Last Friday, I did a post on the NCAA trimming floor seats for the media from 200 to 72.

As you’d expect, the move didn’t go over well. I received an update from John Akers of Basketball Times and president of the United States Basketball Writers Association.

From Akers:

“Well, yeah, there were definitely complaints. There were four seats in each of the corners near courtside, just above the handicapped areas, where many reporters could not see because fans were standing. So that’s 16 of the courtside seats, and most of them turn out to be bad ones. And there were many longtime writers who wound up in the auxiliary box and felt disrespected. Combine that with a $295 hotel rate, and there are many writers who are wondering whether they will come back.”

I followed up with Akers, asking if in reality there were only 54 floor seats?

Akers replied, “Apparently not all of those 16 seats were bad, but there were fewer than 72 good seats.”

The hotel issue hardly is trivial. Shelling more than $300 per night (including taxes) for four-five nights hardly is feasible for many media outlets in this economic climate. It is incumbent on the NCAA to negotiate a better rate.

And for the people who say the media should stop whining…: “At least, they are in the stadium.”

Well, there are a couple of things at play here. It is about respect. Many of these media members have been covering the Final Four for decades, long before it became a huge event. Their coverage did play a role in what the tournament is today. To be shuttled to the “Uecker Seats” is a major slap in the face.

And it is difficult to cover a game when the players look like dots running around on the floor. Many reporters feel as if they would be better off watching on TV in the press room. And if you’re going to do that, you might as well tune in from the comforts of your couch.

Does the NCAA care? Probably not. Judging by this administration, caring about the media isn’t high on the priority list.

Sad to hear the news about the passing of Cooper Rollow.

Here is the obit in the Chicago Tribune.

Rollow, who was 87, was the Tribune’s sports editor from 1969-76, a period of major change and innovation in the newspaper’s sports section. He turned a couple young reporters loose on their beats: Bob Verdi on the Blackhawks and Don Pierson on the Bears.

It seems hard to believe, but the Tribune didn’t have an African-American sportswriter until Rollow hired Fred Mitchell in 1974. Mitchell did a tribute to Rollow.

The late hulking sportswriter John Husar sauntered over to me in the newsroom during one of my first days at the Tribune, placed his meaty right hand on my shoulder and announced in his booming voice: “The Chicago Tribune has hired a black sportswriter! What has the world come to?”

I smiled uncomfortably at his proclamation, then realized the historic significance of my hire by Rollow, which came 27 years after major league baseball was integrated by Jackie Robinson. While this was never something we discussed, I suppose Rollow had become my Branch Rickey.

Pierson recalled Rollow’s finest hour as a journalist came during his coverage of the Munich Massacre.

His work turned deadly serious on Sept. 5, 1972, when he was covering the Olympic Games in Munich, along with his colleague, longtime Tribune sportswriter Robert Markus.  That day, they unexpectedly found themselves writing not about swimming, marathon runners and gymnastics but about terrorism, as 11 members of Israel’s Olympic team were killed by members of the Palestinian group Black September.

“Cooper was first and foremost a terrific reporter, and he had more fun in sports journalism than anybody I ever saw,” retired Tribune pro football reporter Don Pierson said.  “But he showed what a serious reporter he was at the Olympics in Munich.  I think his legacy as a reporter would start with the way he covered that massacre.”

By the time I arrived at the Tribune, Rollow had stepped aside from being an editor and wrote about pro football, his true love. I was 25 when I got assigned to be Pierson’s No. 2 man on the Bears in 1985. I get the all-time great timing award for that one.

Rollow, 60 at the time, didn’t pull any veteran stuff on me. He couldn’t have been any nicer. He treated me as an equal, going out of his way to show it was done. It was an important lesson that I now try to carry on when I work with younger reporters.

“Coop” was just a great guy. You’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone say a negative word about him. He was a beloved fixture in the Tribune Tower. The business would be in better shape with a few more journalists like “Coop.”

T.J. Simers had a scary episode that fortunately wasn’t much worse.

The Los Angeles Times columnist suffered from a  small stroke while covering the Dodgers in spring training. He wrote about how the Dodgers staff came to his rescue.

I alerted Times beat reporter Dylan Hernandez that I couldn’t cover the Dodgers. He told the Dodgers because he thinks delivering good news makes him more popular.

Dodgers PR guy Steve Brener called to confirm, a little too giddy for my taste.

I mentioned banging into the furniture and suddenly he’s got me talking to Dodgers trainer Sue Falsone. She wanted me to look in the mirror and smile. I never thought of that before. I never see anyone smiling when I arrive, so this was my chance to see what it would look like.

The rest is a blue blur with the Dodgers saving me. I wonder if this means their motto for 2013 will be: Win It for Page 2.

I hope I don’t have to wind up calling them the Choking Dogs.

And Simers wrote:

They had me stay overnight so the nurses could practice taking blood in the dark. Brener and Tom Lasorda stopped by. Lasorda used the bathroom so I would know he was there with me the whole way.

The Times’ obit writer emailed to wish me well.

Hernandez stopped by to see if it was time to apply for the Page 2 column. Ned Colletti was a visitor. There were no Angels, and I was pretty happy about that because the last place you want to see angels is in a hospital.

They tell me I’ll be fine. I’m supposed to interview Floyd Mayweather on Tuesday, so we’ll see.

To be completely honest, I wrote this to see if I could still do it. (I await the messages to the contrary.)

Or what took so long?

Last year, the Associated Press Sports Editors gave their top honor, the Red Smith Award, to Frank Deford. It was long overdue considering how Deford likely is on Mt. Rushmore for modern sports journalists.

This year, another one of those faces on the sportswriting peak, Dan Jenkins, finally will get his Red Smith. Last Friday, APSE announced the 83-year-old Jenkins will be honored during its summer conference in Detroit.

Why did two titans like Deford and Jenkins have to wait so long for recognition from APSE? Well, they are mainly known for their magazine work. Last year, Deford became the first magazine writer to win the Red Smith; Jenkins now is the second, mainly for his work at Sports Illustrated and Golf Digest. He still is going strong, pumping out columns for Golf Digest.

APSE is made up primarily of sports newspaper editors. So that attests to the reason why the award previously has been given to newspaper writers and editors.

However, if Deford and Jenkins don’t have a Red Smith, what’s the sense in giving out the award? At least APSE recognized these glaring omissions.

APSE president Gerry Ahern did a nice write-up on Jenkins. Here are the highlights.

“I’m delighted, I’m flattered and frankly I’m overwhelmed because I’m such a fan of most of the people who are in there and have known a great many of them,” Jenkins said. “I even knew Red pretty well.

“I used to sit next to him at Super Bowls and NFL games and was a great admirer of his. I used to quote stuff to him, his stuff. He was such a wonderful, gentle, terrific guy and helpful to any other writer, any young guy who read him and understood his work.”

The Red Smith Award is just the latest honor for the inimitable Jenkins, who got his start in newspapers at the Fort Worth Press and Dallas Times-Herald. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2012 and won the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing last year. The PGA gave him its Lifetime Achievement in Journalism Award in 1995 and he entered the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame in 1996.

But the Red Smith Award is special, Jenkins said. The thought of being enshrined alongside Smith, Blackie Sherrod and Furman Bisher brought out emotions.

“I’ve got a few plaques hanging on my wall, but I’ve never been as thrilled about any award as I am about this one,” Jenkins said.

More from Jenkins:

“These are supposed to be fun and games as Red himself always said. I love to try and keep people honest. We have enough God-like creatures running around in Sports nowadays that someone has to try and keep their feet on the ground.

“I just say what I think and things come to me. Sometimes it’s funny and sometimes it’s not. I hate to draw blood but sometimes I do.”

Here’s who is on deck for the Red Smith:

Twelve sports journalists received nominations for the 2013 Red Smith Award. The five top vote-getters behind Jenkins (in alphabetical order) are Henry Freeman, Leigh Montville, Bob Ryan, Fred Turner and George Vecsey. In accordance with APSE rules, they will automatically be on the ballot for 2014.

Really enjoyed this post by Bryan Curtis. It should be read by every current and future sportswriter. There’s a lot of reality here.

Some samples:

“great piece!” (exp.) — a compliment for a story that’s longer than 2,000 words.

instant classic (n.) — a close game a sportswriter happened to watch live.

Random Thoughts (n.) — a new name for the old “Notes” column.

source close to the process, a (n.) — the most anonymous tipster in sportswriting. A “source close to the process” could be a player, a general manager, an agent, or a pool boy. A writer in search of an equally vague term might try “a source familiar with the team’s thinking.”

Golden Age of Sportswriting (n.) — usually the 1920s, but the phrase may refer to the glory days of Laguerre’s Sports Illustrated, Walsh’s Inside Sports, or the Gammons-Ryan-McDonough Boston Globe sports section. Stanley Woodward, 1949: “After considerable research I can find no evidence to support the theory that sports writing had any good old days. … The only thing that interests me is the modern American sports page which, as far as I can see, owes nothing to antiquity. It didn’t even evolve. It sprang full-fashioned from the forehead of Zeus.”

And there’s much more. Worth the read.

Frank Deford has been doing commentaries on NPR for more than 30 years. Needless to say, if it carries Deford’s name, they are going to be terrific.

As a public service, I wanted to let you know If you miss the actual broadcast on Wednesday, you still can listen to them at your convenience at Deford’s NPR site. And/or you could read the transcripts.

I have a link to Deford’s site on the rail in my Blogroll. Needless to say, I feel it is a must read each week.

From time to time, I’ll highlight some of his commentaries. This week, Deford went after the NCAA as only he can.

Deford writes:

The great social quest in American sport is to have one prominent, active, gay male athlete step forward and identify himself.

But I have a similar quest. I seek one prominent college president to say to her trustees or to the other presidents in his conference: “The NCAA is a sham and disgrace. Let’s get out of it.”

We know those presidents who disdain the NCAA are out there, but, alas, none dare speak the words that will break the evil spell.

Never has the NCAA been held in such scorn, regularly revealed as a hypocritical, bumbling vestige of a time when its so-called student-athletes were known quaintly as “lettermen” and the most notorious activity on campus was panty raids. Innocent America then bought into the NCAA justification of amateurism, but that giddy concept has come to be widely rejected — student-athletes are really sucker-athletes — and without public trust in amateurism, the NCAA is a rickety structure that cannot stand.