You know how people talk about the differences in how certain media members understand blogs? Like Chris Berman blatantly hates them while Josh Elliott is as cool as the other side of the pillow a cucumber when it comes to blogs? Well, people even bigger (in terms of name value, not size) than them are the same way too! For instance, Mark Cuban kind of hates blogs (irony) while Ted Leonsis, Washington Capitals owner, loves them. In fact, he’s been extremely generous and forthright about having bloggers in the press box and said the other day that bloggers have “raised the game” with regards to media coverage. Enjoy:

And you know what? He’s right. And that’s cool. Because it’s not like it has to be a competition where the winner is decided by death of medium (although if anyone really feels like it has to go down like that, I imagine the newspapers are going to be starting with a serious disadvantage). Instead, you know, it could just be like everything else in America and the world: an open competition where success is based on merit. Because, frankly, there’s too much talent out there; only allowing a certain group of people to write based not on merit but a stupid societal more-type thing would be ridiculous. We’ve all known that for a while, you don’t need me to repeat it. But when a guy like Leonsis says it, well, it holds more clout.

Mark Cuban penned a blog post about the media. It’s two quick-hitters, so we could really just skip talking about it and move along to something else. Except for the fact that he said something that is really — and pardon my lack of couth, Cubes — stupid.

That is to say, he believes that blogs who engage in blatant rumormongering for the purpose of driving traffic should be blacklisted by ESPN. This makes no sense on a number of levels. But first, Cubes’ quote, for the proper context (emphasis his).

Unfortunately, ESPN and local newspapers, radio and TV media have become the patsies of bloggers. If some random blogger reports that “he has heard that a trade of Joe for John is being discussed”, then the traditional media, as they have told me many times “is requested by their editor to run it down and see if its real”. Its almost like a sad joke. How do you make an ESPN reporter jump ? Make up something and put it on your blog. Somewhere a bunch of sports bloggers are playing a drinking game. Chug if the other guys made up trade rumor makes the ESPN crawl.

(Quick aside: at least there wasn’t a pantless joke in there somewhere. Drunk frat guy stereotypes are fine. But pantless losers covered in meatloaf crumbs? NO. SIR.) Anyway, I’m not sure what got Cuban so fired up about this topic, but I’m kind of surprised he came with the angle that he did.

First of all, if you’re going to criticize bloggers for speculating, then what do you do with the mainstream media? (As always, an outdated term, but necessary for this argument.) Do you allow them to run rampant, just because they have “sources” and “a history of breaking news”? Because if that’s the case, then ESPN needs to fire — God bless him, he’s great on Twitter, but he’s still not right more than 12 percent of the time — Chris Mortensen right now.

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