NCAA needs to learn from TravelGolf.com readers: Live blogging events is here to stay

TravelGolf.com readers were given an interesting bonus recently, as Chris Baldwin reported live from the LPGA Championship. Throughout each round, Baldwin was able to give exclusive updates from the tournament, giving readers a unique look at the event. Brandon Tucker is scheduled to do the same at the U.S. Open for WorldGolf.com.

Without a doubt, the Internet and blogging has changed how sports fans can get their news. This is the information age, and we’re all getting to experience events in entirely new ways. It’s a grand experiment we’re all getting to live through, and everyone’s on board.

Well, except maybe the NCAA’s baseball committee.

Courier-Journal reporter ejected from U of L game

A Courier-Journal sports reporter had his media credential revoked and was ordered to leave the press box during the NCAA baseball super-regional yesterday because of what the NCAA alleged was a violation of its policies prohibiting live Internet updates from its championship events.

Gene McArtor, a representative of the NCAA baseball committee, approached C-J staffer Brian Bennett at the University of Louisville’s Jim Patterson Stadium in the bottom of the fifth inning in the U of L-Oklahoma State game. McArtor told him that blogging from an NCAA championship event “is against NCAA policies. We’re revoking the credential and need to ask you to leave the stadium.”

Courier-Journal executive editor Bennie L. Ivory challenged the NCAA’s action last night and said the newspaper would consider an official response.

“It’s clearly a First Amendment issue,” Ivory said. “This is part of the evolution of how we present the news to our readers.”

Not long ago, the Golf for Beginners blog were upset they were unable to get media passes to an LPGA tournament. My thoughts on that were as they remain today: it should be on a case-by-case situation. Not all bloggers are created equally. Nonetheless, a liberal policy in allowing extra voices report from an event is nothing if not a sound PR policy.

But as Ivory stated, this is a First Amendment issue. The NCAA is declaring that from the first pitch to the final out, no live blogging of a game is allowed, even from a reporter from a daily newspaper.

One can imagine the NCAA will likely respond quickly to squash this silly controversy. It’s hard to believe that the NCAA has some huge anti-Internet or free speech bias going. It just appears they are somewhat ignorant of how the Internet and blogging has changed how many expect to receive information.

–WKW