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NCAA Puts Severe Limits On Sport Event Blogging
An anonymous reader writes "You would think that the NCAA would be thrilled to have reporters live blogging events in order to generate more interest and keep passionate fans talking about NCAA sports. Not so. The governing body of the NCAA has released new rules for receiving press credentials and it includes severe limits on live blogging. If you're covering NCAA football, make sure you don't blog more than 3 times in a single quarter. If it's baseball, one post an inning is all you get. If you don't follow the rules expect to get ejected and have your press credentials pulled."
The baseball bloggers start compiling meticulous statistics on ejection averages.
If you haven't made a developer cry, you've wasted a day.
What exactly does the NCAA hope to accomplish by revoking press credentials when just about anyone can blog from anywhere with nothing more than a smart phone? Will the NCAA then start revoking peoples' cellphones at the gates? This move just reeks of idiocy.
...why educational institutions ought to be in the business of quasi-professional sports in the first place. The tail has been wagging the dog for a long time now, and it's getting worse every year.
And how are they going to take away your press credentials that you never had? This isn't for joe-everybody, it is for people with press credentials.
If its a private school, that's one thing. But if I'm at a game involving my local public university, which is supported by my tax dollars, I'm not going to bother getting press credentials, and I'll blog about any damned thing I want during their game. And I'll do it as often as I want. Fuck the NCAA. If they want to restrict my commenting on their sports, then their team's schools do not need my supporting tax dollars. My tax dollars, then its my property too. Period. No exceptions.
(And yes, I feel the same way about a university's research. If that research was paid for by a company, they can control it how ever they like. But if that research was paid for by my tax dollars, then they can take their patent application and shove it up their collective ass.)
I want a new quote. One that won't spill. One that don't cost too much. Or come in a pill.
Maybe they should adopt an even more restrictive information model to drum up more live interest, like the model of Brockian Ultra-Cricket where not only is there no reporting on the game, you can't even see the game when you attend it!
Take it to the next level: completely seal up the arena so no one can observe the game other than the players and you'll have the Wide World of Schrödinger Sports!
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
"Less even detect at which seating I am ?"
I think you miss the point. The only seating they are concerned with here is the press box (and anywhere else press credentials will get you like the sidelines in some cases). If you're going to blog from the stands, then no they can't stop you but if you're going to use your blog to become a card-carrying member of the press and get into the event on their dime, then you're going to play by their rules. Generally speaking they will be keeping an eye on you in that case. They're kind of stupid rules but at least bloggers can get press credentials for NCAA events.
It's targeted at people with press credentials. If you have press credentials, you probably aren't sitting in the stands. You are probably in the press area. And since you have applied for and received these credentials, they know who you are.
How would they detect it? By checking your blog probably.
Can they stop Joe Everybody from doing it? As a practical matter, probably not. And they probably aren't too worried about Joe Everybody (at least not yet). As for the legal issues, I don't see a problem with it. It's their game, and they set the rules. If you break the rules, they kick you out.
NCAA, shoot yourself in the foot much?
The NCAA deals more with balls than feet, making the shot far more painful.
-mcgrew
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
This is why I think the distinction is important. If the NCAA is an amateur organization, then we can forgive the situation when some of the member athletes do something stupid, like hire a stripper and serve beer to underage players, then do not have the maturity to excise themselves in a graceful way. But if they are not amateurs, of if NCAA wants to have the privileges affords pro sports, then they must also take on some of the responsibilities. Which means no one can call fowl when the players, even though they are kids, and have their names plastered across all the papers everytime they do something stupid. One cool thing about college is that one can get away with stuff one could never get away with on the outside. The side thing is that kids are accepting these high levels of responsibility without even thinking of the freedoms they are giving up.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
New punctuation update "~" (no quotes) at the end of a line to indicate sarcasm. ~