Is Coach Watching? The Athlete-Bloggers' Dilemma.

Rod Benson, who until recently was a part-time blogger, most-of-the-time power forward for SLUC Nancy, raised a most interesting question this summer before he jetted off to France for a stint with the Euroleague team. As a D-league player trying out for NBA teams during summer league play, he wondered if his blogging had a negative effect on his marketability as a player. Could it be that his off-the-cuff blog-plosions could one day miff a potential employer and squash his chances of filling an NBA roster spot? While he took solace in the fact that other athlete-bloggers had trodden where he treads, he was keenly aware that he was among the more outspoken to brandish both ball and keyboard.

In the end, Benson decided to continue blogging:"...I certainly don’t see my own writing as having a negative impact on my chances of getting signed. I’m going to continue to write because I enjoy it and I just get so damn bored. I can only play so much Madden!"

He then asked his blog's reader's if they thought "the number of athletes who are candid about their social lives in their blogs will continue to grow? Do you think they should censor their material (beyond the obvious; clearly nobody should bad-mouth the NBA or their team in public)?"

The question post generated 172 comments in less than 3 days.

More than half of the people urged Rod to continue writing. Still, almost as many said that if he had to choose between playing and writing, he should first choose the former, only to indulge the latter once his playing days are over.

Here's the creme de la commentary creme:

Pro Rod's Blogging

From Jay S.
If the N.B.A. can 'work' (and I say work very loosely), with the gun-toting-nightclubbing-at-4am-involved-in-a-driveby-on-the-way-to-McDonalds-but-he-was-innocent-sort, then I can guarantee that a blog would not hurt your chances. To be brutally honest, if you were touted like Dwight [Howard] was, this discussion would not exist. N.B.A. sorts would let a blog slide depending on how much revenue you generate for them once your signed. Work on your game and make yourself Rod Benson, the guy who is a can't miss in the N.B.A., not 'Rod, the D-Leaguer / blogger'.

Or, as Matt Tharp put it, "I don't think that blogging is keeping you from playing at the next level. If any NBA owner thought any player could help him win 5 more games, I think he could go on television to host a show about being a male prostitute and still play."

From Jaris C:
As you've seen from youtube and just the internet, pro athletes are dying to show how "human" they are to the public. They have so much free time and why wouldn't a GM want his star PF blogging on a night before a game in Miami instead of partying on South Beach is beyond me.

From Key:
From a fan stand point, I would much rather read an athlete's blog than to read the story in a newspaper or magazine. It's always nice to get the story from the horse's mouth and not from another source.

(Such sentiment surely doesn't bode well for aspiring sports journalists like myself!)

From Natalio:
i think the nba would prosper from having you in their ranks and writing. the thing i like the most is that you're showing that you're more than a basketball player. i'm sure that's true about a lot of players -- i'm sure some of them are musicians, painters, businessmen, do magic and have other talents. but you're showing yours. you can call yourself a player and an author. anyway, nice work. i think most fans appreciate you, and i think it will pay off in the end by and nba team appreciating you too.

Against Rod's Blogging:

From Real World:
While the NBA is basketball, it's a business first. Real world business does not care about creative freedom. They care about business, perception, profits etc.. Most of the people running these corporations (make no mistake - a basketball team is just another corporation and often part of many other corporations) are also from different generation with different ideas of what values and communication are. Aside from a few of the youger generation owners like Mark Cuban, most don't get the concept of blogging or even using the computer/surfing the net.
Once you're on board, utilize it. Or wait until you're retired...

From ojochal1:
Life's full of choices. You can't have it all. It may come down, to blogging or playing ball. If it costs you your job by raising a stink It is time for you to sit down and think. Maybe that is why most great people write memoirs "after" they have had a career worth writing about and a little time for reflection upon events, versus in the moment "blog" spots.

(An interesting point, though how many worldwide acclaimed "great people" can the blogging world claim just 5 years into the technology's mainstream usage? Some of history's "great people" - like Julius Caesar, Francis Bacon, Thomas Jefferson, and Winston Churchill - regularly wrote letters that let them vent their cogitations in the same way blogging does for today's youth.

The above leaves a sports/humanities lover like myself with oodles to mentally chew on. I believe that Benson wouldn't have this quandry were he a much better player. His blogging is quirky, yes, but in no way incendiary. Players can mass distribute team-image damaging messages in a variety of ways besides blogging. As an NBA team owner, I'd worry more about a less-than-tactful player mouthing off on a youtubized video against the national anthem (cf. Howard, Josh), appearing in an underground DVD celebrating crime witness intimidation (cf. Anthony, Carmelo), or questioning an ex-teammate on how one's ass tastes (cf. O'Neal, Shaq-Daddy).

Questioning whether Benson should pour the time he now spends on his shannanigans and subsequent blogging into honing his basketball game is fair.

In the shortest term, messing around and writing about it has to be more fun than taking an extra 200 jump shots after practice or doing fast-twich plyometric training.

In the medium term, that messing around may prevent him from developing his basketball skill set, which in turn could cut down his playing time and deny showcasing himself for that elusive fat NBA contract.

Think long term, though.
Benson's now developing writing skills and the ability to craft a focused, entertaining blog post quickly. He's acquiring a legion of followers. He's developing his own "brand." He'll be able to grow it during the 10+ years left in his basketball career - which may, in the end, turn out to be more of a launching pad for his writing career.

I can easily see him down the line being a colorful talk show host a la John Salley in The Best Damn Sports Show Period and blogger/author to boot.

His earning potential will only increase throughout his 30s and 40s instead of stagnating in his late 20s as it would with a professional athlete.

And he'll walk with less of a hitch, too.