Help Me Out, I'm a Simple Man

Dear NCAA interpretations committee:

If an institution prints a media guide - an object by rule that is not to be provided to a prospect - anything that is provided to that prospect or posted on-line must conform to the standing 208 guidelines.

If an institution does not print a media guide, the restrictions do not apply.

Having a hard time seeing how this is not effectively forcing all schools to drop printed media guides. Let me see - black and white crippled presentation on-line versus full-color all-interactive on-line "media" guides.

If I'm missing the point, PLEASE correct me.

As I've asked of several, and now will make the open question here, what happens when success occurs for a team that we've decided to abandon print for. A very real prospect, just like our men's golf run in 2009 to the finals. I'd say there is a very real need for a printed media guide that weekend, and we had every intention of formatting for the web with color, but if the events required it, make a 20 to 35 short run digital guides to service the media.

But since we didn't predict that future, we have two choices. Tell the Golf Channel and GolfStat "go print it off the website," which is antithetical to the concept of providing strategic sports media communications by inconveniencing them or committing a institutional secondary violation.

No one is really asking for altered formats, really, we simply wish to conform to the medium. Last time I checked, the internets were in full color, and it takes nothing to "save as" into grayscale for what goes on the USB key or on print - to the media.

My sense is that the goal was a level playing field from interpretations. This one tips the balance against sports where a considerable media contingent remains.