TitleTown ... why not just give it to Boston now and be done with it?
If you happen to be collecting scribbles at "Autograph Alley" before Sunday's Dodgers-Angels game from Dodger Stadium, and you see a bunch of ESPN cameras taping stuff, it's just part of this summer "SportsCenter"-filler contest called "TitleTown, USA."
Run away. Run far away.
ESPN has decided that 20 communities in our country will be in a contest to determine America's "TitleTown" by a vote of the fans.
Kind of like what The Sporting News does once a year to decide which town has the best sports city. Except they don't call it "TitleTown." So this is way, way different.
It's kinda a lot like what ESPN did a year ago when trying to pick the "Who's Now" athlete. So starting July 23, fans can start voting to their heart's delight. If the turnout for L.A. voters is anything like how Dodger fans have voted on the MLB All-Star participants (you see any Dodgers in the top five for any position?) then it's likely another futile effort.
The last of the 20 cities to be named in the hunt for the "title" will come today.
In addition to L.A., the cities are (and I can't believe I'm actually typing this): Boston; Chicago; ittsburgh; Knoxville, Tenn.; Valdosta, Ga.; Parkersburg, W. Va.; Columbus, Ohio; Chapel Hill, N.C.; Ann Arbor, Mich.; the San Francisco bay area; Green Bay, Wisc.; Louisville, Ky.; Gainesville, Fla.; Detroit; Williansport, Pa. ... there's a few more announced, but we've lost track. Intentionally.
Please don't read on for more on this.
To determine which 20 cities are in the running -- here's the non-cool part -- ESPN took nominations from fans, then had a production research team imput, then had a "blue-ribbon pannel" of 19 "non-ESPN journalists" and 12 "SportsCenter" anchors. Of those "non-ESPN journalists," we were asked to participate but declined.
Not to out those who did wish to participate .... aw, what the heck, ESPN sent out a release about it a while back, so here are the poor, dedicated participants:
Wendell Barnhouse: College Football Writer/Columnist, Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
Paola Boivin: Columnist, Arizona Republic
Steve Buckley: Columnist, Boston Herald
Chad Cripe: Writer, Idaho Statesman
Rick Dean: Writer, Topeka Capital-Journal writer
Pat Dooley: Columnist, Gainesville Sun
Rick Gosselin: NFL writer, Dallas Morning News
Dave Hyde: Columnist, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
John Ireland: Sports Anchor, KCAL TV - Los Angeles
Steve Kelley: Columnist, Seattle Times
Gwen Knapp: Columnist, San Francisco Chronicle
Jim Litke: Sports Columnist, Associated Press
Tim May: Writer, Columbus Dispatch
Terrence Moore: Writer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jon Paul Morosi: Writer, Detroit Free-Press
Patrick Saunders: Writer, Denver Post
Kevin Scarbinsky: Columnist, Birmingham News
Peter Schmuck: Columnist, Baltimore Sun
Drew Sharp: Columnist, Detroit Free-Press
Mike Vaccaro: Columnist, New York Post
Jason Wilde: NFL Writer, Wisconsin State-Journal
Consider two of the writers from the Detroit Free Press, how embarassing would have it have been if Detroit didn't make the final cut?
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