You think a fish is dead. But there it is, flopping around on the deck. Flop. Flop. Flop.

Not content to let the 'dance team' story die, the editors of the Sacramento Bee decided a front-page story was needed to bring this story full circle.

They published a photo. They interviewed at least three experts on PR or digital privacy. They quoted our own Carl, pretty much taking his quote out of context to fit their storyline that bloggers have been busy gawking at the photos and passing them around all week. (I assume they felt they needed some local flavor, hence the Sactown Royalty mention. Thanks to you all, there was nothing real juicy for them to pull. Thank you.)

I mean, just look at this passage.

The only talk of shame and disciplinary action came from… the media! Not the blogs. Most of the comments here expressed either enjoyment of the photos or frustration with the media blowing this out of proportion. The bulk of the comments on With Leather and the other blogs were some clever/funny version of "I'd hit it." There is no outrage here, people. None. Does anyone else see any? I don't…… except from the media: the producers at News10 who considered this a top story, the editors at The Bee who considered this a front-page story.

Basically, here's what we have: The Bee needs a story for the print edition about the dance team photos. The angle, as not to come off as judgmental puritans: This is an embarrassment for the team ("the latest in a string of embarrassments for the Kings," on par with Musselman's DUI and Artest's domestic violence arrest, apparently), and everyone on the web is aflutter about this! The problem: It's not really an embarrassment for the team (since it isn't, you know, illegal to do anything they did, and it's not terribly foreign to the job the Kings pay them to do) and no one is really aflutter. You know why the photos made it to so many blogs? Because they were pictures of half-naked Kings dancers! People weren't passing them around in order to share their outrage. They passed them around because this was a side of the dancers they had (literally) never seen before.

I was annoyed when the media made such a big deal out of this. I'm angry they've projected their own faux-puritanism on us. We don't care. You do. Own it, or put your printing presses away.

It's also hilarious to me they'll grind grind grind about how terrible this is… as they show tens of thousands of people in Sacramento who'd never see these photos otherwise (including children who actually go to the games and see the dancers) where to find them. "Oh, those childlike bloggers, passing around naughty photos. What naughty photos? Oh, these ones. Here, world, here are the photos! Oh those naughty bloggers. I can't believe they'd pass these around. What an embarrassment."

But hey, if the Bee can do it, maybe I should loosen up.

HOT!