Sportsfrog.com

Brian Bennett, a journalist for the Louisville Courier-Journal was ejected from the press box at a University of Louisville baseball game by NCAA officials. He was thrown out for live-blogging the game. This was his, gulp, final blog entry from the game: “I have been ejected from U of L’s Super Regional game against Oklahoma State by the NCAA for blogging live during the event. I won’t be providing any more live updates.” Bennett added more details later. Pretty interesting case, actually.

Michael David Smith rushes to the defense of the bloggers of the world, raising his fist in protest, and fighting the power (while posting at AOL): “If the NCAA has a policy against members of the media blogging live during an event, then it’s a ridiculous policy that the NCAA needs to reconsider. The NCAA should be thrilled that a talented sports writer like Bennett is providing college baseball fans with information, not scared that Bennett and the Courier-Journal are trying a new way of reaching readers.”

Blogger Eric McErlain will no doubt lose credit amongst his basement-dwelling brethren by defending the rights of the NCAA to control information: “Last time I checked there’s no constitutional right to a press pass, no matter how many of my fellow bloggers I’d like to see get inside the wire to cover a game.”

Let’s start off with the fact that the NCAA is idiotic for trying to suppress any coverage of college baseball. This is not a mainstream American sport. They should be offering press passes to every blog on earth, and then flying in the USC Song Girls to serve as waitresses in the press box (Blog entry 7:44:34 PM: I dropped my pencil again. Megan bent over to pick it up for the 17th time. Of course, I am typing on my laptop, not using a pencil, but the prop has served its purpose. In an exclusive press box bloggers instapoll, I have now been voted “most likely to say three consecutive words to Megan”).

Having established that, let’s bring up history to reinforce it. Remember how the powers that be in Major League Baseball were against radio and then television broadcasts of their games because they figured it would hurt ticket sales? How’d that work out for them? The reality is that the more access you create for the press, the more access you create for the fans. And that’s how you end up with more fans.

As for the Constitutional rights? I’ll leave that to The Swamp.