My normal pre-game routine is to come to the arena, shoot around if I get here early enough, and then do the gauntlet stairmaster in our locker room for 30 or 45 minutes, then stretch. My workout usually coincides with the media doing pre-game interviews and I always invite them to ask me questions while I’m huffing and puffing. It makes the time seem to go by a little faster.
Today, I got there in time to do 30 minutes, popped on the stairmaster, and started watching the Port vs. Indy game on ESPN. Of course they break in with a tease that I have been fined, and to stay tuned to find out why. Out of break, they come back with “…has been fined for offering to pay any of his players for retaliating against Bruce Bowen,” and it was in response to this play.
And they show a replay of Fin vs. Bowen.
Talk about predictable.
A couple minutes later the reporters show up to ask me about it. The Dallas Morning News had already posted the same misinformation on their website. When I questioned the reporter who wrote it, he dismissed it as only being the website. Then he tried to make the point that I actually beat the league and got off lucky because I only was fined 10k dollars that it was nothing till I asked him if he wanted to pay it.
But that’s not the good stuff.
It was then I told them that rather than providing any commentary or quotes to them on this matter, or on any upcoming matters, I would be posting whatever I had to say on my blog. They were not happy.
“How are we going to ask you follow up questions?” I explained that he could email me directly or from the site, but that I would most likely post his question and my response. “Is the league sending a message that they didn’t want you talking to reporters?” Ding ding ding. Give him a lollipop.
I went on to explain that this was the best way for all of us. They could get all the quotes and information they needed. “Will this be just you writing it, or will you dictate it to someone else?”
The satisfaction of knowing that each will have to explain to their editors what a blog is and argue for who knows how long about whether or not BlogMaverick.com is an attributable source crept over me and that jaunt on the gauntlet flew by.
Time for the game: GO MAVS!