Blogger Benson Restricted From Writing During Indiana's Training Camp

A waiter at a Hollywood restaurant recently was fired after he wrote on his Twitter page how a notable actress stiffed him on a tip.

It seems the actress, Hung star Jane Adams, claimed she had forgotten her wallet and went to her car and never returned. The tab, about $14, was later paid by her agent. But the payment came with no tip, leading waiter Jon-Barrett Ingels to write, "Not a big deal to me financially, but the principle of the thing was ridiculous.''

Fired.

We've seen this scenario before. Last spring, after Brian Dawkins bolted as a free agent from the Philadelphia Eagles to the Denver Broncos, a Philadelphia stadium worker named Dan Leone wrote on his Facebook page about the Eagles being "retarded'' for letting Dawkins go.

Fired.

Employers are nervous these days about social networking. So, if you're a fringe employee, you better watch what you're Tweeting or blogging.

If it was a renowned chef at the Hollywood restaurant who made a Twitter page comment in a similar way Ingels did, he probably would have kept his job. If Leone had been an indispensable turf expert, he would have had a much better chance to stick around.

It's the same in the NBA. If you're a solid player with a guaranteed contract, management might frown upon what's on your mind. But blog away.

If you're a guy on the fringe, that's another story. Then you're Rod Benson.

Benson has a cult following in the blogging world. His site, www.toomuchrodbenson.com, is considered a must read by many for its honesty and humor. Recently, he also has contributed to the Ball Don't Lie blog on Yahoo! Sports.

But Benson, a 6-foot-10 forward-center, went undrafted out of California in 2006. He has been an above-average D-League player, averaging 10.9 points and 9.2 rebounds, but never has been considered an obvious candidate to stick with an NBA team.

So when the Indiana Pacers invited Benson to training camp on a nonguaranteed contract, they put on him on what could be called restrictions. The Pacers kindly asked Benson to not blog during training camp, and he complied.

Benson has posted a note on his site that reads, "Gone Campin'," writing that the site and his Twitter account "will be down until the end of camp.'' He's also taken a break from Yahoo!.

"It wouldn't be a problem if he was a mid-level exception player,'' his agent, Bill Neff, said about the attitude NBA general managers have had about Benson's blog. "It's a double standard.''

Neff doesn't have a beef with the Pacers because he said they "asked nicely'' for Benson to not blog during training camp, and Neff didn't get the feeling it was an ultimatum. But Neff said he's dealt with at least four NBA teams before that were wary about giving Benson an opportunity due to his blogging.

After Benson arrived in Indiana, he had a meeting with Pacers executives Larry Bird and David Morway and a team public relations official. He was told it would be a good idea to suspend his social networking during training camp.

"It was something they felt they needed to address,'' Benson said. "I'm young and athletic... But I'm also good at something else. It's a very dicey situation because I was one of the first ones to get into social media on a public scale.''

Benson, for now, is being a good soldier about it. Since graduating from California, he's been in and out of NBA summer and fall camps, played with three D-League teams and had a stint in France. He's willing to put his blogging career on hold at least until he finds out if he makes the Pacers.

"They've been straight shooters,'' said Benson, who, if he were to make the team, would try to work out something with his blogging.

The Pacers spent the past week in Asia, playing games against Denver in Taipei, Taiwan, and Beijing. So fans of Benson weren't able to read any irreverent posts from Benson about the trip.

A number of e-mails were sent last week by FanHouse, giving Pacers officials, while in Asia, the opportunity to comment on Benson and his blogging. While some of the e-mails were returned, no comment on Benson ever was made.

It might soon be a moot point. Neff believes Benson, who has totaled nine points and seven rebounds in 16 minutes while playing in two of Indiana's three preseason games, has little chance to make the Pacers due to all their guaranteed contracts. Benson doesn't agree with that assessment, saying he's been playing well.

But the bigger issue for Benson, 25, is whether his blogging ever could cost him a chance to make an NBA team even if he might be playing better than non-blogging candidates.

"It's a very unique situation,'' Benson said. "All I can do is play my game. I'm hoping I can be a writer and a blogger without having it be a detriment to my athletic career... I censor myself (in writing). I don't think that I write anything that would be detriment to a team.''

Still, Benson has heard the stories over the years from Neff about general managers being wary about him.

"It's just people misunderstanding Rod,'' said Neff, who said Benson has made more in a year from blogging than from playing in the D-League, where salaries are around $25,000. "He's a brilliant guy. He has like a 180 IQ... He's just silly and goofy. Some general managers say they have a problem with that.''

Neff was asked to provide an example or two of when Benson might have written something a bit too edgy.

"Early in his (pro) career, he wrote some stuff about Dakota,'' Neff said about Benson being with the D-League's Dakota Wizards in 2006-07. "He said all the players did was chase women, and some of them were married. (Dakota's married players) didn't like that. And he wrote all of the women in Dakota were fat. That got him in trouble, but he's since learned. Now (on his blog), he mostly makes fun of himself.''

Benson admits he probably did go a bit too far with his blogging after arriving in Bismarck, N.D.

"It was culture shock when I came to Dakota,'' said Benson, who is from San Diego. "I saw a lot of things I hadn't seen before.''

Benson mostly writes zany stuff about personal experiences. It's funny listening to him talk about how he came up with "Too Much Rod Benson.''

"We were playing Stanford (in college) and I ran off six or eight points in a row at one point,'' Benson said. "The announcer on TV said, 'That's just too much Rod Benson.' So I used that for my online personality.''

Neff, who loves reading Benson's blogs, calls him "Not Enough Rod Benson.'' Recently, though, Benson has written some things that one could see not thrilling a conservative NBA official.

In May, he wrote "an extremely hard intentional foul is now a 'Derek Fisher.'" He was referring to Fisher's playoff flagrant foul on Houston's Luis Scola.

Earlier this year, Benson wrote the following about the D-League All-Star game being held in Phoenix during All-Star Weekend: "Wedged between a celebrity game and Rookie-Sophomore showdown, the D-Leaguers will battle in an All-Star Game of their own. You don't need to know the TV ratings to know that the D-League game won't be watched by many people. Why would people watch it, anyway? They don't know the players, they hardly respect the talent, and they don't subscribe to NBA TV.''

OK, this isn't exactly Jim Bouton writing Ball Four. Then again, Bouton once had a 20-win season for the New York Yankees.

If everything were to be equal, it's understandable how an NBA general manager might choose over Benson a player for the end of the bench who doesn't tote around a laptop.

That's unfortunate for many observers of Benson. But NBA officials are still generally an old-school, conservative lot. A lot of this social networking is a concern, which is why the league and teams are putting in rules to contain it.

It would be great if Benson some day could make an NBA team and be able to blog with at least just a moderate filter. In this troubling economy, he could generate a bit more interest in the team and perhaps bring some additional hits to the team web site if it runs some versions of his blog.

Former NBA benchwarmer and funny man Mark Pope a few years ago wrote an entertaining blog that was posted on the Nuggets' site. Of course, Pope is a Mormon, so nobody had to worry about him writing about going to clubs.

That subject comes up often in blogs by Benson, who doesn't deny he enjoys a night on the town. He has helped create the so-called "Boom Tho,'' movement, which has been said to be devoted to the philosophy of "having fun, being ridiculous and being yourself.'' One even can buy a T-shirt in a link from his blog (that hasn't gone camping) for $21 plus tax.

The most important thing Benson can do now, though, is the job on the court. If he plays well enough that an NBA team believes he can help, hopefully a place can be found for his blogging.

Chris Tomasson can be reached at tomasson@fanhouse.com.