Our 2nd Sportsin140.com sport management Q & A will be with Jason Romano, a Talent Producer at ESPN. This Q & A will follow exactly the same format as our first Q & A, with Watkins Glen International’s Paul Hemingway. You may submit questions to Jason via the comments section here or by sending them to him directly via Twitter. You can also submit questions directly to the Sportsin140 Twitter account with the #Q&A hashtag.

Jason Romano has worked as a high level producer since 1997, including spending the past nine years at ESPN. He has been a Talent Producer since 2003 working on such shows as SportsCenter, Outside the Lines, NFL Live, College Football LIVE, ESPNews, ESPN2′s First Take/Cold Pizza and has booked, coordinated and pre-interviewed the biggest names in the worlds of sports, politics, news, and entertainment. He has won a Sports Emmy as a SportsCenter producer.

Jason has also been a lead producer for the show Outside the Lines with host Bob Ley. He has helped coordinate, lead, and direct a staff of 13, producing both 30 minute, and 60 minute live studio shows. Jason has produced more than 50 Outside the Lines live shows.

Jason has handled intricate roles coordinating broadcasts at major ESPN events including the Super Bowl, MLB All Star Game and the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four.

We will accept questions for the Q & A for one week until Wednesday, June 24. We will publish Jason’s Q&A answers shortly thereafter. Thank you for participating!

Today ESPN’s Ryan Corazza reports that the NCAA has clarified its position on Twitter and has ruled that Twitter is an acceptable way for coaches to communicate online, with some important exceptions.

Corazza writes:

Any type of chatter back and forth via @replies that can be viewed in the public domain is not allowed. However, direct messaging on Twitter — which can only be viewed by the two people involved in the communicating — is permissible. (Same goes for Facebook. A coach can use the messaging function, which is similar to an e-mail, but he can’t write on Facebook walls.)

Corazza reports that the NCAA considers Twitter to be the same as a blog and is therefore allowed under the current guidelines. Coaches that use Twitter will be prohibited from using the @ reply function to communicate publicly with would-be recruits and the public and are encouraged to use the site’s private direct message function instead. While prohibiting coaches from replying to tweets publicly does eliminate a basic function of Twitter, coaches continue to join the site at a rapid rate. Click on the “college sports” tab on our Complete List to see a list of college coaches currently on Twitter.

I would expect many NCAA coaches to embrace Twitter now that the NCAA has clarified what coaches can and cannot do on the site. A Twitter account is free marketing and publicity for a coach’s program and I believe many teams will embrace the technology now that the NCAA has clarified its stance on Twitter.

Just a quick note that ESPN’s Bill Simmons is now on Twitter. Simmons, the “Sports Guy,” is one of ESPN’s most popular columnists. He writes that he’s giving Twitter a “test run for a few weeks” after being impressed with the NFL Draft coverage on the site last weekend. Many sports fans have been waiting for Simmons, one of their favorite writers, to join Twitter. Now that Simmons has joined, do you think he will stay?

Here are some Twitter accounts to follow during the weekend’s NFL Draft.

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NFL
NFL – @NFL
Commissioner Roger Goodell – @NFLCommish
Spokesman Greg Aiello – @GregAiello

NFL Teams
Atlanta Falcons – @Atlanta_Falcons
Baltimore Ravens – @1WinningDrive
Carolina Panthers – @PantherTalk
Cincinnati Bengals – @CinBengalsNFL
Houston Texans – @theTexans
Miami Dolphins – @MiamiDolphins
New England Patriots – @realpatriots
New York Jets – @NYJets
San Diego Chargers – @Chargers
Seattle Seahawks – @Seahawksdotcom
Tennessee Titans – @TennesseeTitans

Draft Eligible Players
Everette Brown, FSU – @EveretteBrown
Don Carey III, Norfolk State – @DonCarey
Kevin Grant, Akron State – @KGtheMachine
Jake Ingram, Hawaii – @Jake_Ingram_LS
Rashad Jennings, Liberty – @RashadJennings
Knowshon Moreno, Georgia – @KnowshonMoreno
Mark Sanchez, USC – @Mark_Sanchez
DeAngelo Smith, Cincinnati – @Deangelo6
Jason Williams, Western Illinois – @jwill6

ESPN
ESPN – @ESPN
SportsCenter – @SportsCenter
Chris Mortensen – @Mort2U
Merril Hoge – @MerrilHoge
Mike and Mike in the Morning: @GreenyandGolic

Sports Illustrated
Peter King – @SI_PeterKing

NFL Network
Rich Eisen – @RichEisen
Jamie Dukes – @JamieDukes

Los Angeles Times
Sam Farmer – @LATimesFarmer

Fox Sports
Ed Thompson – @Ed_Thompson

Beat Writers
Greg Bedard, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, @Greg_A_Bedard
Mark Bradley, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, @MarkBradleyAJC
Rich Hofmann, Philadelphia Daily News, @TheIdleRich
Stephen Holder, St. Petersburg Times, @HolderStephen
Matt Maiocco, Press Democrat, @mattmaiocco
Brendan Prunty, Star-Ledger, @BrendanPrunty
Joe Reedy, Cincinnati Enquirer, @JoeReedy

Opening Day 2009 begins tonight in Philadelphia and continues tomorrow for the rest of the league. If you’re a baseball fan on Twitter, you have to be excited about the networking possibilities this season thanks to MLB’s use of the site.

photo credit: aqui-ali

The Players
There are already several star MLB players on Twitter, all of whom seem to have started using the service during this past off-season. New York Yankees ace and star free agent acquisition CC Sabathia is among the MLB players already using Twitter. The recently retired Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling is also on Twitter and uses the site to communicate with fans and promote his new game development venture, 38 Studios. Other MLB players on Twitter include Phillies reliever Chad Durbin, Yankees outfielder Nick Swisher, Giants closer Brian Wilson, Rangers reliever C.J. Wilson and Giants starter Barry Zito.

Each player uses Twitter differently. Sabathia and Swisher don’t tweet much but Wilson is very open and answers fan questions regularly. Still, it’s great to see MLB players embrace Twitter to communicate with the fans and it’s likely that even more players will join Twitter this season.

MLB on Twitter
The players aren’t alone in embracing Twitter. MLB has taken an active role on Twitter, too. MLB’s Mark Newman runs the MLBlogs Twitter account and keeps everyone updated on the newest blogs on MLB.com (sign up for your own blog here) and on the latest MLB players to join Twitter.

If you enjoy watching MLB games on your computer through MLB.tv, you’ll be happy to know that you can follow the MLB.tv Twitter account for the latest news on the service and baseball in general.

MLB Teams on Twitter
If you’re an Athletics, Diamondbacks or Royals fan, you can follow Twitter accounts for an insider’s look on your favorite club. Catherine Herman, a Dbacks PR staffer, offers an inside look at the ballclub via her DbacksPRGirl account. Around the Horn KC offers updates from the official Royals blog on MLB.com. Finally, the Athletics maintain an official Twitter account to inform fans about the latest team news and promotions.

While there are only a handful of official club accounts on Twitter right now, I’ve heard that many teams will launch official accounts at some point this season. Follow us on Twitter for the latest updates.

Team Beat Writers on Twitter
If you enjoy reading about your favorite team on MLB.com or in the local media, you’ll be happy to learn that several MLB beat writers are already covering their teams on Twitter in addition to their normal media outlets. Here is a list of team beat writers on Twitter, divided by ML division. Please note this is not an exhaustive list; I am always looking for more writers.

AL East
Blue Jays – Jordan Bastian, MLB.com
Rays – Marc Lancaster, Tampa Tribune
Yankees – Bryan Hoch, MLB.com, Pete Abraham, The Journal News

AL Central
Tigers – Jason Beck, MLB.com
White Sox – Joe Cowley, Chicago Sun-Times

AL West
- None that I know of yet -

NL East
Marlins – Joe Frisaro, MLB.com
Phillies – Todd Zolecki, MLB.com, David Murphy, Philadelphia Daily News

NL Central
Astros – Alyson Footer, MLB.com
Cardinals – Matthew Leach, MLB.com, Derrick Goold, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Reds – John Fay, Cincinnati Enquirer

NL West
Padres – Corey Brock, MLB.com

Finally, several national baseball writers maintain Twitter accounts, including ESPN’s Jayson Stark and Keith Law and Baseball Prospectus writer and injury expert Will Carroll. Please note that while Peter Gammons has an account, it is new and now private so I am not listing it here.

If you prefer to read blogs, I recommend Tim Dierkes’ excellent MLB Trade Rumors site and Twitter account. For a full listing of MLB blogs (and other sports blogs, too), check refer to the Blogs page on the full list.

I hope that this MLB roundup helps you enjoy the 2009 season a little more in some small way. I fully expect more MLB players, teams and writers to embrace Twitter this season so it looks like a good season for baseball fans on Twitter!