Study Quantifies White Sox' Harrelson As Most Biased MLB TV Announcer

White Sox TV announcers Hawk Harrelson and Steve Stone make "more nakedly biased statements during a single game than every other TV broadcast team in the American League combined," according to a study of the local bias of all 30 MLB team's broadcasters cited by Jared Diamond of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The paper "decided to watch one nine-inning game played by every major-league team to evaluate its local broadcasters for bias." The study was "prompted by" Harrelson's "unabashed homerism." During the July 5 Rangers-White Sox game, "made a whopping 104 biased statements." Indians broadcasters Matt Underwood and Rick Manning "ranked second with just 23 biased comments." Meanwhile, 24 of the 30 teams "had fewer than 10." Harrelson, when told of his place in the bias standings, said, "You just made my day. That's the biggest compliment you could give me, to call me the biggest homer in baseball." Diamond noted five MLB broadcast teams "made it through their games without a single biased comment." Broadcasters in larger markets were "generally less biased." SportsNet N.Y. Senior VP/Production & Exec Producer Curt Gowdy Jr. said that in "a 'highly opinionated' market like New York, the fans wouldn't take well to their announcers being blatant homers." Gowdy: "The 'we' and 'our' cannot be in the vocabulary" (WSJ.com, 9/24).