Of Mark Cuban’s Assocation-mandated about face in promising to make the Mavericks’ locker room accessable to bloggers “whether they be someone on blogspot who has been posting for a couple weeks, kids blogging for their middle school Web site or those that work for big companies”, Will Leitch wrote, “at last, those with Movable Type software can finally have the opportunity to see Devean George’s penis”. Amongst those vying for a chance to gaze at said cock is Matt Moore of Hardwood Paroxysm, who penned the following on Friday :

I may never hear back from the Mavs regarding the situation. But I wanted to try. I think this could be a great opportunity for us to show that we’re not all a bunch of idiots that (yes, you guessed it) live in our parents’ basements and wait for opportunities to catch athletes in embarrassing moments. (NOTE: Not that I condemn such things. Lord knows they’re in my Reader and I laugh just as hard.) It’s a chance to show that while we’re not journalism, (well, not all of us), per say, we can still be a valuable media source that deserves respect.

It is in that spirit that I say this. I’m asking you, bloggers, the internet, my fine friends in the series of tubes, not to get carried away. Let’s not bombard them with application for anybody that’s got a blogspot. (*Matt checks URL of his own blog.) Okay, bad example. What I’m saying is, if you’re just going to get the access, if you don’t have a genuine interest in covering the game, please don’t apply. If you’re a small blog, and you feel like you have something to contribute? By all means. All I’m saying is, let’s be responsible with this. Basically, we’re being tested.

I have no way of knowing precisely how many blogs the Mavericks are likely to be approached by, but Michael Wilbon already raised the spectre today of Cuban’s media relations department under siege from losers who just wanted to attend a game for free. To which I can only reply, why is it considered so impossible for Dallas or any other professional sports franchise to develop some criteria, loose or not, for which non-print outlets might receive credentials? Whether it’s a matter of traffic or the subjective quality of a particular blog, why is Cuban so hesitant to develop a serious policy? Merely because his companies are obliged to be equal opportunity employers, that doesn’t mean he’s obliged to hire every candidate that emails a c.v. And likewise, a rational businessman would conclude it was no more or less discriminatory to limit locker access to a small cross-section of bloggers than it would be to deny credentials to print journalists who toil for coupon shoppers, college newspapers or The Sporting News.