I don't know Dave Begel, but I know a lot about him.

(I'm also going to prove his point for him, but more on that in a moment.)

I know he is a Milwaukee media legend, whose career arc has been fascinating, to say the least.

I know he covered the Green Bay Packers for The Milwaukee Journal during Bart Starr's coaching days, and their adversarial relationship reached epic proportions. When the legendary Starr, a Hall of Fame quarterback and classy man but a bad coach, accused Begel of tipping off opponents and banned all reporters from practice, Begel responded by standing on top of his car, using binoculars to look over the fence into practice to see what plays the Packers were running. I admire that.

I know after his sportswriting days, he wrote a column ("Leave it to Begel") in The Journal, worked in local TV, served as the spokesman for Milwaukee Public Schools and later as the media consultant to New York City's chancellor of public schools. He went into politics, working on Ed Garvey's campaign for governor, then serving as campaign manager for Gary George's run, which ended in controversy.

I know he's a gifted musician (rhythm guitar), dabbles in acting, appeared in the ESPN "SportsCentury" documentary on Starr (he's on imdb.com, just like I am for my appearance in the episode on Brett Favre), and once sold cars for Andy Schlesinger at Andrew Automotive Group, which means we have a mutual friend in Andy.

And I'm impressed. He's old-school, smart, charismatic, old-school, resourceful and old-school. In case you missed my point, Dave Begel is old-school. I was struck by just how old-school when I read his blog about my blog about reader feedback Tuesday afternoon.

Dave took exception to my writing about craving feedback, especially negative feedback. Then he offered "just a couple of words of advice for him, that might stand him in good stead as he grows older."

(Wait, wouldn't that qualify as feedback? I'll get back to…

 This is not my attempt to channel H.G. "Buzz" Bissinger and rail against this whole new-fangled Internet blogging thing. Not only would it be blatantly stupid -- I'm guessing it'd quickly mark the end of my OnMilwaukee.com gig -- but I don't really agree with ol' Buzz on a few of the points he was trying to make during his recent rant.

Plus, I actually know the difference between a blog and the comment section.

Which is the issue that's bugging me: Comment sections.

Now, if you're saying to yourself, "Hey, Wilde, you're a little late on the whole 'Costas NOW' debate there, buddy," you're right. I didn't weigh in on the subject following Bissinger's live-on-HBO tete-a-tete with Deadspin.com's Will Leitch, in part because just about everyone else in the blogosphere did. (Poor Braylon Edwards, by the way. How awkward was it for him to be uncomfortably stuck in that conversation?)

As a newspaper-first guy, with the uncertain future our business is facing, I don't want to sound like the bitter Bissinger, an incredible writer ("Friday Night Lights") who could've made an intelligent, reasonable argument had he not flown off the handle and used profanity and vulgarity to criticize the profane and vulgar nature of some blogs.

Personally, I do read my share of blogs -- from traditional journalism sources (several newspaper columnists and beat writers have excellent ones) and friends (my buddy Jason Bellamy does a movie one that I read constantly) as well as right here at OnMilwaukee.com.

Then, there are the much talked-about sports blogs, Deadspin.com and Profootballtalk.com. While I occasionally find a few interesting nuggets at Deadspin.com, I would like to see it follow the arc Profootballtalk.com's "Rumor Mill" has taken.

To me, as Mike Florio's blog has become increasingly popular -- read by sportswriters and NFL personnel types alike -- he has shown greater responsibility in his postings without losing his edginess. He's irreveren…

One of the occupational hazards of sportswriting is the inherent locker-room nudity issue. It might be the aspect of my job that makes me the most uncomfortable.

In my mind, it underlines my outsider / interloper status there -- the feeling of being somewhere I'm not always truly welcome.

While I'm not homophobic at all, players know when media members are taking a peek they shouldn't be and will be quick to judge you accordingly and you don't want that label. In the Packers' old locker room, the carpeting was a pattern of Gs -- the refurbished digs just have one huge G in the middle -- and I can't tell you how many times I stood, head down, counting Gs and averting my eyes while players I didn't need to talk to dressed, as I waited for players I did want to interview to enter the room.

The only place I think I'd be more uncomfortable would be in a women's locker room, which while titillating in theory has to be even more uncomfortable in practice. If the WNBA resurrects the Milwaukee Does someday, I won't volunteer for the gig.

My rule is a simple one: I don't talk to anyone unless they're at least wearing underwear. Even after a Monday night game with brutal deadlines. I instituted that rule after my buddy Antonio Freeman decided to use me as a de facto cornerback to demonstrate how to get off of press coverage -- an interesting and worthwhile lesson, except for one tiny detail: He was clad only in his jockstrap at the time.

Also, different players take different approaches. There's the proud-as-a-peacock tack, which given the vanity that a fair share of players have, is somewhat common. Essentially, they're saying, "I'm naked, and if you're not looking, you're missing out." There are a few of those in the Packers locker room now.

But with the proliferation of female media members in the locker room -- something legendary defensive end Reggie White, for instance, was vehemently (and wrongly) against -- most players have enough aware…