Hoopgurlz writers toss FCP's Bob Corwin out of gym

I'm slightly conflicted in my opinion of this issue as a special case of a more general case. 

First, the general case is that this little niche of women's baskteball is certainly saturated with petty tribalism, petty egoism and petty economics at many levels. You can see it in the hostility and trollish behavior between members of different fan bases on message boards. You see it in sleazy looking competition for membership between publishers of different message boards. You see it between owners of different ranking and rating services. You see it between rival coaches, clubs and leagues. 

Just to pick on some well-known names, how many public spats and controversies have Glenn Nelson, Mike Flynn and the late Apache Paschall been involved in? Goodness knows what must go on privately behind the scenes.

I haven't personally experienced any of this, other than that some people have told me that one fan site won't allow its members to link to my posts about their team's recruits on this site (or others). I don't know if that's true, but no pettiness would surprise me in this women's basketball niche.

As to the specifics of the Corwin Kickout, I have some slight sympathy for the perspective of the Peach State guys, Clay and Moore, in their capacities as Peach State (and not HoopGurlz) guys.  Bob states that he was not attending the event as a journalist for Full Court or anyone else. Thus his presence was not going to result in any publicity for a player, nor would his absence deprive a player of publicity. He was evidently suspected by Peach State as attending to be a "spy" or "informant" for Kenny Kallina's "competing" scouting service. I think that reaction is over the top but not totally irrational.

I would be more interested as to what would have happened if Bob had attempted to attend as a journalist for Full Court or some other legitimate media source. Would they still have kicked him out? If so, the behavior would have been more unprofessional in my opinion.        

Glenn, I agree, it does seem over the top for the Hoopgurlz writers to kick Bob Corwin out of the gym. It really does seem very unprofessional to do something like this. Is Hoopgurlz that scared of the competition?

Glenn, if this had been you instead of Bob, what would you have done? I'm just curious what another journalist would do in a similar situation.

First, if I'm in that situation, I just get up and leave ... there really aren't many options. (But I will say they should have had the $10 in hand when they threw Bob out.)

But I'm not quite as sanguine as Glenn about this because of the precedent it sets. Does this mean that any event is now or can be closed to people who work for competing organizations? If Mike Flynn sponsors an event, does that mean any other employee or suspected employee or acquaintance of someone working for another service might be kicked out, even if they're there for some other reason? What are the grounds for this kind of thing? A pay stub? A belief on the part of the organizers? Simple dislike?

And on another level, women's basketball needs all the promotion it can get, so from the viewpoint of the sport as a whole -- which is what drives Brandon Clay's business -- restricting coverage diminishes everyone.

Finally, Bob Corwin is a respected member of the women's basketball world, not some fly-by-night player evaluator. He's been around longer than Brandon and Keil Moore, and they know it, and he's been professional and hard-working his entire career. And they pick him to make stand?

If I were asked to leave, I'd of course leave. 

However, having invested in business cards and having collected a lot of neck credentials from all levels of basketball, I now always try to get in as a writer and/or videographer even if I have no particular project in mind. So, in a sense, I'm always asking permission first. If I want to video, I always get permission for that from the event director. 

One thing I don't know about the Corwin Kickout is whether there are personal animosities involved. That always can explain irrational looking behavior. 

Complicating things in the petty niche of G/WBB is the fact that one person often wears one or more of the following hats: owner of a scouting or rating service, publisher of a website or message board, club director, tournament organizer, team coach, writer for his/her own blog, freelance writer for other media, photographer, message board addict. 

Conflicts can arise when a person is wearing one hat that wouldn't arise when wearing a different one. Again, re the Corwin Kickout, I assume Clay and Moore were acting in their proprietary capacities as event organizers and not in their capacities as HoopGurlz writers. I think that perspective makes a difference, though it may not change one's ultimate opinion of the actions.  

Not only am I disappointed in Brandon Clay, it goes to show that his interests aren't in promoting the game or bettering the opportunities for young women... his interestes are only the bottom line... and protecting what he perceives as "his".

When we start putting personal gain ahead of the game, we start down a slippery slope that will only corrupt the game.

Brandon has many events in the ATL area that are worth covering and I applaud him for putting together these events.  But guarding his events to only Peach State and Hoopgurlz coverage is not right and ultimately hurts the players and the game.

If Brandon wants to be taken legitimately, he will set aside his petty problems and open the doors to any and all who will cover his events.

For example... let's take a boys event put on by ESPN - the Elite 24 game in Los Angeles which showcases the top rising seniors....

ESPN allows both media and scouting services to cover this, despite their affiliation... other sports networks who are competition to ESPN come and cover this even (CBS, NBC, Fox Sports etc), other scouting services such as Rivals, Max Preps etc are allowed access even though they are competators of ESPN's recruiting site, they aren't barred from coverage.   I often see direct competators sitting by each other on press row... It's called professional courtesy... 

Further more, ESPN knows that if the competition wishes to cover their event, it only promotes ESPN... Each of their competators will have to acknowlege that they are covering an ESPN event.  IT only makes the ESPN event look bigger when the competition is covering their event.

The fact of the matter is competition makes all of us better.  NOT segregation...Take the high road and help elevate the game.