The Knucklehead of the Day award

Today's winner is the NCAA(National Collegiate Athletic Association). They get the award for the following.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- 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."

The newspaper's lawyer, Jon L. Fleischaker, added: "I think there's the potential for some action. We're still talking about it."

NCAA spokesman Bob Williams said Monday that Bennett was asked not to blog about game action before Sunday's game.

"In a nutshell, we asked the blogger repeatedly not to cover it in that manner, because it violates the policy, and he continued, and his credential was revoked," Williams said.

Williams said it didn't matter that the newspaper had blogged at other NCAA events, like the Orange Bowl and NCAA basketball tournament.

"Essentially, we enforce the policy when we learn of violations," Williams said. "So the fact that he may have blogged at a championship before really has no effect on the policy."

The no blogging policy is just dumb. Most People are either going to follow the event live or not at all. Mr. Ivory's coverage could enhance interest. Wouldn't that be beneficial to the sport.

For enforcing dumb and outdated media regulations, The NCAA is today's Knucklehead of the Day.

Hat tip- James Joyner at OTB who says Mr. Ivory's objection isn't about the first ammendement. I agree.

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