So while the SEC's new policy on media certainly seems rather Draconian on its own merits, it's more than likely that nearly everyone here won't ever deal with it.  Joel and hooper have pretty heavily alluded to it already with their first volley on the subject, but here's the thing: even with the policy parts that directly relate to ticket holders, this policy isn't created to stop fans from enjoying the game at the game.  Honestly, it reads to me like it's not even about the fans.

First off, what I'll term the anti-Twitter rule (the line against real time updates) has a hazy middle ground with respect to media sites that may not have attendance at each game - I'm thinking specifically of the Yahoo Sports line, but there are likely others.  Most of the minor media sites won't have this restriction at this point in time; since they don't fall under the media's umbrella as the SEC defines it, they'd have to fall under the tickets - if they fall under anything at all.  If they don't, the only way the SEC would do anything about it amounts to a thought-police brigade that's way more time and effort than it's worth.

On a related note, I suspect the SEC's rather harsh limitations on what they will and won't term full-time media will be rescinded, possibly after this season.  Quite frankly, the first major paper in the Southeast that has to go to a part-time reporter covering the SEC will pretty much end this.  (For example, I can't think the folks in Starkville or Tuscaloosa will be too happy wiith only part-time Mississippi State or Alabama coverage.)  In the meantime, we'll lose out on new sources of writing and opinions, provided those with part-time access just don't turn to internet media and/or blogs entirely.  For myself, this actually won't change how I obtain the majority of my information, since I'm currently at least partly reliant on other people screening links to find articles that I'd find interesting; I suspect I'm not the only one who falls into that category.  In the meantime, this rule will funnel information through the major sports media outlets - CBS, ESPN, FOX, etc. - which really isn't that much different than the way things are now, provided you don't live in the Southeast (which I don't; keep in mind this is the perspective of a partial outsider).

Sadly, the ticket rule prohibits those awesome psuedo air-raid sirens that have gotten popular at soccer games over the last few months - fortunately, Texas can still use them to produce something like crowd noise, although I'll forgive them if they're unfamiliar with that too.  Other than that, there's really not that much that changes with the new rules from a practical standpoint; as long as you aren't a complete idiot about it (i.e., standing on your friend's shoulders to take a clear pic of the new scoreboard) you'll likely be fine.  Given the relative slow-moving mass as it relates to actually tracking new media (read: Twitter), there's no practical way they can even check to see if people are uploading news items, pictures, videos, etc. unless they also have agreements with cell phone carriers they're not telling anyone about - and I doubt they care that much.  Again, the worst thing that'll happen is that you get kicked out of a game, which sucks but isn't the end of the world.

At the end of the day, the SEC's just trying to steer how their games are transmitted.  There really isn't much in there that will functionally prohibit anything that's going on now for 99.5% of people; it's just defined better.  Small media kind of takes it in the shorts here, but a) I suppose that's the price they pay for ESPN's machine and b) small media is nimble - they can get around it much faster than larger outlets can.  As for the rest of us, we'll be fine.