NCAA Thinks It Owns the Internets

In the Rochester household, there are a few months that are sacred in terms of planning events. Aggie Football season (that is college football season for those who do not know) and March Madness. Both our wedding and the birth of the first Little Rochester will avoid these fine events. Why? you ask. Well, because why would anyone want to compete with the glory that is college football and basketball?

College Basketball is starting to get exciting as it heads towards March and the NCAA has decided they needed to make a little announcement. The NCAA, being omnipotent, has decreed that no live blogging will take place during college sporting events. They have even gone so far as to limit the amount of updates per quarter. Apparently, they think it is not good for fans to know what is going on with their team.

I know this is aimed mostly at professional writers, but who are they protecting? ESPN’s live updates? Those expensive cable packages no one can afford to buy? Are they going to take away every spectator’s cell phone or Blackberry? If the public wants to know what just happened in the Duke game, they will find the information somewhere. If a reporter is denied “credentials” could they not simply go to a game as a regular fan who just happens to send updates to the local paper every 5 minutes or so?

It is ridiculous that the NCAA thinks they can control the flow of free information and the press by declaring that “It Shall Not Be So”. I wish I had that kind of power.

–Jane, declares, “It is now time for everyone to go home and read a good book. Make it so.”