Alright Everyone, Back To Your Basements

We're not welcome in the Dallas Mavericks' locker room anymore.

Mark Cuban is the only blogger allowed in the Dallas Mavericks locker room.

At Cuban's direction, the Mavericks have created the first blogger-free policy in the NBA, perhaps in all of pro sports. As a blogger himself, he believes people writing for blogs don't need behind-the-scenes access to do their jobs, even if those blogs are run by newspapers.

Cuban said his point is that if he allows one blogger in, then out of fairness he would have to allow all of them, even if it's just a suburban teenager who runs a fan site. Instead, he said it's better to keep them all out.

"My choice, my decision," Cuban said, adding that he hasn't discussed it with the league office. "We brought it to their attention after the fact. I think they recognized, look, it wasn't a blogging issue, it was a space issue. If you run out of space, you've got to put the velvet rope somewhere. So what do you do? Do I say, `Oh, you're major media, you can get in and little mavsforum and mavstalk and mavswiki, you can't get in?' I'm not going to do that."

Well, you should do that. At bare minimum. I mean... that is, if you don't want to be labeled as insensitive, backwards-thinking, and possibly racist.

Does anyone out there have any experience with forming special interest groups and subsequently getting desperate politicians into back pockets? Our rights as bloggers are in jeopardy. We need to stand up for ourselves. This decision sets a dangerous precedent; before long, we won't be allowed in mall food courts or comic book stores. Not that we like going outside anyways, but it's always nice to know you have the option in case you want to check out girls through binoculars, right? Next, the powers that be will start restricting our content. We'll be prevented from using made-up statistics like OPS or making fun of David Eckstein. And eventually... I shudder to even think of it... our parents will make us move out. You heard me. No more free food. No more free rent. No more not having a job. No more playing 19 hours of Sega Genesis a day. This is the world we face, people.

In protest/response to this development, I will no longer blog about the Mavericks. I ask all the rest of you out there to join me in this boycott.