Look out, here comes TMZ sports

MIAMI – As more celebrity gossip sites have launched through the years, this much is clear: The public’s appetite seems boundless.

That’s why the sports gossip site that TMZ said it will create in the coming months should generate a major buzz and carve out a sizable audience, provided it delivers as much titillating fodder as TMZ, which has been among the leaders in reporting the salacious details of the Tiger Woods scandal.

TMZSports.com, when it launches, will raise a new set of questions that will affect athletes and the reporters who cover them.

Among them: How far will TMZ go to get stories? Will reporters follow star players as they leave the stadium after games? Will they plant reporters in visiting team hotels to see what women visit their rooms? Will they “out” gay athletes?

Will athletes change their lifestyles somewhat if they see other players embarrassed by TMZ revelations? And will newspapers (aside from the New York tabloids, which already do it) more often report TMZ’s stories about the second baseman spotted with a mistress?

Several athletes acknowledge their peers must be more careful in an era when anybody can take your picture on a cell phone and display it on the Internet.

“There’s someone always watching – cameras always around you – and you have to know anything you do can show up online,” Miami Dolphins left tackle Jake Long said. “But celebrity status comes with the job, and this is the job we took.”

Dolphins linebacker Reggie Torbor isn’t as understanding.

“This is horrible for our game,” he said of TMZ’s sports venture. “It’s bad because these types of Web sites follow around stars. And if you follow anyone around 24-7, you’ll find something about everybody. And some of the things are just so frivolous. … Guys are guys. They go out to clubs, and they talk to women. But you know what’s going to happen because of this? Eventually there will be one ugly story, and it will change the way athletes act.”

TMZ founder Harvey Levin told Broadcasting and Cable, “There’s a lot of agenda reporting in sports, because so many of the media outlets get access and rely on that access. We’re not going to do a scandal sports Web site, but we can provide more authentic representations of celebrities. We’re just looking to do authentic portrayals.”