This past week week has been an interesting one in the blogosphere. Arizona State University had terminated thier cheerleading program because of some pictures of their cheerleaders posted on blogs and elsewhere. As disturbing as this may be, even more disturbing was the appearance of Pulitzer Prize winning Friday Night Lights author Buzz Bissinger on a live town hall style edition of "Costas Now!" last week. Billed as a special show to discuss the current state of sports media, the subject turned to the impact of blogs on sports media. Here is what happened.





HBO has already had these videos yanked from YouTube, so enjoy these now while you can.

You can also read my take on this show over on Eye on Sports Media.

I am on the road in Los Angeles this week and decided this was the best city to continue my efforts to go green in my life. Hertz now offers the Toyota Prius Hybrid as part of their rental fleet, so I specifically requested this car when I made my reservation. At $200 a week for the corporate rate, not only do I keep my gas consumption down, I  am able to spew less pollution in the legendary LA traffic jams. The customer wins too, because it brings some of the costs of my  being out here down.

So I offer this challenge to my colleagues out there. If you are travelling alone, go ahead and rent a hybrid. Every time someone does a little bit to help the environment, everyone benefits in the long run.

Here is the latest from the AP on Google News (Thanks Jim Anderton!):

WASHINGTON (AP) — IBM on Friday said the Environmental Protection Agency has lifted a week-old ban that prevented the company from getting new government contracts.

The ban stemmed from an $84 million EPA contract the company lost last year and is protesting. Under a reciprocal agreement among federal agencies, when one issues a ban, the others follow it.

International Business Machines Corp. said it is continuing to cooperate with the EPA and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, which served grand jury subpoenas seeking documents and testimony relating to the contract.

The EPA's decision likely means the incident being investigated is isolated, and that the agency acted so as not to "adversely affect a whole multinational corporation," said Ray Bjorklund, a senior vice president at market research firm Federal Sources Inc.

If the company being probed was smaller and the potential violations touched most of its officials and employees, the government would have been less inclined to lift such a ban, Bjorklund said.

IBM spokesman Fred McNeese declined to comment beyond the material in the company's press release. The EPA did not immediately have any comment.

IBM's federal contracts last year amounted to at least $1.3 billion, roughly 1 percent of its revenue.

In a nutshell, this means IBM messed up on at least one of their Federal (US) contracts. They have not been barred, only suspended (as of March 28, 2008). It is not clear if there is a direct correlation with a contract being protested by IBM, but information on the contract is posted on the EPA Web site. The contracting officer for this procurement, Yvonne Stiso, reports to Tim Farris, who  I know to be an extremely fair and reasonable person who would not move such an action forward if he felt it were not warranted.

Here is IBM's official statement:

The notice of temporary suspension was issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and relates to an investigation by the EPA of possible violations of the Procurement Integrity provisions of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act regarding a bid for business with the EPA originally submitted in March 2006. The temporary suspension applies to all Federal agencies and IBM business units. IBM may continue awards in existence as of the date of this suspension, unless a particular agency directs otherwise.

In addition, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia has served IBM and certain employees with grand jury subpoenas requesting testimony and documents regarding interactions between employees of the EPA and certain IBM employees.

IBM has served the Federal agency community for many decades as a vendor in good standing and is committed to the highest standards of business ethics. IBM provides training on its Business Conduct Guidelines to all employees, with specialized training to those employees working on matters with the Federal government, to ensure compliance with all applicable Federal requirements.

Prior to learning of the temporary suspension on March 28, 2008, IBM was not aware that the EPA or U.S. Attorney’s office were considering any action against IBM. Upon learning of the suspension, IBM initiated discussions with the EPA and the U.S. Attorney’s office to obtain additional information and is cooperating with the investigations.

Under Federal procurement procedures, IBM has 30 days in which to contest the scope of the temporary suspension, which can continue for an initial period of up to one year pending the completion of the investigation. IBM intends to take all appropriate actions to challenge the suspension and limit its scope.

One of the key people behind the scenes at Lotusphere that attendees do not see or even know about is Bill Chuck. president of B. Czar Productions (pictured left). Each year at Lotusphere, he is behind the scenes working with IBM employees who will be speaking, helping them refine their presentation styles. This year he was a little more visible, serving as one of the judges at the Lotusphere Idol session. He has a book coming out next week, Walkoffs, Last Licks, and Final Outs - Baseball's Grand (and not so grand) Finales. I have been working with him on an interview for Eye on Sports Media. Part I, which focuses on his love for baseball, his web site (billy-ball.com), and the forthcoming book, is now published on that site.