I have sympathy for the guy who got booted.  I’m sure that was disappointing, embarassing, and just generally not how he expected that day to turn out.

That said, I have next to no sympathy for bloggers who seem to think they are somehow entitled to access to their favorite team.

Any of us who start up a blog certainly have the freedom to say nearly anything we want about our subject of choice.  However ‘Freedom of Speech’ in no way coincides with ‘Freedom of Access’ or ‘Freedom to be judged on the same level with Established Media Sources’.  This may or may not be news to people, but that degree of access comes with a certain degree of understanding and cushion from the writer.  Even as a peripheral media member earlier in my professional career I saw quite a few instances where a writer who witnesses something interesting and/or potentially embarassing for a player or team let that issue ‘slide’ because they are aware of the complications which could ensue from reporting it and dropping the teams’ shorts publically.

That’s just the nature of the beast.  Seriously consider this from the teams perspective.  If they allow a blogger even the limited ‘access’ of writing from a media box usually farther away from the ice than all but the cheapest of seats and said blogger does little but criticize the team, rightly or wrongly, what’s the point of having him there at all?  Does it generate interest in the team?  No.  Does it sell tickets?  No.  Does it help the on-ice product?  No.  What’s the upside… warm wishes from the blogging community?  Gee, I bet they can’t wait.

When the bloggers are able to demonstrate a real upside to having them there, or more likely a real downside to excluding them, expect to see things like this happen pretty much everywhere but in Washington.

My advice to bloggers is to battle the whole acceptance issue with a third party group like the Professional Hockey Writers Association and win or lose it once as opposed to battling it out with 30 individual NHL teams and have to have the same fight every time.

Posted by HockeyinHD on 10/20/08 at 08:36 AM ET

The freedom of the press in both the US and Canada does not mean that the press has the right to access, no. And I agree that if someone is overly critical, the organization may be tempted to remove their credentials.

That said, you see the fall out. The organization gets a black eye, and looks like the bully who beat up the first grader because he called him fat.

Imagine if beat writer’s like Mike Russo here in Minneapolis had to worry about their credentials being pulled if he was critical of the team. How would he look as a reporter? To pull punches as a reporter had better carry some benefit to the readers, not to the team, for the job of the reporter is to the public, not to the subject being covered.

Sure, things are allowed to slide, but I guarantee that if it happened more than once, the reporter is going to report it.

Doe it generate interest in the team? Yes it does. Any coverage is good coverage. Does it sell tickets? In a manner of speaking, yes it does. Does it help the on-ice product? No, but neither does any media coverage. What is the upside? Avoiding the PR mess they are currently in. Rather than talking about the fact the Oilers are undefeated, we are instead talking about how backwards their PR dept is.

Doesn’t seem like the Oilers can win this either.

Though I do like your idea of contacting the PHWA.

Posted by Buddha from Saint Paul, MN on 10/20/08 at 09:18 AM ET

While I always hesitate, albeit momentarily, to disagree with a focus of religion, here goes:

In what way does this organization get this alleged ‘black eye?’ From whom?  Do you really think Edmonton’s decision to oust that guy will gain any even remotely noticeable traction from hockey fans, any fans, or any people?  Look, the topic was posted on one of the more trafficked hockey news sites on the Web and there are all of two people discussing it, and only half of us agree. Is there any Oiler fan who’s going to think ‘Golly, they bumped a blogger out of the media box!  I’m cancelling my tickets!’ No.  Not going to happen.

As far as the Russo thing goes.  This may sting bloggers, but being selected for a position is quite a bit different than selecting oneself for a position in terms of percieved expertise and ability.  For better or worse, someone hired that Russo guy from (one would think) a pool of similarly skilled and experienced applicants while bloggers annoint themselves and their own opinions as relevant.  Therein resides the rub.

Further, the idea that what a blogger does or says generates ticket sales is something I just can’t wrap my head around.  Before this story I had never heard the dude’s name.  I seriously can’t recall it 2 hours after reading the story… and I am a pretty huge hockey fan that reads all kind of stuff from all kinds of sources.  As a general rule the people who read hockey blogs are already hockey fans, most likely to the tune of 99 out of every 100 readers. If their intent to purchase a ticket is swayed in either direction by what one of three dozen different blogs say about their team… um, there are deeper problems at root.

Again, if this is such a huge story, why is there all of two people discussing it here?

When this story drops to the fifth page (or much sooner) it’ll be forgotten until the next time a blogger gets the ol’ size 13 in the ass.  There will then be the salutory 3 day outrage from brother bloggers and their associated readers/followers/sycophants, and then the angst receeds and it’s back to talking about their opinions again.

Seriously, the first three years newspapers were out were they fully percieved as relevant sources of information?  I hardly doubt it.  Like any new form of communication, the amount of respect and relevance it recieves is going to be a function of the amount of respect and relevance it earns.  Nothing more, nothing less.

Sure, maybe the Oilers guy wasn’t worthy of being kicked out.  I’ve never read anything of his so I don’t know if he’s Pulitzer or Klessel.  But even if he’s the former in the world of blogs, there are always 50 more who shade rather more sharply towards the latter… and until that weighting balances out bloggers in general will find the trail twoars mainstream acceptance steep.

Posted by HockeyinHD on 10/20/08 at 11:36 AM ET

Make that three people discussing the issue.

Posted by SENShobo from Waterloo, ON on 10/20/08 at 01:13 PM ET

“Again, if this is such a huge story, why is there all of two people discussing it here?”

Maybe they’re discussing it on James Mirtle’s page, or Greg Wyshnyshki’s, David Staples or even Ted Leonsis’ page.  IMO Greg Wyshnyshki’s story on the matter covers every aspect quite fairly.  It also links you to the 20+ pages that were discussing the matter as of October 19th (the date of his post).

This is a story that has not gone unnoticed.  As Mirtle pointed out, it’s even getting coverage in Finland

Posted by desdemona on 10/20/08 at 02:28 PM ET