It is true that this blog keeps its distance from not only Texas but all the college programs. Yes, we can request interviews and press passes and ask questions, but if you get as close as the newspapers do, you can’t help but fall into a symbiotic relationship and there are certain unspoken, off-the-record information that serves as a quid pro quo. That “ease of access” has a real price and a certain element of implied self-censorship.

Then it can become difficult to to call the program(s) on hard shots, to critique and criticize freely and directly and to give really balanced analyzes. I say this as someone has been on both sides of this, as a working journalist covering a team beat and as a blogger.

The ethical standard here is high and it is a forefront consideration, both in the writing and the legal consideration. Plus, if you work in this environment, just like newspaper writers, your every word is open to scrutiny. You, as a commentor, might rave and bitch about Mack Brown or another coach, but the chances of you having to face that coach directly in a professional setting is nil, but it is something the actual writers must understand can happen at any time. I’ve had coaches go Gundyesque on me…and you have to answer, you have to stand up for yourself, especially when the coaches are just flat wrong and covering their ass. And if they’re right, you have to face that in a responsible fashion if you want to continue in the trade. You write enough words and you will screw up sometimes… one of the prices you pay, but all jobs have that.

So, do all blog writers have such considerations? Probably not. But we do here at BON, at least as the ideal. We understand implicitly and explicitly there is a standard and adhere to it. And if you’ll notice, PB leads on this extremely well. He understands the distance we want to keep with respect to the Texas program, and he wants the freedom – for himself and all of us – to speak and write from that perspective. Quite frankly, the blog readers are much better informed as a result of this.

We’re not necessarily perfect in this regard, but we do work in this particular ethical mode as a matter of our intent in providing our readers with in-depth contextual information about Texas football and, indeed, all college football. If we can’t hook ’em as we see fit, why in the hell are we doing this.

Hook ’em, baby