Before You Vote – One Last Look

Over the course of the next week, I am calling on the Trillion Man March to vote on the side of the blog for the whitest guy on the team. In case you missed the posts Kyle Madsen and I wrote for our respective campaigns, I have laid out a quick biography of both of us. Even if you did read the campaign posts, take a quick look at these lists and make sure you still think your favorite candidate is the right fit.


Kyle Madsen

Mark Titus

Endorsed by Evan “The Villain” Turner B.J. Mullens
Fastest mile 5:54 5:42
Best sporting event attended Memorial Golf Tournament Wrestlemania 22
Best concert attended Counting Crows with Goo Goo Dolls Tim McGraw and Faith Hill
First child’s name “Walker” or “Texas Ranger” Hepa
Sport you would play if not basketball Golf Bowling (high score of 257)
Song to be played at funeral Circle of Life Duh



FAVORITES:

NBA Jam team Rockets Blazers
Car Anything BMW Mutt Cuts Van from “Dumb and Dumber”
NBA player Chris Quinn Rudy Fernandez
Quote “America is subjectible to chemical attacks.”
-Walter Offutt
“Don’t sweat the petty things and don’t pet the sweaty things.”
-George Carlin
Sports moment OSU Final Four in 06-07 Robert Horry’s game winner against the Kings in 2002 Western Conference Finals
Sport to watch Basketball WWE
All-time album “New Amsterdam: Live at Heineken Hall” by Counting Crows “In Pieces” by Garth Brooks
All-time TV or movie character Ari Gold Randy Marsh
U.S. President Lincoln (because of his height) Taft (because of his stache)
Olympic event Bobsled Badminton
XFL player He Hate Me Kirby Dar Dar
Shade of Crayola blue Aquamarine Cerulean
Boy band Backstreet Boys O-Town
Tony Hawk Pro Skater character Bam Margera Rune Glifberg
“Goosebumps” book “Welcome to Camp Nightmare” “My Hairiest Adventure”
Board game Life Sorry!
Tie knot style Windsor Four-in-hand
Facial hair style Stubble beard Mustache
All-time NFL kicker Martin Gramatica Morten Andersen
OSU alum Jack Nicklaus Jim Jinkins, creator of “Doug”
Mighty Duck (only first 2 movies—D3 never happened) Greg Goldberg Lester Averman
Disney movie Aladdin Peter Pan
Daniel Stern movie Home Alone Celtic Pride
Dog in TV or movie Chance from “Homeward Bound” Beethoven from “Beethoven”
Leather jacket wearer Arthur Fonzarelli Tyler Durden
Male pony tail wearer Christopher Columbus Mickey Rourke
“Now That’s What I Call Music!” album 15 2
Branch of military Navy Marines
Color of Mr. Rogers’ cardigan Puke brown Magenta



PICK ‘EM

Kelly Kapowski or Jessie Spano Kelly Kelly
Pokemon Blue or Pokemon Red Blue Red (CHARIZARD!)
Winter X-Games or Summer X-Games Winter Summer
Calvin Klein or Tommy Hilfiger Hilfiger Klein
Team Lauren or Team Kristin Team Kristin Team Lauren
Gator Golf or Slip N Slide Slip N Slide Slip N Slide
K’NEX or LEGO LEGO K’NEX
Skip It or pogo stick Skip It Pogo stick
Razor scooter or Huffy bike Huffy Huffy
Frosted tips or bowl cut Bowl cut Bowl cut
Memorial Day or Labor Day Memorial Day Labor Day
“Dog The Bounty Hunter” or “American Chopper” “Dog The Bounty Hunter” “Dog The Bounty Hunter”
Spaghetti O’s or Ravioli Ravioli Spaghetti O’s
Truth or dare Dare Dare
Chuck E. Cheese’s or Discovery Zone Chuck E. Cheese’s Chuck E. Cheese’s
Heads Carolina or Tails California Tails California Heads Carolina
Somewhere greener or somewhere warmer Somewhere warmer Somewhere greener
Up in the mountains or down by the ocean Down by the ocean Up in the mountains

Hopefully you have now solidified your choice for whitest guy on the team. If you still are unsure, I suggest going through this chart and figuring out which candidate has the most in common with you and vote for him. Also, feel free to vote as many times as you think is necessary. After you vote, I encourage you to set your Facebook, Myspace, etc. profile pictures as either the "I VOTED TITUS" or "I VOTED MADSEN" images that are pictured below. Let America know where your loyalties lie. I want to sincerely thank you for your participation in the most important election in quite some time. God bless Club Trillion and God bless America.



UPDATE: Because this election is hinting at being bigger than I ever could have imagined it to be, I am extending the polling hours until 5:00 p.m. EST on Friday, March 6th. This extends the election by about five more days, which gives everyone a chance to vote multiple times. It also gives you the chance to spread the word about the election and make sure all your friends cast their votes as well. Make it happen.

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Bobby Riddell of Purdue became the first ever two-time one arm embracer in Club Trillion history. He also nearly scored a five trillion on Saturday, but was unfortunately called for a foul in the early going. Chalk up another bad call for the Big Ten refs. Nonetheless, AMPAP to Bobby for being the one-arm embracer MVP.

One Armed Embraces: 9 to date (1 last game)

Bone-Crushing Screens: 1 to date (0 last game)

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Your awesome YouTube was sent in to me by Danny P. There's your shout-out, Danny. And here's your video.





Your Friend and My Favorite,

Mark Titus

Club Trillion Founder

SPJ Convention Internship

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: The Working Press

Newspaper Internship for SPJ Convention

Deadline: April 17, 2009 

SPJ is looking for a few good (no, GREAT!) student journalists to staff The Working Press, a daily tabloid that covers the annual Convention and National Journalism Conference. The position is great for professional development and internship experience.

This year's convention will be August 27-29 in Indianapolis. The convention is an annual event organized by SPJ to provide journalists across the country with career training, networking opportunities and much more. Selected interns will need to arrive in Indianapolis by noon Wednesday, August 26. The internship ends Sunday, August 30.

For selected interns, SPJ provides:

- Complimentary convention registration

- Complimentary accommodations at convention hotel

- Mentoring by professional journalists

- Networking venues

- A place to showcase your talents in front of many professionals

Interested? Visit the SPJ Web site for more information and application instructions. Applications must be postmarked by April 17, 2009.

Contact Professional Development Coordinator Heather Porter with questions: 317-927-8000 ext. 204 or hporter@spj.org.

We hope to see you in Indianapolis!

Ohio SPJ Awards deadline extended

Deadline extended to March 20 for ‘09 Ohio SPJ Awards

(A program of the Cincinnati, Cleveland & Central Ohio pro chapters)

The postmark deadline for entering this year's competition has been extended to March 20, 2009. 

A printed copy of this year's Call for Entries is included in Ohio's Best Journalism, which was mailed in January. 

An online version of the official 2009 Call for Entries, including entry forms, is available at http://spjawards.org.

Mail your entries, postmarked by March 20, 2009, to: Ohio SPJ Awards, 1331 South High Street, Columbus, OH 43207.

Meet The Candidate – Kyle Madsen

As you obviously know by now, the most important election in recent memory is quickly approaching.  Kyle Madsen and myself are campaigning to win the title of “Whitest Guy on the Team.” In case you don’t remember this or in case you are curious as to why people such as Danny Peters, Jon Diebler, B.J. Mullens, and the rest of the team aren’t up for the title, refer to this entry that explained everything.

I have decided to keep the polls open until March 2nd at 11:59 p.m., so all of you who read the blog at work still have a chance to vote on that Monday.  Don’t be afraid to actually do a little bit of work before or after you vote, though.  I don’t want Obama’s economy-saving plan to include shutting down my blog so all you twenty-somethings who just graduated college and had no idea how boring a 9 to 5 is will be at least semi-productive. 

Anyway, I gave you my campaign post two weeks ago and it’s only fair that I give Kyle a chance for a  rebuttal.  I will now turn it over to the other candidate in this race, Kyle Madsen.

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The Shark Attack

After reading Mark’s campaign post, I have decided that now is the right time to address some of the issues he has brought to the forefront. Most importantly,  I view a Titus win in this election as the equivalent of Gusalina actually being able to throw 92 with movement. (For real, though, who are you Gusalina?)

Secondly, my opponent claims NASCAR is white. That’s cool. I’ll agree. He grew up ten minutes down the road from Jeff Gordon. That’s nice. I don’t know a single thing about NASCAR and I don’t care to. However, I do know that I grew up five minutes from Jack Nicklaus and probably two minutes from the statue that stands in his likeness on the main road through my hometown of Dublin. Name a sport whiter than golf and I’ll tell you why its not.

The last beef I have with The Shark’s whiteness claim is this—Mark knows the word to nearly every single 2Pac song ever made. While I admit that this is actually quite impressive, the fact that he owns Pac’s poetry book, “The Rose that Grew From Concrete”, takes it one step too far. I understand many white people know and love 2Pac, but honestly, the whitest of whites (like me, for example) only know this Pac song and would never consider purchasing a book consisting only of 2pac’s poetry. How about something with real substance, like Shel Silverstein’s “Falling Up”?  I respect 2Pac (RIP), but I don’t understand America or Titus’ obsession.

Moving forward, I have decided the best way for you, The Trillion Man March, to become informed and cast your ballot fairly and knowledgably is to summarize my life in the same five categories (Music, Sports, Recreation, Appearance, and Heroes) the Shark did. This way you all will have something concrete with which to make comparisons.

Music

I want to be honest. I can’t sit here with a straight face and type I hate country music. It’s just not true. I, like the Shark, enjoy sitting down and listening to Garth Brook’s “Callin’ Baton Rouge” just as much as the next white guy. One of the saddest moments of my life was actually when Garth closed his concert series in Kansas City. He always will be more than a memory and his career is something I am thankful for everyday.

Besides country music, my other musical tastes lie on a spectrum ranging from the Counting Crows all the way to the Counting Crows. In my opinion seeing the Counting Crows live and in a small intimate setting is the only thing halfway comparable to Garth. Lead singer Adam Duritz doesn’t get the credit he deserves and the band’s album “New Amsterdam: Live at Heinken Music Hall” should have gone platinum trillions of times over. One of music’s greatest travesties remains that it did not. Just ask these guys.

Sports

Most of you probably already realize that basketball is my sport of choice. I guess you could say the alley-oop is not exactly my strong point. While I have thrown a few down in my day, I’ll admit, I’m no LeBron. I play the game with my brain and my arsenal of moves from 0-17 ft. I’m guessing most of you have seen me play at some point so I figure you already know what I do in this arena (and if you haven’t, then I suggest you stop turning on the OSU games only in the final minutes to see if Titus gets in).

My other favorite sport is golf. In fact, I am proud to say that back in the 8th grade I was a member of the KMS golf team. I should also say that in the 7th grade I was cut from the KMS golf team after I posted close to a trillion in tryouts. The day I was cut was the second saddest day of my life, next to Garth signing out in Kansas City. Fortunately my golf game has improved drastically since 7th grade, but I’m still nowhere close to my hometown hero Jack Nicklaus.

Recreation

The only recreation currently in my life, with the obvious exception of basketball, is basically playing Pro Evolution Soccer on PS3. This game was recommended to me by one of our foreign teammates, Nikola Kecman and we play each other frequently. Perhaps the biggest goal in my life right now is to beat Kets in PES. This could be challenging, considering that in Serbia, apparently all they do is play this game. My team of choice is AC Milan. You may know them from the recent David Beckham saga. Kets plays with Classic Brazil. I’m having trouble explaining to him (in Serbian) that this is not fair.  Something seemingly always gets lost in the translation. For those of you who do not understand, this would be like the Oklahoma City Thunder without Kevin Durant playing a team full of superstars.

Appearance

I guess you could say I look like the typical white guy minus my 6’9 stature. I’ve got baby blue eyes and an awesome buzz cut to match. I own a solid collection of Polos, and will pretty much rock any of them with a pair of blue jeans when I don’t know what to wear. If the weather gets a little colder you might see me wearing a sweater and North Face jacket. I have come to find that the North Face Jacket is a signature white guy move.  In fact, if I lose the election for any other reason than my wearing a North Face, I’ll accept it.

Heroes

My heroes are guys like Brian Scalabrine, Mark Madsen (no relation), Chris Quinn (fellow Dublin-ite), and Wally Sczerbiak. I love the guys who when you look at them you think, “Wait? This guy is in the NBA? And he has been for years? What? Why?” Those guys are my heroes. The ones who may or may not sneak through the cracks and create a role for themselves by hitting wide open jumpers and setting vicious screens. I like these guys because while what they do for there respective teams rarely gets them any credit or attention, they continue to do it and do it so well they get paid millions of dollars. I know somewhere right now they are laughing there asses off for basically stealing money. That’s why they are my heroes. I guess my idea of heroes are those who are the underappreciated underdogs who have continually proven they are worth more than a ten day contract.

Now that you have had the opportunity to become familiar with what I stand for, I hope it is clear who the better choice for whitest guy on the team is. I hope that I did not waste my afternoon writing this only for the Shark to win by a landslide because this is his blog. That’s not fair, and that’s not white. Please take your time and consider both our resumes equally. After all, that is the only way to have a democratic election. And last time I checked, this is America, where democracy is king (I guess “president by way of a vote of its citizens” is a more applicable title, but you get the idea).

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The Illinois game over the weekend garnered a single one-arm embrace from Bubba Chisholm, who I know reads the blog.  Call me stereotypical, but something about Bubba makes me think that he would win this election with ease if he were in the running.

The Penn State game produced a donut in the one-arm embrace department. 

One Armed Embraces: 8 to date (0 last game)

Bone-Crushing Screens: 1 to date (0 last game)

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I bypassed all the fan submissions for awesome YouTube videos for this post because of a couple obvious reasons.  The first being that this is Kyle’s campaign post and this video features him getting buckets.  The second being that this video took place last night.  Enjoy.





Your Friend and My Favorite,

Mark Titus

Club Trillion Founder

White: Renaissance Postscripts


Renaissance Postscripts

Responding to Ovid’s Heroides in Sixteenth-Century France

Paul White


Ovid’s Heroides, a collection consisting mainly of poetic love letters sent by mythological heroines to their absent lovers, held a particular fascination for Renaissance readers. To understand their responses to these letters, we must ask exactly how and in what contexts those readers first encountered them: were they read in Latin or in the vernacular; as source texts for the learning of grammar and history or as love poetry; as epistolary and rhetorical models or as moral examples?

Renaissance Postscripts: Responding to Ovid’s Heroides in Sixteenth-Century France by Paul White offers an account of the wide variety of responses to the Heroides within the realm of humanist education, in the works of both Latin commentators and French translators, and as an example of a particular mode of imitation. The author examines how humanists shaped the discourse of Ovid’s heroines and heroes to pedagogical ends and analyzes even the woodcuts that illustrated various editions. This study traces comparative readings of French translations through a period noted for important shifts in attitudes to the text and to poetic translation in general and offers an important history of the “reply epistle”—a mode of imitation attempted both in Latin and the vernacular. Renaissance Postscripts shows that while the Heroides was a versatile text that could serve a wide range of pedagogical and literary purposes, it was also a text that resisted the attempts of its interpreters to have the final word.

http://www.ohiostatepress.org

Guggenheim Features Hamilton Work

Ann Hamilton (Art) has an installation -- human carriage -- in a new exhibition, The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia: 1860-1989, at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. The exhibition, which opened Jan 30 and continues until April 19, features 250 works by 100 artists and literary figures in a broad range of media, including the site-specific commission by Hamilton. The show explores the impact of Asian art, literature, music and philosophical concepts on American art. Hamilton's piece was created for the Guggenheim's rotunda. Focusing on themes of transmission and transformation, she devised a mechanism that traverses the entire Guggenheim balustrade, in the form of a white silk "bell carriage" with Tibetan bells inside. As the cage spirals down, the purifying bells ring. The system is propelled by a pully system and weights composed of thousands of cut-up books. According to Hamilton, the elements of human carriage compose a visual metaphor for the processes of "reading which leaves no material trace but which might forever change you."

Notable News

Drums Downtown VI
comes to the Riffe Center's Capitol Theater this Fri, Feb 27, and Sat, Feb 28 at 8 pm. The popular production features percussion, dance, art and multimedia, with OSU’s Percussion Ensemble and guest students and faculty from OSU Dance—a tour de force collaboration!
Click here for details and ticket info.

Calling artists! Ohio Staters Inc. and Major Campus Events Committee (MCEC) are interested in your talents. During the week of April 20, the groups will host Festival of the Finest to showcase the artistic variety and skills of OSU students and student groups. Any and all mediums, from fine art to performance, are welcome to apply. Click here for guidelines and an application. Submissions and questions should be directed to applications.osu@gmail.com by 5 pm March 6.

The Ohio Film Office launched the Ohio Film Music Video Challenge Feb 18. A production team has 3 weeks to partner with a musical act, create a concept, shoot the music video and post it (to be judged) on the official YouTube challenge site. Winners will be selected from a panel of professionals in the music and film/video industries.

2009 Amateur Juror, Richard Aschenbrand

Richard Aschenbrand is a professor and dean of Visual Communications at the Columbus College of Art and Design. He received his BFA and MS, at Pratt Institute.
Aschenbrand is a freelance graphic and package designer serving local, national, and international, clients. He has also had extensive experience as an exhibition curator, juror, and designer. He was, for many years, the fines arts director for the Ohio Expositions Commission and was gallery director for CCAD.
He has often served on jury panels both locally and beyond and published articles in American Crafts, Metropolis, the Columbus Dispatch, and has written numerous forwards and commentaries to exhibition catalogs. He regularly presents his research and creative work at regional and national conferences.
He continues his work as a painter and often exhibits his work.
Aschenbrand’s love for art and design is always present and he enjoys sharing it with everyone.
Richard Aschenbrand is a professor and dean of Visual Communications at the Columbus College of Art and Design. He received his BFA and MS, at Pratt Institute.
Aschenbrand is a freelance graphic and package designer serving local, national, and international, clients. He has also had extensive experience as an exhibition curator, juror, and designer. He was, for many years, the fines arts director for the Ohio Expositions Commission and was gallery director for CCAD.
He has often served on jury panels both locally and beyond and published articles in American Crafts, Metropolis, the Columbus Dispatch, and has written numerous forwards and commentaries to exhibition catalogs. He regularly presents his research and creative work at regional and national conferences.
He continues his work as a painter and often exhibits his work.
Aschenbrand’s love for art and design is always present and he enjoys sharing it with everyone.



2009 Professional division juror, Rosemarie Fiore


Rosemarie Fiore received her BA from the University of Virginia and her MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has attended residencies at Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, the Constance Saltonstall Foundation, Blue Mountain Center, Skowhegan, Ragdale, the AIM Program at the Bronx Museum, Henry Street Settlement Abrams Art Center, Virginia Center for Contemporary Art and the Anderson Foundation in Roswell, NM.

She has received a Marie Walsh Sharpe Space Grant, Special Editions Fellowship through the Lower East Side Print Shop in NYC, a Work Space Grant at The Dieu Donne Paper Mill in NYC, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago Trustee Fellowship and the University of Virginia Anspaugh Fellowship.


Solo and group shows include: Priska Juschka Fine Art, New York, Grand Arts, Kansas City; The Bronx Museum, Bronx, NY; The Queens Museum of Art, NY; Tony Wight Gallery, Chicago; Winkleman Gallery, NY; Socrates Sculpture Park, NY; ADA Gallery, Richmond; Second Street Gallery,VA; The Dieu Donne Papermill, NYC; Revolution Gallery, Detroit; Midway, St.Paul; The Roswell Musem, NM; Armory Show, NYC; G Fine Art, DC; Metaphor Gallery, Brooklyn; JCAL, NY; The BaylyArt Museum, Charlottesville, VA and The Franklin Institute of Science, Philadelphia.


She has been reviewed by The New York Times, New York Magazine, Art in America, NY Arts Magazine, FLAUNT Magazine, Art Papers Magazine, The Kansas City Star, Dialogue Magazine, The Washington Post and Art on Paper.

2009 Professional Juror, Iduna Bohning


Iduna Böhning



Iduna has been working in the fields of Fine Arts since 1994. She has gathered a wide range and comprehensive amount of experiences in the fields of Arts and Arts Management from being the head of several art projects in the general public, developing and realizing of a functioning model of the Kunsthaus Raskolnikow and the construction and running of a gallery. Her areas of responsibilities expanded to an international level with the takeover of the scholarship program run between the state of Saxony, the GCAC Columbus Ohio and the supporters of the scholarship program of Dresden.
Explicit exhibitions from past scholarship holders and the development of a catalogue has helped integrate the exchange program as being part strong part of the range of duties covered by the gallery.
The job of the gallery, under management of Iduna Böhning, is promoted by the city of Dresden and the State ministry of Sciences and Culture.
We are open for new any impulses.

Never A Dale Moment

We lost our second game in a row to Northwestern on Wednesday night. The entire road trip was a disaster, mostly due to the Super Nintendo not working on the hotel TV because the input channels were deactivated. Beyond that, my fingertips are cracking from the cold weather, which made my usually wet jump shot a little bit drier than normal. I honestly couldn’t throw the ball into the ocean during warm-ups. Keep in mind that we were over 800 miles away from the ocean, so really my inability to throw a ball that far kind of makes sense. Maybe if I could throw 92 with movement it would be a different story.

To make matters worse, we didn’t end up getting back to Columbus until about 3:15 in the a.m. and I didn’t go to sleep until around 4. This wouldn’t have been a problem if not for the fact that I had a test Thursday morning. I went into the test with about four hours of sleep and ended up having Bob Seger’s “Against The Wind” stuck in my head the entire time. Part of me thinks I should have just wrote the lyrics to “Against The Wind” down and turned in the test. Wait, did I just say part of me? Yeah, scratch that thought. I definitely should have just wrote down the lyrics and been on my way. Probably would have gotten the same grade anyway.

Since the road trip was as successful as, well, my college basketball career, I’m thinking I should just put it behind me and move on with my life. Instead, I’m going to use this post to re-introduce you to undoubtedly my favorite fan out there. No disrespect to the rest of the Trillion Man March, but Dale R. “Woody” Thornton III is one of the finest Americans with whom I’ve ever had the pleasure of conversing. Even though I’ve never met him, I give it about a 90% chance that Dale looks pretty much identical to the lead singer of Ram Jam.

For those of you who don’t remember, Dale Thornton was one of my original fans who would send in easily the most entertaining e-mails I ever get. That’s not to say I don’t get other entertaining e-mails, it’s just that Dale’s always seemed to stand out for being so bizarre. Because the blog was in its infancy and virtually nobody wanted a shout-out, I promised Dale that if he kept churning out these entertaining and question laden e-mails, I would keep publishing them on the blog and answering them as best I can. But for whatever reason, he suddenly just stopped e-mailing me and I didn’t hear from him for a few months. Until I got this gem in my inbox last week. Enjoy.

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“What’s up college boy? Me and my cousin Conrad were wondering if you could talk about our classic rock blog on your blog. Give us a holler if you can.”

Sorry, Dale, but I can’t make a comment on whether or not I like your blog. I’m forced to be impartial on this one, but I will say that you update your blog less than I update mine and even less than Keller updates his, which is pretty impressive. Until you prove that you have a legitimate blog and actually update it at least once every three months or so, I’m not going to link anybody. I trust you understand.

“Did you see the HORSE competition during All-Star weekend? Nobody used my go-to shot, which is where I shoot a three pointer and chug a PBR before it goes in. I think I could take you in HORSE, but I first want to know what your five best HORSE shots are.”

I feel bad for you, Dale, because you seem to not have any idea what you would be up against if you played me. My HORSE shots, in order of what letter they would give you, are as follows:

H --- Layup off the shot clock (provided the shot clock is attached to the basket support within a reasonable distance from the rim). When you see how easy I make it look, you will nonchalantly throw the ball up there, forgetting to account for the fact that the ball doesn’t bounce off the shot clock like it does off of the backboard. But don’t feel bad, Dale, cause I’m a little bit of a master when it comes to this shot. For those of you scoring at home, I once hit 14 shots in a row off the shot clock at my high school gym. Apparently this shot has no practical use in an actual game, though, which is a lesson I had to learn the hard way.

O --- Bank it in from the top of the key. Utilizing the glass is something I strongly believe in for any game of HORSE. If you can’t use the glass, you truly have no chance whatsoever when playing me. The thing about the bank shot from the top of the key is that it feels really awkward. You have to shoot it straight, but also shoot it about three feet longer than your eyes are telling you to shoot it. There is a pretty solid chance you will miss off the back of the rim and not even make contact with the glass.

R --- Nothing but net from one foot away. At this stage in the game, I’m shooting shots that after you miss, you will legitimately question your function in society. This shot always feels like it’s going to be easy, but nearly everyone draws iron for one reason or another. There’s really no guarantee that I don’t draw iron to be quite honest with you. Eventually, though, I will hit it and you will find a way to mess it up. That’s how it always works.

S --- Bank in a three from an impossible angle. Remember when I said using the glass is a must when playing me? I wasn’t lying. To line up this shot, I get in the dead corner and slowly start making my way around the arc until I can barely see the glass. After I sink it, I will stand still and wait for you to come stand in my exact spot, making sure you don’t cheat and get a better angle and thus make the shot infinitely easier. But you will slyly get a better angle anyway, and I will let it slide because I know you still won’t be able to make the shot. And you won’t.

E --- Half-court shot. I like to put the nail on the coffin from half court, mostly because it is demoralizing. After giving you a steady dose of fundamental shots, I hit you with a shot that will make you think about how bad you are at HORSE as you walk from underneath the basket all the way out to half-court. Then, when you airball it, I will verbally remind you how bad you are at HORSE as you walk from half-court over to your wallet to pay me for the beat down I just gave you.

Those are the only five shots I will ever need to beat anybody in HORSE. If by some unforeseen circumstance I happen to miss one of these five shots, I will keep trying it until I make it. And if you do happen to miraculously beat me, Dale, I’ll personally paint your name next to mine on Brownsburg’s water tower. After all, your win would undoubtedly go down as the biggest upset since the guy from “Honey, I Shrunk The Kids” beat Al Bundy in the Urbania pee-wee playoff game. But because my jumper is typically wetter than Billy Madison’s pants on field trip day, I can’t possibly envision a scenario where I get a letter at all.

“What would that Danny Peters do if you hid that t-shirt he wears under his jersey before a game? Why don’t you play more pranks on that guy?”

I’m not too sure what Danny would do if I hid his shirt. I’ve seen him wear a shirt under his jersey so much that I’m not fully convinced that his jersey doesn’t have sleeves sewn onto it. I tried a couple of times to pull pranks on Danny, but I just didn’t feel the sense of accomplishment that I feel when I prank Evan “The Villain” Turner. There truly is no greater feeling on this Earth than annoying The Villain through a series of juvenile pranks. I can guarantee you that.

By the way, I’m calling on the Trillion Man March to extend my nicknaming of Evan as “The Villain.” You know how in “Old School” everyone Mitch Martin would see would call him “The Godfather” and he would be visibly upset with having a nickname that he doesn’t endorse? That’s what I’m picturing here. I know that this really isn’t that great of a prank, but I can assure you that The Villain loves his self-imposed nickname of “The Kid” just a little too much. Calling him The Villain will definitely frustrate him a little bit. Besides, every time I call him “The Kid”, I feel like he jacked the nickname from Shawn Michaels somehow. And last time I checked, Evan doesn’t dish out Sweet Chin Music and he certainly isn’t a sexy boy (I understand that having a link titled “sexy boy” could be a little sketchy, but I promise there’s not a half-naked picture of Channing Tatum, or any other heartthrob for that matter, waiting for you. Sorry, ladies).

I’m definitely voting for you in the whitest guy on the team thing, but Conrad thinks you’re a fraud. He wants to know if you could ride along with any NASCAR legend, who would it be, what track would it be on, and what classic rock songs would you be listening to?”

I feel like I might be upsetting you with my choice of driver, but hopefully I can redeem myself with my choice of track and rock songs. I would want to ride along with Jeff Gordon, for the simple fact that we grew up ten minutes apart. I fully understand that Gordon is the pretty boy of NASCAR and really doesn’t epitomize the culture of the sport like Bobby Allison does. By the way, Bobby Allison would be my second choice of driver for the smackdown he laid on Cale Yarborough at the 1979 Daytona 500.

To complete my answer, I would want to ride around Darlington while rocking out to CCR’s “Up Around The Bend.” Throw another favorite song of mine in there for good measure and you got yourself quite the two song playlist. Come to think of it, Gordon doesn’t fit this particular fantasy all that well. I’m giving Bobby Allison the nod to drive me around Darlington while jamming to Credence and Journey. I dare you to come up with a better NASCAR related fantasy than that.

Would you rather have your sister marry the starting quarterback at Michigan or never be able to eat those peanut butter and chocolate Buckeyes that me and Conrad love ever again?”

Ladies and gentlemen, Dale Thornton…

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Obviously none of the Northwestern players read the blog because they are too busy either trying to split the atom or watching “PTI”, hoping that Michael Wilbon will drop a shout-out to his alma mater. Pair that with the fact that Northwestern’s entire team makes me look like Flava Flav and it’s no wonder why my one-arm embraces did not go over well with these guys. I’m genuinely surprised they didn’t look me in the eye and say “thank you sir” as they shook my hand. Apparently, Manners 101 isn’t a prerequisite for taking Saving The World 750.

One Armed Embraces: 7 to date (0 last game)

Bone-Crushing Screens: 1 to date (0 last game)

___________________________________________________

Your awesome YouTube was sent in to me by Brian H. There's your shout-out, Brian. And here's your video.

Your Friend and My Favorite,

Mark Titus

Club Trillion Founder

NABJ Event

The National Association of Black Journalists at OSU is having a Minority Media Panel on Thursday, March 5 at 6:30-8pm in the Frank Hale Black Cultural Center Hall of Fame room.


The professional panelists include:
Jerry Revish, Ch. 10 anchor

Tanisha Mallet, Ch. 10 reporter
The CEO of FlyPaper Magazine
Mike Jackson, NBC4 anchor
Charles Busby, NBC 4 photojournalist
Tanya Hutchins, NBC4 digital journalist
Kerry Charles, ABC6 producer

Simone Sebastian, Columbus Dispatch reporter

Johnson: A Latin Lover in Ancient Rome


A Latin Lover in Ancient Rome

Readings in Propertius and His Genre

W. R. Johnson

Over the centuries, Latin love elegy has inspired love poetry in the West from Petrarch to Pound. A Latin Lover in Ancient Rome: Readings in Propertius and His Genre offers a critical reevaluation of the Latin elegiac poet Propertius, situating him within the social and political milieu of first-century BCE Rome. W. R. Johnson’s study is centered on close readings of the poems in Propertius’ four books that emphasize both his celebration of erotic freedom as a manifestation of the sovereignty of the individual and his insistence on the value of this freedom, especially when it is threatened by autocratic ideology. Many recent titles on Propertius have tended to minimize or ignore this aspect of the poet’s work, concentrating instead on neo-formalism or Lacanian psychology. Johnson restores Propertius’ erotic creed and his politics to the core of his poetics and his career. He offers a vivid picture of the sociopolitical and erotic world of the late Roman Republic and the early years of the Empire which hatched Latin love elegy and allowed it to flourish. This study aims to redirect attention to the pleasures and energies Propertius provides that later generations of poets and readers discovered in and through him.

http://www.ohiostatepress.org

Williams, ed.: Contemporary African American Fiction


Contemporary African American Fiction

New Critical Essays

Edited by Dana A. Williams


In Contemporary African American Fiction: New Critical Essays, edited by Dana A. Williams, eight contributors examine trends and ideas which characterize African American fiction since 1970. They investigate many of the key inquiries which inform discussions about the condition of contemporary African American fiction. The range of queries is wide and varied. How does African American fiction represent the changing times in America and the world? How are these changes reflected in narrative strategies or in narrative content? How do contemporary fictionists engage diasporic Africanisms, or how do they renegotiate Americanism? What is the impact of cultural production, gender, sexuality, nationality, and ethnicity on this fiction? How does contemporary African American fiction reconstruct or rewrite earlier “classic” African American, American, or world literature? Authors under study include Ernest J. Gaines, Ishmael Reed, Edwidge Danticat, Octavia E. Butler, Olympia Vernon, Toni Morrison, and Reginald McKnight, among others.

These essays remind us that the African American literary tradition is about survival and liberation. The tradition is similarly about probing, challenging, changing, and redirecting accepted ways of thinking to ensure the wellness and the freedom of its community cohorts. The essays identify new ways contemporary African American fiction continues the tradition’s liberatory inclinations—they interrogate the ways in which antecedent texts and traditions influence contemporary texts to create new traditions.

http://www.ohiostatepress.org

Lee: A Body of Individuals


A Body of Individuals

The Paradox of Community in Contemporary Fiction

Sue-Im Lee


Why are some versions of the collective “we” admired and desired while other versions are scorned and feared? A Body of Individuals: The Paradox of Community in Contemporary Fiction examines the conflict over the collective “we” through discourses of community. In the discourse of benevolent community, community is a tool towards achieving healing, productiveness, and connection. In the discourse of dissenting community, community that serves a function is simply another name for totalitarianism; instead, community must merely be a fact of coexistence. What are the sources and the appeal of these irreconcilable views of community, and how do they interact in contemporary fiction’s attempt at imagining “we”?

By engaging contemporary U.S. writers such as Toni Morrison, Richard Powers, Karen Tei Yamashita, Lydia Davis, Lynne Tillman, and David Markson with theorists such as Jean-Luc Nancy, Giorgio Agamben, François Lyotard, Ernesto Laclau, Louis Althusser, Roland Barthes, and Ludwig Wittgenstein, this book reveals how the two conflicting discourses of community—benevolent and dissenting—are inextricably intertwined in various literary visions of “we”—“we” of the family, of the world, of the human, and of coexistence.

These literary visions demonstrate, in a way that popular visions of community and postmodern theories of community cannot, the dialectical relationship between the discourses of benevolent community and dissenting community. Sue-Im Lee argues that contemporary fiction’s inability to resolve the paradox results in a model of ambivalent community, one that offers unique insights into community and into the very notion of unity.

http://www.ohiostatepress.org

Milder and Fuller, eds.: The Buisness of Reflection


The Business of Reflection

Hawthorne in His Notebooks

Edited by Robert Milder and Randall Fuller


The Business of Reflection: Hawthorne in His Notebooks is a scholarly, annotated selection of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s American Notebooks, English Notebooks, and French and Italian Notebooks culled from the authoritative Centenary Edition of the Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne (The Ohio State University Press, 23 volumes) and intended both for students and teachers of American literature and for general readers.

The American Notebooks (1835–53) cover the period of most of Hawthorne’s published writing and are crucial background for the genesis of his fiction, for his psychological and vocational development, for his marriage to Sophia Peabody, and for his relationships with contemporaries such as Emerson, Thoreau, and Margaret Fuller. The English Notebooks (1853–60) record his experiences and impressions during his residence in England, among them his incisive and influential sketch of Herman Melville. The French and Italian Notebooks (1858–59) are a sourcebook for Hawthorne’s last published romance, The Marble Faun, and, as Henry James observed, for his deeply ambivalent response to the aesthetic and historical legacy of European civilization.

Taken together, Hawthorne’s notebooks are essential materials for studying Hawthorne as a writer and a man. They present him at his most candid, intimate, and robust—a many-sided figure who complements and revises the persona known from his published writings, often in unexpected ways.

http://www.ohiostatepress.org

Ohio SPJ Awards 2009 - Call for Entries

Society of Professional Journalists

Ohio SPJ Awards 2009

Call for Entries
To Honor the Best of Ohio's Print, Broadcasting, Online, Trade and College Journalism
 

The Ohio SPJ Awards competition, presented collaboratively by the Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland Chapters of SPJ, honors print, broadcast, online, trade and college journalists in Ohio for their best work during 2008 to both serve the public interest and to protect press freedom. Categories have been revised to better reflect the changing challenges of journalism. 

This is the only Ohio competition that honors journalists who fulfill the SPJ mission, defense of the First Amendment, support of literacy, resistance to censorship, advocacy for openness of public records and meetings, media self-criticism and community service. This program also recognizes the best college daily and weekly newspapers, and awards up to $2,000 in scholarships for excellent college journalistic writing in news, feature, sports and opinion.  Deadline: Entries must be postmarked by February 27, 2009. 

ELIGIBILITY: Journalists are eligible who work for print and broadcast mediums in Ohio, and mediums in adjacent states that have significant reach into Ohio. Entrants need not be members of the Society of Professional Journalists. The work must have been published or broadcast in 2008.  

ABOUT SPJ:  The Society of Professional Journalists is the nation's most broad-based journalism organization, dedicated to encouraging the free practice of journalism and stimulating high standards of ethical behavior. Founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, SPJ promotes the free flow of information vital to a well-informed citizenry through the daily work of its nearly 10,000 members; works to inspire current and future journalists through professional development; and advocates for the protection of the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech and press. 

WHAT SPJ DOES: Nationally, SPJ improves and protects journalism through national and local training, freedom of Information advocacy and resources, its Code of Ethics that encourages responsible reporting, a web site filled with career resources -www.spj.org, and a national recognition program for excellence in journalism.  Local SPJ chapters provide programs relevant to a city or region. Check www.spj.org to for membership information, and to find a chapter near you. 

COLLEGE STUDENT JOURNALIST RULES: 

    Student material published in student publications or broadcast on student radio or television stations is eligible for either college or professional categories, but not both

    Student-produced material that is published in a professional publication or broadcast on a professional radio or television station is only eligible for professional categories.

    Scholarships are awarded only in the college categories. 

GENERAL RULES: 

    SPJ chapters in other states will conduct judging. All decisions of judges are final.

    By entering, entrants and their employers agree that entries or excerpts may be published in the Ohio SPJ Awards Program Booklet, in future year entry materials, on the websites of Ohio SPJ, or the Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland SPJ chapters, or in program publicity.

    Make checks payable to SPJ, and mail with entries to Ohio SPJ Awards, 1331 South High Street, Columbus, OH 43207.

    Deadline: Entries must be postmarked by February 27, 2008. 

CHECK OUT ALL PAST WINNERS AT: www.spjawards.com 


COLLEGE JOURNALISM CATEGORIES: 

Best College Daily Newspaper - For the best student newspaper or publication published regularly 3 or more times a week. Enter three issues. NO ENTRY FEE. 

Best College Non-daily Newspaper - For the best student newspaper or publication published regularly up to twice a week. Enter three issues. NO ENTRY FEE. 

Best College News Writing - One $500 scholarship will be awarded to the college journalist who show the most promise as a news writer, print or broadcast, through published or aired stories and academic standing. Ohio students only. Student entry fee: $10.  Submit two or more stories, a recommendation from an advisor/teacher, and a grade report. 

Best College Feature Writing - One $500 scholarship will be awarded to the college journalist who show the most promise as a feature writer, print or broadcast, through published or aired stories and academic standing. Ohio students only. Student entry fee: $10. Submit two or more stories, a recommendation from an advisor/teacher, and a grade report. 

Best College Sports Writing - One $500 scholarship will be awarded to the college journalist who show the most promise as a sports writer, print or broadcast, through published or aired stories and academic standing. Ohio students only. Student entry fee: $10.  Submit two or more stories, a recommendation from an advisor/teacher, and a grade report. 

Best College Opinion Writing - One $500 scholarship will be awarded to the college journalist who show the most promise as a opinion writer, print or broadcast, through published or aired opinion pieces and academic standing. Ohio students only. Student entry fee: $10.  Submit two or more stories, a recommendation from an advisor/teacher, and a grade report.


Entry Fee:  $10 per each entry in each writing category.  No entry fee for newspaper categories.  Make check payable to SPJ.  Mail check with entries to Ohio SPJ Awards, 1331 South High Street, Columbus, OH 43207. Deadline:  Postmarked by February 27, 2009.

SPJ Region 4 Conference

Perhaps you made a resolution for this new year. Maybe it’s to drop a few extra pounds, quit an unhealthy habit or something in between. Many resolutions seem to center around personal improvement.

This year, why not resolve to better your personal AND professional skills? And hey, there’s no exercise, dieting or nicotine patches required!

SPJ members in Region 4 (Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Western Pennsylvania) are invited to attend the Region’s Spring Conference, April 3-4 in Columbus, Ohio, taking place at the Double Tree Worthington. The special hotel room rate for the conference is $94. You can reserve a room now by clicking here.

All journalists in the region are welcome, with special discounts for SPJ members and students.

Registration fees: $70 professional SPJ member; $45 student SPJ member; $80 professional nonmember; $55 student nonmember.

On the schedule will be professional development sessions, the Regional Mark of Excellence Awards luncheon, a Friday night happy hour and a keynote address by Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts.

Don’t delay – mark your calendars now! More information will be available in the upcoming weeks from the Central Ohio Pro Chapter, host of this year’s conference. Updates will be forthcoming at the chapter’s Web site,www.centralohiospj.org.

For more information, please contact Katy Waters at 614-220-5468 or kwaters@bizjournals.com.

And remember, this year you can do something good for yourself and your career – and SPJ will be with you every step of the way.

OSU SPJ Blog

Hey all,

As you can see, we have started a blog for the Ohio State Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. I will be updating this blog from time to time with chapter news. 

If you have any suggestions for posts please email me at spjohiostate@gmail.com

Thanks!

Anna

Newfound Love

Last night we lost to the Wisconsin Buzzcuts in game that featured only 105 points, none of which were contributed by me. Calling Wisconsin the Buzzcuts isn’t meant to be an insult (mostly because I rocked the buzzcut for most of this past summer/fall and the first half of this season), but rather an observation of fact. As long as I’ve been at Ohio State, seemingly every white guy on Wisconsin has had a buzzcut. Maybe Bo Ryan is comfortable with players with buzzcuts and recruits accordingly. I legitimately wonder if he’s ever recruited someone who had a little less talent than the other guy, but had the nice looking buzzcut that the other guy didn’t. Something to think about.

Because the game was on Valentine’s Day and because a certain someone from my past was going to be at the game along with the College Gameday crew, I was a little nervous. All my nervousness immediately subsided at shoot-around in the afternoon, though, as Erin approached me and insisted that we talk some things over. I assumed she wanted to talk about the dozen roses I had sent to her hotel room, but she assured me that she never got them. It turns out that I accidentally sent them to Digger Phelps’ room, which probably explains why Digger felt the need to wink at me about thirty times too many. Anyway, I planned on sending Erin the roses as a way to say “Even though we had a falling out, true love won’t desert you.” She was overwhelmed by my generosity and essentially begged that we get back together. Maybe it was because she was so convincing or maybe it was because I didn’t want to be a heartbreaker on the day of love, but I somehow found myself agreeing with everything she said. It may come as a big surprise to the Trillion Man March, but I would like to announce that Erin and I are now back together. To make it official, she even made me go change the sign on her dressing room to reflect our rekindling love.

Erin Andrews-Titus

Pictured: A fresh start

Despite the fact that we lost to Wisconsin, I clearly didn’t come away from Madison as a complete loser. But my victory with Erin wasn’t the only mega victory I scored. I also managed to make my roommate Danny Peters question every aspect of his life using nothing more than a Super Nintendo and a little game called NBA Jam.

Before you get all worked up and start littering the comment section/my inbox with the same questions, the answer is no, I don’t own the Tournament Edition and yes, I fully understand that you think the Tournament Edition is far superior. I’m talking about the original NBA Jam. You know, the one that left out the best players in the league at the time. No Jordan, no Shaq, no Barkley, and no Bill Cartwright (Note: apparently Barkley was in the game. I was looking for him on the 76ers, but he was on the Suns at the time. The point is still valid, though). It’s a wonder why I even bought the game in the first place.

Every time we go on the road (and especially the last road trip since the tip wasn’t until 9 p.m. EST) we have pretty much nothing to do in the hotel all day. Surprisingly, Coach Matta doesn’t just turn us loose and tell us to be at the gym sometime before the game starts. Because we are usually bored out of our minds and because doing frog splashes on my bed is only entertaining for about two hours, we are forced to think of alternative ways to entertain ourselves. That’s why I decided to start bringing my Super Nintendo on the road trips.

I usually bring Super Mario World, Super Mario Kart, and NBA Jam, but we almost always end up playing only NBA Jam. We got to Madison on Friday night and had a nice steak dinner and headed back to our rooms. It was at this point that Danny decided to get the party started with a little NBA Jam session. He felt like he was on top of his game and the time had come for him to beat me. It was then that I realized that Danny clearly mixed some sort of alcohol in his drink at dinner, cause the Shark was not about to lose on this particular night.

If there’s one certainty in my life, no matter what the circumstances may be, it’s that I will always put my trust in the hands of Clyde “The Glide” Drexler whenever an NBA Jam game breaks out. Simply put, when it comes to NBA Jam, Clyde Drexler is murder in the form of a pixelated and balding basketball player. Danny thought that the Knicks, featuring Patrick Ewing and John Starks, would be able to handle the Blazers. In case you didn’t notice, Danny, the Knicks don’t have Clyde Drexler. Strike one.

So the game gets going and I’m giving Danny a steady dose of The Glide jumping from the free throw line and throwing down on Ewing’s nostrils paired with the tenacity of Terry Porter on defense. My game plan consisted of Porter absolutely plowing over John Starks (there are no fouls) and dishing it off to The Glide, who would then make Ewing look like a guy who gets dunked on a lot.

We traded baskets to start the game, but I managed to get a few more stops than Danny and led the entire first quarter, with the score at 24-20 at the end of one. I continued this pattern in the second quarter and went up by six at halftime, with The Glide having all of my 46 points. By the time the third quarter came around, it looked like the game was getting out of hand as I took a commanding fourteen point lead. Then, Starks decided to man up and began punking Terry Porter. By the end of the third, the score was 64-58, with The Glide still having every point (and shot attempt for that matter).

Apparently, the artificial intelligence in 1993 was much more advanced than I ever realized because the computer decided to make it closer than it ever should have been. Despite the fact that I set a personal record for quickest shattering of the backboard (it came with 2:42 left in the fourth), Danny managed to tie the game with a minute and a half left. I wasn’t sweating it too much since I had the ball and knew that we could just trade baskets the rest of the game. However, Danny hit a three with Starks with 37 seconds left to take his first lead of the game. We maintained our trading of baskets (and consequently, the lead) for the next couple of possessions until I was clinging onto a one point lead with ten seconds left and Danny took it to the rack and threw down hard with Ewing. I was left with four seconds, down by one, and The Glide taking the ball out of bounds. Clearly way too much time. Strike two.

Now, normally I don’t let Terry Porter do anything but play defense and pass the ball (so basically what I do every day in practice), but in this particular instance, I knew I had to make an exception. Porter’s 3 point ability is much better than The Glide’s and I knew I would have to throw up a prayer, so I made the decision to let Porter shoot. As I inbounded it to Porter, Danny went after the steal with Starks, leaving me wide open to take a couple dribbles and heave up the miracle. Strike three. You’re out.

Porter shot it from beyond half court as the buzzer sounded and the ball bounced on the rim for literally two seconds. As the ball rolled in, I dropped my controller and started celebrating like I was a world class soccer player. I ran out of our room and proceeded to yell as I made my way up and down the hotel hallway, totally disregarding the fact that it was after midnight. I chestbumped a housekeeper, kissed a random bald man’s head, and knocked on Evan “The Villain” Turner’s door before making my way back to my room. When I got back, Danny had his face in his hands and was repeatedly saying “Why me?” Don’t worry, Danny. It’s not you, it’s me.

I now have a much greater appreciation for Terry Porter, something that the Phoenix Suns apparently don’t have. Maybe I should write a letter to the Suns explaining to them exactly what they are giving up. I love Terry Porter so much now, that I have decided to order all T-Bone steaks I get from now on as “Terry Porterhouse” steaks. I can’t recall too many moments in my life that caused more excitement than winning NBA Jam on a half-court shot, which either shows you how seriously I take Super Nintendo or how miserable my life has been thus far. I’m crossing my fingers that you interpret that as being the former, but I guess that’s a decision I have to leave up to you.

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After the game was over, I was so disappointed that we lost that I didn’t remember to do the hugging hand shakes with Wisconsin. My memory was jarred by the Buzzcuts, though, as five of them gave me the one arm embrace. I’m convinced that either most of the guys on their team read the blog or they are just really friendly guys who like to hug it out more than Ari Gold. At any rate, five of Wisconsin’s players gave me the one arm embrace. Good work, Buzzcuts.

One Armed Embraces: 7 to date (5 last game)

Bone-Crushing Screens: 1 to date (0 last game)

___________________________________________________

Your awesome YouTube was sent in to me by Sean H. There's your shout-out, Sean. And here's your video.

Your Friend and My Favorite,

Mark Titus

Club Trillion Founder

Meet The Candidate – Mark Titus

For those of you who just jumped on the Club Trillion bandwagon, you may have missed when I outlined how Kyle Madsen and I are currently campaigning for the title of "Whitest Guy on The Team." This is an award that focuses on personality/culture and not on actual skin tone. As a reminder, the poll on the side of the blog will open whenever I decide to wake up on March 1st and will close at noon on March 2nd. Here is the first campaign opportunity for one of the candidates. Mark Titus The Blogger will now turn it over to Mark Titus The Politician.
___________________________________________________

I feel like I should first use my campaign opportunity to respond to the claims Keller made about me in his guest post.  After I defend myself, I will clearly explain why you really have no other choice in this election.

I never watched TRL

I’m not going to deny this claim because it is 100% true.  However, my reasoning is absolutely justified and is surely your number one pet peeve with the show.  For whatever reason, TRL decided that listening to unsupervised pre-teen girls scream at the top of their lungs for Sum 41 (or whoever Carson Daly’s one painted finger nail decided to interview on that particular day) was a much better idea than showing the entire duration of the top ten videos.  If I remember correctly, TRL would show about thirty seconds of each video and cut the video off as soon as it fully captured your attention.  This means that every time I watched the “Hero” video, I would be left wondering whether Enrique or the bad guy won the fight, and more importantly if Enrique ever made it to second base with Jennifer Love Hewitt (not to mention the fact that I would have missed Jenny Love rocking that wet t-shirt at the end of the video).  It’s unacceptable to tease America with clips of music videos, especially considering that some music videos can’t have their complete greatness captured in a thirty second segment.

I hated WCW

This isn’t entirely true, but I understand why it was brought up.  I was a closet wrestling fan because my parents insisted that I not “pollute my mind with that junk”, meaning I had to do my wrestling watching in secret.  My dad used to always say that if he caught me watching wrestling he would perform on me whatever move was being performed on TV, which would have been funny if he wouldn’t have actually lived up to that threat.  Nonetheless, when the WCW became relevant, I was faced with a crisis.  Following the WCW and WWF doubled my opportunity to get a DDT from my dad, so I was forced to choose one or the other.  When it came time to make my decision, I went with the WWF with the sole reason being that it was broadcast on USA, which  is the country I love.  So fault me for not entirely following the WCW, but if you fault me for loving this country I will be forced to join Toby Keith in his efforts to put footwear up your rectum.  It is, after all, the American way.

I know rap music – lots of it

Find me one person who has played basketball for more than five years of their life who doesn’t know some rap songs.  That’s what I thought.  Next topic.

I gave myself a nickname

After Evan Turner successfully nicknamed himself “The Kid” (because “Evan Turner is chillin”, I suggested “The Villain” but it didn’t stick), I was enthralled.  I wanted to see how hard it is to nickname myself.  Apparently, it’s actually not that hard at all.  Consider this my prank on The Trillion Man March.  I wish I could defend myself on this one but I can’t.  I not only nicknamed myself, I came up with about as unimaginative of a nickname as possible.  I would apologize if I hadn’t already embraced the nickname.

I look like K-Fed

I’ll let you decide if I look like K-Fed or not, but while you are figuring that out, consider this.  K-Fed went from a nobody to marrying arguably the biggest sex symbol of my generation and becoming filthy rich in the process.  Plus, his overall lack of contribution to society is exactly what Club Trillion is all about.  When you consider that K-Fed pulled off a trillion in the entertainment industry while being romantically involved with pre-crazy Britney Spears, I kind of envy the man a little bit.

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Now that I’ve addressed Keller’s attacks on my whiteness, it’s time for me to charge forward and convince you that I not only represent white culture very well, I AM white culture.  My life as a white man can be summarized into five categories—Music, Sports, Recreation, Appearance, and my Heroes.

Music

Close your eyes as you read this and consider this scenario.  Country music never happened.  Now open your eyes.  Pretty scary thought isn’t it?  This is a recurring nightmare I have that always ends up with me in a puddle of sweat belting out the chorus to “Country Club” by Travis Tritt.  It’s the only feasible way  for me to remind myself that country music lives.

To fully understand my love for country music, you have to turn back the clock.  When I was in fourth grade, I was invited to the first boy-girl party of my life.  I was unsure of what to bring to a party of this magnitude, so I did what any smart young boy would do in my situation—I brought my John Michael Montgomery CD and insisted on playing it at the party (I honestly wore cowboy boots on a regular basis at this period of my life).  When “I Swear” came on, I practically had to just snap my fingers and the beautiful babies of South Elementary were lining up to slow dance.   It was in that moment that I knew I would always turn to country music in the clutch situations in my life, and thus far it has yet to let me down.

My passion for the greatest music in the world inspired me to ask for an acoustic guitar a few Christmases back.  Even though I have no idea how to play it and I swear I am tone deaf, I actually plan on forming a country band someday.  The only thing holding me back at this point is that I am yet to think of an awesome band name.  Oh, and the fact that I can’t play the guitar.   My idea for a heavy metal band name, “Razor Burn on My Private Parts”, would totally be frowned upon in the country music world, so it’s back to the drawing board for the band I have yet to form.  (For the record, “Razor Burn on My Private Parts” would be the sweetest heavy metal band to ever come out of Brownsburg, Indiana.  That’s a guarantee.)

Sports

If you watch me play basketball for more than five minutes (so basically take my entire career at Ohio State), you will quickly realize that I am the stereotypical white player times a trillion.  I fake a pass to make a pass, I have range to at least 30 feet, I will not hesitate to sacrifice my body/life for a possession, and I keep Windex in business with the amount of hand prints I put on the backboards throughout America.  At one point in my basketball career, I honestly wore (out of necessity) two ankle braces, two knee braces, and an elbow pad.  I am everything you would ever associate a white basketball player with, sans the Rec-Specs.

Beyond basketball, I have a burning passion for all things auto racing and professional wrestling related.  I grew up ten miles down the road from Jeff Gordon and about ten minutes from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  If there is one thing all (white) Hoosiers love besides corn, basketball, and Rik Smits’ hair, it’s auto racing.  It is a statement of fact that I suffered second degree burns at the Indy 500 last year because I forgot to put on sunscreen with my wife-beater.  As far as the wrestling is concerned, I shouldn’t need to explain my love at this point.  I spent $300 for Wrestlemania 22 tickets, I dressed up as Shawn Michaels for Halloween my senior year of high school, and I routinely Ric Flair chop anybody who is out of line.  That’s all you really need to know.

Recreation

Besides blogging about absolutely nothing of any importance whatsoever, I like to kick back and play video games from time to time.  The greatest testament to my whiteness is that I own many games that are not made by EA Sports, something absolutely zero un-white people can claim [citation needed].  My game of choice is any of the Tony Hawk games.  I have actually caused people I’ve played Tony Hawk against to want to throw down in fisticuffs, as if I am supposed to apologize for their inferiority at landing the Christ Air with Rune Glifberg.

Other than video games, I amuse myself by doing laps in Wal-Mart with the kids bikes,  fishing with my bare hands, and chest bumping anyone and everyone I see at the Indy 500 with a mullet.

Appearance

I have a pretty simple look to me.  During the season, I usually let the hair grow out (switched it up this year) and keep a little stubble beard so the ladies know what level of man they are dealing with, yet Coach Matta doesn’t get upset with me for looking like a hippie.  The off-season, though, brings out an entirely different animal.  I will grow out just about any kind of facial hair anybody wants me to, mostly because I can.  I plan on rocking a solid mustache during this off-season because it’s been awhile since I’ve just gone with the plain ‘stache.  But I’m open to just about any ideas.  And when I say any ideas, I mean any ideas.

I’m known to rock tank tops/throwback basketball jerseys/wife-beaters during the summer months and most absurd looking faux fur hat ever made during the winter months.  I do nearly all of my shopping on eBay and am currently looking for any Ohio State clothing with Looney Tunes on it.  If you have anything, I will be more than happy to make you an offer.  Simply put, my fashion sense is that of a man who knows what’s important in life—a nice set of tan lines and an appreciation for all things vintage.  It’s hard to get that perfect farmer’s tan when you are constantly wearing a cashmere sweater isn’t it Kyle?

Heroes

An obvious choice for heroes would be God or my parents or that one teacher who half-heartedly told me I could be an astronaut if I really wanted to be, but I’m a man of deep thought and therefore want to share with you the heroes in my life that nobody else would ever think to classify as heroes.  First and foremost, Tux Burke is everything any and all Americans should strive to be.  With nothing more than a cowboy hat and a karaoke machine, this man pumps out classic country covers like you wouldn’t believe.  Tux, if you are reading this, I am begging you to come to the Ohio State athlete talent show in May and tag team “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys.” I’ll even let you pick whether you want to be Waylon or Willie.  There is no way we don’t win.  Just let me know, Tux.

Another hero in my life is none other than Rod Farva from “Super Troopers.”  The movie is easily in my top five comedies of all-time, mostly because of the genius of Farva.  With his perfectly sculpted mustache and his ability to pull off the flawless prank of putting a bar of soap in Rabbit’s coffee, Rod Farva is one of the fine Americans of our time.  (I can’t stress enough that if you are under 30 years old and haven’t seen “Swingers”, “The Big Lebowski”, “Super Troopers”, or “The Weatherman”, you are cheating your life.)

Other heroes who just missed out on getting a paragraph written about them include Chris Mullin’s chest hair and flat top, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Happy Gilmore, Kenny Powers, Bryant Reeves, Hank Hill, Marv and Harry from “Home Alone”, Burt Reynolds, and Wilford Brimley.

 

I honestly don’t see how I can’t win this election.  I trust that the Trillion Man March will make the right decision on March 1st, because you all are intelligent people who know a white man when you read about one.  America needs to see Kyle Madsen win this election like I need to see another person make their Facebook profile picture a picture of them making out with their significant other.  Election day is coming shortly.  Do the right thing, America.  If I get elected, I vow to do absolutely nothing of significant importance and I’ll do it the best way I know how.  That’s what a vote for Mark Titus will get you, America—a continuation of the Club Trillion way of life.

By the way, Kyle’s campaign entry (should he choose to write one) should be coming in a short period of time.  We will then do another bipartisan rundown of the candidates in the days leading up to the election.  I want you to be fully informed when you make your decision, so that I don’t feel like my victory is tainted.

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I’m sure a lot of you have been itching to know how the handshake thing went down.  Since I introduced my new counter/prank/another dumb thing that I do that will probably upset a few people, we have played games against Purdue and Minnesota.  The Purdue game yielded one solid embracing handshake from a semi-member of the Purdue chapter of Club Trillion.  Bobby Riddell (or as the Purdue fans like to call him, “Bobby Buckets”) fully engaged himself in the handshake like a true champion.  But before you get excited, understand that Bobby and I have a history.  We played in the same conference in high school and have a mutual respect for each other’s trillion obtaining abilities.  Also, I’m pretty confident Bobby reads the blog and there is a decent chance that he read it before the game, so he may have known the whole time what I was about to do.  Nonetheless, I’m counting it. 

As far as the Minnesota game, the Director of Basketball Operations for Minnesota, Joe Esposito, hit me with the one arm hug/handshake/what do you call that thing? right after the game.  As I mentioned in the classic “Love In An Elevator” entry, Joe reads the blog, so like Bobby he probably had a heads up about my antics.  Again like Bobby, I’m counting it.  This brings our total to two in two games.  Not bad really.

One Armed Embraces: 2 to date (1 last game)

Bone-Crushing Screens: 1 to date (0 last game)

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Your Friend and My Favorite,

Mark Titus

Club Trillion Founder