East Coast Bias

Yesterday I moved back to New York permanently.  After spending the last two years in the Bay Area, it's great to be back on the East Coast and my timing couldn't be better - I arrived in the Big Apple just in time for the Braves' visit to Yankee Stadium, and I've already secured tickets to see Wednesday afternoon's game.  While I loved my time in Northern California and had a number of memorable sports experiences over the past couple of years (in fact, most of this blog has been written from Palo Alto), moving back to my home town is extremely exciting.  In addition to being a lot closer to family and friends and starting a new job that I'm really fired up about, I once again get to take advantage of all of the perks of being a New York-based sports fan.

Before we go into those perks, though, I have to acknowledge the good things about West Coast sports.  As I've written about before, I loved the early start times for NFL and NCAA football games - being able to get up and immediately turn on a New York Giants game at 10 AM local time is a beautiful thing, and having most of Sunday's action over by 4 PM Pacific still gives you the rest of the afternoon to relax.  The Bay Area specifically offers some fantastic sports venues - AT&T Park is one of the best ballparks I've been to, and HP Pavilion is a well-run and fun hockey facility.  I've really enjoyed following the Pac-12, particularly during football season, and I've appreciated the opportunity to take part in a legitimate college sports rivalry between Stanford and Cal.  Overall, there's a lot to like about Bay Area sports.

All of that being said, the Bay Area can't hold a candle to the Big Apple as far as sports are concerned.  Yes, I'll be losing morning football and big time college sports, but the list of what I'll be getting is long and impressive.  Starting Wednesday at Yankee Stadium I'll get to regularly enjoy New York's many brand new venues for baseball (Yankee Stadium and Citi Field), football (MetLife Stadium) and basketball / hockey (the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and, soon, a renovated Madison Square Garden).  I get solid regional sports networks in the YES Network, MSG Network and SNY, rather than Comcast Sports Net and Fox Sports (both of which are pretty terrible).  New York has a local ESPN site (ESPN New York), while the Bay Area (shockingly) still doesn't.  Perhaps best of all, I get to be in the same city as my fellow Giants, Knicks and (sometimes) Islander fans, and eavesdrop on people talking about Carmelo and Eli instead of about Zynga and Foursquare.

In short, I'm excited about spending the summer and beyond in New York and becoming a full-fledged New York sports fan again.  The fun will start with a Yankees game, move on to the Mets later this summer, and then transition over to a winter full of Knicks, Giants and Islander games.  For once Sportscenter will lead with the local teams - there will be no more flipping over to the local six o'clock news to check in on the A's, Warriors or Sharks.  While my time in Northern California was great - New York can't offer the same great weather, the beautiful surroundings or the great Mexican food as the Bay Area - it's good to be back where I belong.