Bloggers back in Mavs locker room; well, sort of.

If anyone needed further proof that blogging has hit the mainstream, one need look no further than the National Basketball Association

The league has always been known as one of the more forward-thinking pro sports leagues in North America if not the world.

Last week, the league forced the Dallas Mavericks to allow bloggers of all stripes back into the club locker room; a prescient and wise move after owner Mark Cuban’s decision earlier this month to ban all bloggers.

"It’s a new media age, and there are more ways for people to get information than ever before," said Brian McIntyre, the NBA’s senior vice president for basketball communications in a statement. "That creates a lot of challenges for all of us who deal with the media, but we will deal with it."

Amen.

In true Cuban fashion, the Mavericks owner has said he’ll comply with the league’s mandate – with a caveat of course. He wants all bloggers to meet the players after traditional/mainstream media types interview the players, like second-class citizens.

It’s not a surprising move; Cuban is a blogger himself. He understands the influence a blogger or any media member wields.

He was the driving force behind the club’s banning of blogger Tim McMahon from the locker room earlier this month, further proving that bloggers (at least the well-read ones) are taken seriously.

You’ll recall the Dallas Morning News columnist wrote a post critical of embattled head coach Avery Johnson which presumably drew the ire of Cuban.

Despite Cuban’s claim that he’s open to all 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. We won’t discriminate at all."

Cuban would rather see bloggers affiliated with mainstream media or otherwise, given second-class status as they are not perhaps as ready as their traditional media counterparts to fall in line with the Mavs line of thinking. To be fair, nor do the vast majority generate a lot of traffic to their blogs.

The advantage of Cuban’s move is that it allows him to relegate bloggers, like McMahon, to second-tier status whereas previously they were given the same level of access to Maverick players, a petty move by an owner whose grand plans of league dominance this year have fallen by the wayside.

The encouraging sign for bloggers, especially those that post to well-trafficked blogs and sites, is that they are being treated like their traditional media brethren; a sure sign they’re here to stay.