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THE NFL TV MAP ...
CAN YOU SEE YOUR TEAM?

by Chris Sprow

Getty Images

Favre and the Jets, apparently hot in Seattle.

Perhaps the best putdown (you could call it a heckle) we've heard at a baseball game is meant for the outfielder who takes a terrible path to catch a flyball:

"Nice route, Magellan!"

Smart, mean … delightful. Yet we're also a huge fan because of our love for maps. What you see above is a new one. If you're a Democrat in the wake of Sarah Palin's speech last night, this isn't meant to give you a fever. No, Long Island didn't just go red. It's an NFL TV coverage map, or more simply, it shows what game you'll get based on where you live.

It's pretty fascinating. For instance, we see that folks in New England, and those in the vast region surround Kansas City (Chiefs country) will see the Patriots-Chiefs game on Sunday, as opposed to say Houston-Pittsburgh. And yet, the league and TV affiliates have also determined that folks in the San Diego area as well as a section of northern Alabama should also see that game. It should also be another reminder of why so many people either flock to bars or to get their own dish. TV politics is strange stuff, and, as the fantastic site that creates these maps notes, "subject to change".

Either way, the map's greatest slice of information is this: Brett Favre may want to run for office. He grades out well with the greater New York area, is sweeping the west save for pesky San Diego, and is even doing well in—you guessed it—Mississippi. When his Jets face Miami, it's the show that must be seen, regardless of region.

Or perhaps that's the Chad Pennington effect.


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