The Association has expanded its commitment to cyber-communication with the launch of the "Double-A Zone," a blog dedicated to the discussion of college athletics issues.

"Blogs and other Internet discussion devices represent an important new method of communication," said David Pickle, NCAA managing director of publishing. "We have concluded that we cannot sit on the sideline while the rest of the Internet world talks about us. We need to become part of the conversation."

The Double-A Zone, which is housed on NCAA Online (www.ncaa.org), is a pilot program that will be evaluated after six months. Josh Centor, an intern serving with the branding and communications staff, administers the blog, with assistance from other interns.

"We chose the interns because we didn't consider it appropriate to put permanent staff in this role," Pickle said. "But the more we thought about it, the more we believed that the interns were a good choice for other reasons. They are comfortable with the medium, and they are technically savvy. The blog also provides a great opportunity for them to learn more about the Association and to acquire administrative experience along the way."

Early Double-A Zone postings have focused on academics and athletics, the Association's purchase of the National Invitation Tournament, and pay for play, among other issues.

"This blog clearly will have an NCAA perspective," Pickle said, "but that perspective is much broader than we often get credit for. No administrator will stand over the interns' shoulders, telling them exactly what to write. They have some general guidelines, but we also have given them a good bit of editorial freedom."

Anybody accessing the blog will be permitted to post a response. All comments will be screened and posted as long as they meet standards that are posted on the blog.

However, the greatest measure of success for the blog will be determined by the extent to which it is syndicated, rather than how many comments it generates. In that regard, the early returns have been favorable since a number of other sports-oriented blogs have included the Double-A Zone on their "blog rolls" (listings of related blogs).

The blog also will provide the Association with the opportunity to deliver "podcasts," mostly audio messages deemed to be of interest to the audience.