Louisville Courier-Journal v. NCAA

I think the read my column and wisely decided to yield.

 

It was very convincing.

 

In other words: The NCAA revoked the credential from the reporter because he was asked repeatedly not to do something that we later determined was OK for him to do.

Nice that they figured all that out the day after Louisville was eliminated from the CWS. Classy.

 

As I'm reading it, you can update the score and time remaining, just can't give any info as to how the game got to that point. Providing details from games other than scores appears still to be prohibited until the game is over.

The NCAA says it erred in saying NO info could be given in game.

Not a mea culpa on the Brian Bennett situation, just saying they went too far in explaining their policy afterward.

What I'd like to see is how they now stand on in-game blogging from off-site bloggers, whether from newspapers or the public.

 

If I've covered a team all year, and let's say I know the second baseman is skilled at working the count, I don't see how the NCAA can tell me I can't blog about his at-bat if he fouls off 10 pitches before drawing a walk that leads to a run, especially if I use anecdotes and information from earlier in the season to layer the report. That's intellectual knowledge I (and my paper) gained from covering games all season, and they can stick it up their ass if they think I can't inform our readers about it before the game is over if I so choose.

 

Here's a quick synopsis of the TSSAA v. Brentwood Academy case ... awaiting SCOTUS ruling.

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Brentwood Academy is a member of Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) - a voluntary association of public and private schools in Tennessee, with the purpose of stimulating and regulating interscholastic athletic competition. The Brentwood athletic coach sent letters and made phone calls to incoming eighth grade students, so TSSAA imposed sanctions against Brentwood for alleged violation of TSSAA rules relating to recruiting student athletes.

The US Supreme Court previously ruled that TSSAA was exercising state action. Brentwood Academy v. Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association, 531 US 228 (2001). That means that the 1st amendment applies to TSSAA's actions.

The 6th Circuit ruled that TSSAA violated Brentwood's 1st amendment rights.

My prediction: TSSAA will win. A slam-dunk.

Brentwood has some 1st amendment rights here, but they are teeny-weenie ones. Here's why:

1. TSSAA is not acting as the sovereign government imposing rules on members of the public. TSSAA is enforcing a contractual arrangement with Brentwood, and Brentwood voluntarily entered into this arrangement.
2. TSSAA's rule is content-neutral. The anti-recruiting rule applies without regard to exactly what Brentwood's coach was saying.
3. TSSAA's rule is essentially a time-place-and-manner rule. It merely delays Brentwood's ability to communicate with athletes until they enroll at Brentwood.
4. Brentwood's speech was essentially commercial speech rather than political speech.

As a result of these factors, the Court will give TSSAA a lot of leeway. Expect the Court to require only that TSSAA's rule be reasonable, which it clearly is. The Court might even go so far as to require only that TSSAA's rule be rational.

 

This is several posts back and I didn't quote it, but can we stop with the idiotic strawman that we can buy a ticket to cover a game? A ticket does not get you access to interviews, the infrastructure required to do the job (wireless, hell, electricity for laptops), etc.

The job the public demands us to do (even though many swear up and down we're the evil media and think we can work out of an office) requires access.

Anyone who says we can buy a ticket and cover the game has either only covered preps in their life or is ignorant.

 

It's not the way I read it ... seems to me as if they are saying you can't just post every play from the game (i.e. live play-by-play). Seems like describing a play or two or three would be ok, but just don't go over each play as it happens.

 

Anyone who gives play-by-play should be thrown out for bad preps-style writing.

 

Impressive call:

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court said Thursday that athletic associations can enforce limits on recruiting high school athletes without violating coaches' free speech rights

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070621/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_athletics

 

Per The AP Wire:

^BC-BBC--NCAA-Blogs, 1st Ld-Writethru,

^NCAA clarifies position on live updates

^Eds: UPDATES with comment from Courier-Journal executive editor, lawyer in final three grafs.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) ﾗ Live updates of NCAA sports events are permitted as long as they are limited to scores and time remaining, the governing body said in a clarification of its position on blogging.
The issue arose last week after a reporter for The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Ky., was ejected from an NCAA baseball tournament game for submitting live Internet updates during play.
NCAA spokesman Bob Williams said Brian Bennett was asked repeatedly not to blog play-by-play reports because it violated NCAA policy as a ``live representation'' of the game. Bennett provided in-game blog updates during Louisville's super regional series against Oklahoma State that gave the score and a brief summary of game action.
``Any reference to game action in a blog or other type of coverage could result in revocation of credentials,'' the policy stated, according to a copy provided to The Associated Press.
In a statement released Wednesday, however, Williams said the NCAA had issued ``incorrect information'' that live updates of any kind were prohibited.
``In fact, in-game updates to include score and time remaining in competition are permissible by any media entity whether credentialed or not,'' Williams said.
Bennie Ivory, executive editor of The Courier-Journal, said the new admission by the NCAA was evidence that ``they made a mistake.''
``It's no clarification,'' Ivory said.
Jon Fleischaker, the paper's attorney, said the paper hasn't made a decision about whether it will sue the NCAA or the University of Louisville.

 

I'll second that. My earlier post on Brentwood was erroneous; the issue of quasi-governmental status by the athletic association was already addressed in the first trip this case made to SCOTUS in 2001.

Consequently, I'm putting myself on double-secret NCAA probation and will now only provide need-based aid to strippers while I pursue the Pacman Jones story.