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.

That’s the mantra Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks pro hoops team, lives by these days as his team slides further down the NBA’s Western Conference standings.

The volatile owner and tech entrepreneur, perhaps sensing another lost season, recently decided to ban a blogger named Tim McMahon from the club’s locker room after he criticized Mavs coach Avery Johnson.

The post contained criticisms of Johnson for his decision to leave newly-acquired point guard Jason Kidd on the bench for the final 34 seconds of a Mavs-Spurs barnburner that the Spurs eventually won and correctly points out that Johnson was the coach in charge during two of the biggest playoff failures in NBA history.

One week after McMahon wrote the post, the Mavs banned bloggers from the locker room. According to McMahon, he was the only blogger granted access to the club’s locker room.

Predictably, Cuban said the team couldn’t accommodate McMahon any longer. The team’s weak response was something along the lines of ’sorry Tim there’s just not enough space for everyone.’ Here’s Cuban’s response to McMahon’s query about the new policy:

“We have to set limits somewhere, right? Should every blogger be allowed in? And when there are 25 of them, how do we decide who gets in or not? If they need access to a player, they can get an interview. It just won’t happen in a locker room.”

What about the timing of the new policy Mark? Odd that it came a week after McMahon’s post – no?

Clearly, Cuban and the club are trying to show McMahon who’s boss. Fall out of line and you’ll get smacked down – that seems to be message the Mavs sent McMahon and fellow reporters and bloggers. It’s a backwards and petty way to deal with critics for the following reasons:

1) It brings undue media and blogosphere attention to McMahon’s (correct) criticisms. Before today, I didn’t know the name Tim McMahon nor had I ever read his blog or the Dallas Morning News.

2) The move shows how thin-skinned Mark Cuban and the Mavs are these days – not exactly a reason to feel confident if you’re a Dallas Mavericks fan as the playoffs approacheth.

3) Cuban could’ve used the blogosphere to defend his coach’s strange decision to bench Kidd in the game against the Spurs – he could’ve also used the opportunity to defend his coach’s playoff record too. Instead, he chose the easy defensive route.

ESPN.com reader Joshua Wells may have put it best:  “If this were the 1950’s, Mark would be keeping out TV reporters because only newspaper writers are real reporters, and a TV Personality is a TV Personality is a TV Personality.”

Cuban was a breath of fresh air for the NBA when he took over the Mavericks last decade. If he continues to pull blogger ban stunts, he’ll begin to alienate fans – that is he hasn’t already.

He should focus on his team’s performance and ignore the criticisms. Win a championship and all those nasty words will disappear.