The Viewer's Bias

It happens to the best of us (read: me). Any game we're watching is instantly changed by terrible officiating that directly leads to our team losing. It happened in the UW-UConn game in 2006 (and in 1998 if you ask my dad), it happens in Mariners game, it happens everywhere.

Of course, almost every time this happens, its more a case of the viewer's bias than anything else. More often than not, important games are officiated very well, Super Bowl Forty of course exempted. I've taken it on myself to work extremely hard to seperate my own personal bias from watching games as well as I can. Certainly its hard to admit that say the Husky men's team wasn't as good as Purdue two years ago, but I've gotten to the point that I can.

The point is, just how much bias should one allow in their sports viewing? It makes no sense for someone to sit and not care at all about the outcome, that's just not as fun. Without any emotional investment in the game, sports becomes nothing more spectacular than doing taxes. However, too much emotional investment can lead to one creating ridiculous conspiracy theories as to why their team lost an important game or can't win the championship (here's looking at you, fans of every Boston sports franchise).

Obviously, the viewer should be emotionall involved. All I am attempting to suggest is that don't get so into it that its impossible to accept any failure. Mike Jensen is going to commit stupid fouls. Marcus Trufant is going to pass interfere every single time. It happens. Let it go and move on with the game, nothing will change it. One day, your team is bound to win a big game thanks to something rather questionable (this does not apply to the Cubs, who will never win anything). With the idea not to let any failures linger in the mind, one can actually enjoy a game while still being emotionally invested in the outcome. Except for games in which Felix Hernandez pitches; every run score against him is cheating.