U of L Reporter Ejected For Live Bloggin

Ripped straight from Si.com...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- A reporter was ejected from an NCAA baseball tournament game for submitting live Internet updates during play.

Brian Bennett, a writer for The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal, was approached Sunday by an NCAA representative in the bottom of the fifth inning and told that blogging from an NCAA championship event is against NCAA policies. Bennett had done live blogging during Louisville's super regional games against Oklahoma State in the previous two games of the three-game series. The representative revoked Bennett's credential Sunday and asked him to leave the game.

"It's clearly a First Amendment issue," said Bennie Ivory, the newspaper's executive editor. "This is part of the evolution of how we present the news to our readers. It's what we did during the Orange Bowl. It's what we did during the NCAA basketball tournament. It's what we do.

And...

The newspaper said the university circulated a memo on the issue from Jeramy Michiaels, the NCAA's manager of broadcasting, before the first super regional game Friday. It said blogs are considered a "live representation of the game" and blogs containing action photos or game reports are prohibited until the game is over.

"Any reference to game action in a blog or other type of coverage could result in revocation of credentials," the policy said, according to a copy provided to The Associated Press. Bennett consulted with his editors and continued to blog, submitting the first report at 4:12 p.m. EDT Sunday, the newspaper said.

"It's a real question that we're being deprived of our right to report within the First Amendment from a public facility," Fleischaker said. "Once a player hits a home run, that's a fact. It's on TV. Everybody sees it. [The NCAA] can't copyright that fact."

I was born in Louisville. I'm a U of L fan - though mostly for basketball. But ejecting bloggers?

That's just silly to say the least.

Oh, and Louisville won the game - 20 to 2 - to advance to the College World Series in Omaha.