I know there have been some posters who claim "anonymity" is a huge factor for players who sign with teams in the US instead of Canada, but it isn't even anonymity. Players on Sun Belt teams are going to get recognized when they go out. What isn't likely to happen is what I put in bold in your post. In those cities, no one is going to write a bullshit story about how a player has a hotdog diet, for instance. It isn't about anonymity really, but I'm sure it's a lot nicer to not be constantly, unfairly maligned by assholes who get paid to sit on their asses and write op-ed columns.