FSN baseball trio was far too true blue

You remember Haley, a former NBA player with the Lakers and several other teams, who traded his uniform in for a Lakers cheerleader outfit when he went to work for the Fox Sports Network.

The spirit of Haley was alive and rooting on the FSN postgame show the night the Dodgers clinched the National League West. Sitting in their outfield perch, Steve Lyons, Kevin Kennedy and Jim Watson were literally toasting the Dodgers' achievement, openly celebrating while pouring freely from a bottle we were assured was alcohol-free cider.

Lyons even added an extra touch of homerism by wearing one of the division-champion caps handed out to the players. Guess he didn't have time to run down and get the full Dodgers uniform.

Our three amigos of the airwaves are along for the whole ride, part of the FSN postgame show that will follow the Dodgers in the playoffs.

So what's the problem? This is an L.A. team being covered by a locally based outlet. What's wrong with a little hometown loyalty?

Nothing, except a loss of credibility. Fans might love being fans, but they want to be informed fans. If they want inspiration, they'll go to a pep rally. If they want information, they go to the media.

But only if they think they'll get balanced analysis. Only if they think they can get an unbiased appraisal of their team. Telling us between gulps how great the Dodgers' chances are to raise the pennant doesn't result in much faith in the prognosis.

In the postseason, there is an alternative. Although the TBS studio show, with analysts Cal Ripken Jr., Dennis Eckersley and Curtis Granderson, is no threat to surpass Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith of TNT's NBA show on the excitement meter, it does offer a fair and penetrating look at the postseason from a national perspective.

FSN can compete, especially with a sharp baseball guy such as Kennedy on its roster. But he has to put down the bottle and do his job.

It's logical to assume that some media people who cover a team and spend more time with the players than with their own families become fans. But those feelings don't belong in a media report.