Ok, I just read Reiss blurb on the Pro-Bowl voting and I have to say that I am perplexed. Are people really THAT homerish that they have Chris Hanson being the best punter in the AFC?
I know people who are FANatic about the Pats annoy the hell out of you, but don't be so quick to blame homerism. Pats fans alone could not vote Hanson into the Pro Bowl. If it were that easy, Brady would not have been outvoted by Rivers and Palmer last year.
This is the hype syndrome at work. Because posters here at Patsfans are so knowledgable, we sometimes assume that all fans are. Far from true. Most fans (and Pro Bowl voters) know very little, and most of their knowledge comes from newspapers like USA TODAY. They know who the good teams are, but not necessarily anything else..
Last year the Chargers were hot and had 9 guys voted to Pro Bowl, including Rivers over Brady. This year the Pats are hot, and PR Welker and P Hanson are getting the popular vote.
One way you can tell it is a wide-spread thing is that Izzo is leading STs. There are a couple of Pats doing WAY better than Izzo. Eckel is a ST tackling demon this year, but no one has heard of him outside of NE. Everyone everywhere knows the name Izzo, and he benefits.
All people outside of NE know is that the Pats are hot, and they don't really know any punters or STers, so they pick a Pats guy.