LITTLE ROCK — Walk-on’s ‘View’ a hit on the Web
As a second-grader, Ohio State basketball player Mark Titus wrote a poem for Mother’s Day.
“My mother needs NordicTrack, she wears XXL, she needs to call 1-800-94-JENNY,” he wrote.
But when the teacher called home to Laura Titus about her son’s “inappropriate behavior,” Mom just laughed. “I just thought, that’s Mark,” she said in an interview with Pete Thamel of the New York Times.
Nowadays, Titus, who is smart enough to be recruited to play basketball at Harvard and spent a high school spring break attending Wrestlemania XXII, is one of the most popular players in college basketball.
Not bad for a little-used walkon with a career high of three points.
When he’s not riding the pine, Titus shares his thoughts on a blog, clubtrillion.blogspot.com, and chronicles “Life Views from the End of the Bench.”
“I still remember vividly the day I had 500 total blog hits,” Titus told Thamel. “To me, that was a huge deal. I never could have dreamed it would be like it is now.”
Titus estimates only 25 percent of his posts - his blog has been visited by more than 1.9 million people in a little more than a year - involve basketball. As for the rest?
He’s written about the meltdown of a former teammate, Walter Offutt, after getting stuck in an elevator, he’s pondered Papa Smurf as a pimp and he’s recalled giving his former high school teammate Gordon Hayward, now a star at Butler, atomic wedgies. In addition, he caused a stir last year by declaring early for the NBA Draft and asking Commissioner David Stern in his letter if he could wear No. 114.
“Ultimately, I think of myself as an entertainer, which is kind of a dumb word,” he said. “I think it’s more entertainment than it is writing. It’s certainly not journalism.” More Titus
Ohio State benchwarmer MarkTitus poked fun at Buckeyes star Evan Turner, nicknamed the Villain, in a recent Tweet: “Kid high fived The Villain and said, ‘I’m never washing my hand again,’ which is funny cause if I high 5 him I can’t wash my hand soon enough.”And a bit more
Ohio State Coach Thad Matta, admittedly a Mark Titus fan, told Pete Thamel of the New York Times about his favorite moment. It came seconds before tip-off of the NCAA Tournament’s championship game in 2007.
“ ‘For what it’s worth,’ Matta recalled Titus telling him as the starters took the floor, ‘I got five fouls to give.’ Titus then pointed at the end of the bench and said, ‘I’ll be right down here if you need me.’ ” They said it ...
Brad Dickson in the Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald: “Alabama is canceling classes for three days so students can attend the national title game. You think that’s bad, any student who holds up a sign reading ‘ABC - Another ’Bama Celebration’ - gets credit in American literature.”
Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “Who could have possibly guessed that a USC tailback would end up driving a SUV purchased by a Trojans booster? What will the NCAA do when it catches wind of this - investigate [Southeast Missouri State] again ?”Quote of the day “Last night was a tough
night. People’s worlds got turned upside down.” Florida Athletic Director Jeremy Foley on the reaction to Coach Urban Meyer’s initial decision to step away from coaching
Sports, Pages 14 on 12/28/2009