Four months into the women’s basketball season, Erica Morrow is probably used to answering questions about meeting freshman expectations and creeping into the top 25 poll.

She was never prepared for Tuesday afternoon.

‘So I was reading your blog…’ a reporter started asking.

You would have thought the reporter forgot to put on deodorant. First Morrow backed up in humiliation. Then she clapped her hands and released a nervous laugh. She looked like someone who discovered she was heard singing in the shower or dancing in front of the mirror.

Morrow, a standout freshman basketball player, recently started a blog on Blogger.com. She updates information on the women’s basketball team, using the third person just like a reporter would. No ‘I’ or ‘We.’ She could apply for a job in these pages with that attitude – and immediately have the best jumper on staff.

Morrow was pleased – and somewhat surprised – to learn she’s in good company. The athlete-blogger is a growing trend in sports. Sports stars Gilbert Arenas, Donovan McNabb and Curt Schilling all update personal blogs. Each has his own reason for doing it. Yet Morrow’s intentions are purely innocent. The information studies and technology major is taking an introductory class in which the instructor requires the student to either start a blog or a podcast.

‘A podcast is kind of boring,’ Morrow said. So a blog it was.

She never intended anyone to read it, and she was genuinely bewildered when a reporter informed her he read it.

As it turned out, a Syracuse athletic communications official dutifully set up a Google alerts for the SU women’s basketball team. The alert sends him an e-mail anytime the team is mentioned on the Internet. To his surprise, the team was mentioned in a blog – Morrow’s blog. He asked Morrow if the blog could be posted on SU Athletics’ Web site.

‘Then I went to [SUAthletics.com], and it says ‘Erica is part of BlogNation,” Morrow said. ‘I was like, ‘I thought you were just going to put a little link that no one would notice.”

The word spread from there, and Morrow’s blog became more popular than she ever expected.

‘Now how can I help it?’ Morrow said. ‘People are coming up to me and saying, ‘I went to your blog.’ I’m like, ‘Goodness, don’t go to the blog! It’s just part of a project!’ But it’s cool now.’

And the subject?

‘You can write about anything you want,’ she said. ‘I decided to write about basketball.’

A co-worker of Morrow’s mother learned of the blog. She told Morrow’s mother, who called Morrow to see if it’s true. Now her mother is a loyal reader. The team manager read it. Head coach Quentin Hillsman and star forward Nicole Michael haven’t visited, although they both laughed when asked and promised to check.

Morrow is even learning about fans she never realized she had. The blog allows readers to post comments. One reader with the alias ‘suhoopsfan’ wrote of the women’s basketball players being positive role models for her daughter. (This is far more noble than many of the comments reporters receive. One reader once suggested I don’t ‘display any sports knowledge that the average sorority girl couldn’t regurgitate.’ Some might take this is an insult. I took it as a challenge to find the sorority girl who is that interested in the 1992 Michigan Final Four team.)

From the first time Morrow was made available to media at the team’s preseason media day, it was clear she was comfortable in front of the press. Morrow takes a keen interest in technology. She relished the opportunity to combine basketball and computers. The sports page has always been the messenger between the athlete and the fan. Blogs are a way for the athlete to go directly to the fan.

Schilling started a blog in spring training of 2007, and his first post was as much an indication of his intentions as it was his thoughts on the reporters who’ve followed him throughout his career.

‘I don’t know that I’ll be changing my style, but I do know that getting ripped for something I say here will be getting ripped for something I actually said – with the entire contents of my comments included,’ Schilling wrote in his first entry.

Gerry McNamara would have loved this. He once waited a month after a controversial column ran to announce that half the writers of The Daily Orange have never picked up a basketball in their lives. Makes you think, he could have used an immediate forum. Or perhaps he just could have used a math teacher.

The catch is Morrow must be careful with what she writes. When a story goes awry, the reporter is often accused of misquoting. When the athlete is the reporter, that only complicates things. Consider Dallas Cowboys receiver Terrell Owens, who claimed he was misquoted in his own autobiography.

At the college level, a few athletic directors have entered the blogosphere. Richmond athletic director Jim Miller recently posted with a response to negative message boarders. Imagine Daryl Gross starting a blog. Every third word would be ‘extraordinary.’

Morrow doesn’t know how much longer she’ll continue blogging – certainly through the semester because of her class requirement. If it continues to catch on, Morrow envisions expanding the blog to include player interviews and other observations. At this rate, she’ll put The Daily Orange out of business.

The only problem is with the newfound popularity comes responsibility she never anticipated.

‘Now I’m going to have to check the spelling,’ Morrow sighed.

Apparently, that’s improtnat.

Zach Berman is the featured columnist for The Daily Orange, where his column appears weekly. E-mail him at zberman@syr.edu.

Published on February 12, 2008 at 12:00 pm