Here's breaking news: web sites don't get credentials.

The guys at Denver Sports Zone found this out recently and posted about it. The post was thoughtful, but their solution was ... well, less than ideal.

There's a couple schools of thought on this:

1) Bloggers don't need access.

This one's crap to me. If you don't need access, fine. If you're not going to go to games, fine. I want all the information I possibly can. Give me the box scores and the game story, the columnists and the analysts.

2) Kick against the pricks.

DSZ is kind of taking this route. Press credentials are a privilege for most, outside of the BBWAA which has negotiated its rights. I'm not owed credentials and think that it would be much easier to convince the BBWAA to accept net-based baseball writers than it would to get both teams and MLB to accept them.

3) Keep doing good work

I've finally settled down and started taking a middle road. I'll take what access I get, work hard to prove I did something with it, and when I can, lobby the proper people for increased access.

Unless net-based writers are willing to take a reasoned, organized approach to organizing, professionalizing, and lobbying, this isn't going to change. Not now, not soon, and with the pace of baseball, probably not during my career. Bloggers eat their own with regularity, so I have long since stopped trying to get an IBWA going.

One final thought on this -- if you're asking for credentials, go to the mirror and ask yourself "What do you do for a living?" If you really want the credential, there's only one right answer.