which I'm sure that you have heard about. It's been pretty big news. One of the things that most people may not have heard is other teams besides the Giants were considered for the spot.

According to Bill Nuekom, some other big market teams also expressed interest in having the show feature their teams. This is really a no brainer, as any team that wants to try to expand their tentacles outside of their little region should be open to the national exposure that this would bring. What is surprising is that MLB specifically chose the Giants over some of these big rating teams on the East Coast.

MLB, who had the final say in this thing, decided to go with the defending champion Giants and I think it was probably the right choice for baseball, even discounting my own feelings of wanting to see the Giants become the powerhouse team of the West Coast.

The Giants have a young, marketable team that should create good story lines and allow fans to connect to the personalities on this team. Brian Wilson is made for TV and is ready to be a rock star, Tim Lincecum is "The Freak" and the face of the franchise. Finally, there is Buster Posey, who is the perfect All-American boy to connect to middle America. This doesn't even touch on the cast of supporting characters that Giants fans know and love that America will, too.

It is past time for MLB to try to do some proactive action to expand the limelight outside of the Acela Express corridor. It's in the best interests of baseball to expand the number of teams that reach a national audience. The recent trend of low ratings for teams not from New York, Boston, or Philadelphia can only be reversed when teams outside of these cities get play, too.

Right now, baseball is in a viscous catch-22 where only the big teams get ratings and, therefore, only teams that draw ratings get national attention. This is the first step in breaking this cycle and hopefully the beginning of the end of the worst of the "East Coast Bias."

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Could the Giants players put the kibosh on the Showtime series?

It was announced last month that the Giants would be doing a reality series for Showtime along the lines of "Hard Knocks" that follows them through out the season. There is just one problem the players have not given their blessing to the show which could muck things up.

Real GM is reporting that there will be a vote by the players at a team meeting today.

Giants general manager Brian Sabean said that players will review plans for a potential television series about the team during a meeting Friday, since their approval is necessary.

"They have to reframe or reiterate the plan and see if it's accepted by the group," Sabean said on Thursday.

Sabean acknowledged that "consternation" about the program arose when the venture was publicly announced last month by Showtime and MLB Productions.

I have expressed my worry about this a few times so this makes me wonder if the players share that same concern. I guess we will see how this all plays out.

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