If you've ventured around the sports blogosphere at all today, undoubtedly you've come across the "Costas Now" segment regarding online media that featured Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist/author Buzz Bissinger, Cleveland Browns All-Pro receiver Braylon Edwards, and Deadspin.com founder Will Leitch debating over the ethics of online sports blogging.  For those who have not seen it, be sure to check out the complete, profane clip on Deadspin to form your own opinions.

Before I delve into my opinions regarding the grumpy old man Bissinger's tirade, let me first differentiate myself from the general perception of blogs:

A) I am a prospective journalist.  I will attend the nationally accredited E.W. Scripps School of Journalism beginning in the fall of 2008, and one of my primary purposes of blogging to begin with is to practice my journalistic skills.  

B) I am also a blogger.  I can't hide from the fact that I have certain biases that may persuade my opinions one way or the other, and I have no problem dropping the occasional "Ann Arbor is a whore" when I deem it necessary.  However, I'm still a strong believer in the basic journalistic principles of honesty and accuracy, so I will not make an unwarranted claim if I have no evidence and have not researched a topic enough to make a valid judgment.

As is the common trend in today's modern society based around speed, many journalists -- especially sports journalists -- turn to blogging in order to most quickly deliver news and analysis.  The concept of "live blogging" games going on in the present is a revolutionary journalistic idea in which members of the audience can get the analysis provided by your regular play-by-play and color commentators without actually watching the game.  The simple fact is: if you're not blogging, you're behind in the game, and you're going to lose readers.  Buzz Bissinger profoundly displayed what we all suspected about the large mass of the over 50 generation: an inability to adapt to a changing world.  The bottom line is that, like it or not, more and more people are beginning to have their voice heard, and that includes the fans, who have been forced to spend the better part of the past century sitting around as their beloved teams and players make stupid decision after stupid decision.  There's nothing that says we can't do it, but there is one thing that says we can, and although it's only 45 words, it kind of sort of created the basis for the country that we live in.

Quite frankly, if Buzz Bissinger is so radically opposed to all forms of blogging, that would make him without a doubt a journalist who is founded on hypocrisy.  Beyond delivering the news, the chief function of any sort of news publication is to create an open forum for the audience's opinion to be heard by all.  All journalists and publications - whether they are in print, online, or via television -- in today's world can be contacted by anybody who has a problem with what is presented to the public audience.  By attacking amateur writers for proudly displaying their opinions and allowing all readers to do so as well goes against everything that journalism stands for, and quite frankly, I'm more than a little disappointed in Buzz for forgetting that.  The importance of the "comments" section cannot be hyperbolized, and quite frankly I secretly enjoy it every time somebody criticizes my beliefs.  I live for discussion.

And, in all honesty, everybody is well aware that we are not professionals at what we do.  That's why they come here; to hear the opinion of the average person.  Deadspin founder Will Leitch said in the video that he could probably get a press pass if he applied for one because of how popular his website has become, but he doesn't do it because it essentially dehumanizes him from his audience.  And you know what?  Bravo to that.  He doesn't sit in a press box or walk into a locker room to "keep the facts from getting in the way," as Bissinger so eloquently put it, he intentionally keeps his distance in order to maintain a sense of reality and keep him at the same level as his readers.  That's why so many people like Deadspin, The Sports Guy, and everything else founded on those principles: the authors are just like them, only better at communicating.

Any blogger will gladly tell you that there is definitely a need for sports writers who do in fact eat press box food and hold microphones to shirtless linebackers on stools.  There are certain facets of sports journalism - and all types of journalism, for that matter - that require the reporter to witness certain events firsthand in order to most accurately depict what exactly went down at that point in time, and that's why true journalism - the mainstream media, if you will - is in no threat of being overtaken by trillions of bloggers like me.  I'm probably a rarity in the sense that I plan on pursuing a journalism degree while writing on this site.  It's my dream to be able to do what guys like Ken Gordon and Jay Mariotti do on a daily basis.  Yet, the vast majority of quality blogs are run by normal people like who carry on 9-5 jobs and just so happen to write on the side, and those are the blogs that are read the most.

So please, by all means, have your voice be heard.  There's nothing worse than a valid opinion that is being self-censored because some old guy won't read it.