Ugh **regurgitates**
University of North Carolina fans will have a chance to prove to the country what they already believe -- that Chapel Hill is the capital of sports in this country.
The town is among 20 finalists for ESPN's "Titletown USA." After an online nomination process that was open to the public, producers chose 50 cities and towns. The top 20 was set by a panel made up of 12 SportsCenter anchors and 19 journalists not associated with the sports TV network.
'Titletown' nominee: Chapel Hill
What are thier chances? I was thinking about nominating the triangle with the hurricanes, State, Duke, UNC Central and UNC. can UNC claim that on their own.
Ugh **regurgitates**
If it makes anyone feel better, Durham was in the running at some point. I think whoever stays in the running has to do with fan voting, so unfortunately, I don't see fans going out of their way to give Duke props.
I can think of at least 19 other cities in the Top 20 that are more "Titletown" than Chapel Hell.
Off of the top of my head, I can't think of any city, especially CH, that can challenge LA. Los Angeles has championships in every major professional sport and have USC and UCLA to boot. Is there another city that can claim as many championships in as many different sports at both the college and professional levels?
This whole "Titletown" concept is as lame as last year's "Who's now?" This time of year is the dead zone as far as sports go, so ESPN feels the need to invent things to talk about.
Perhaps Chapel Hill gets extra points for celebrating:
1. A dubious title---the 1924 Helms Award for basketball
2. An assumed title for the 2008-09 Men's Hoops team
Yeah, remember that series ESPN did a few years ago counting down all sorts of greatest events/plays/moments while emphasizing clowns and carnival folk echoing the countdowns? Seem to remember juggling and trick dogs in there, too.
Downright scary.
Boston did pretty well this year, with the Celtics and the Red Sox. I don't know about NCAA championships, but throw hockey in the mix with the Bruins. And of course the Patriots have won a few times.
Just about any major city with a few pro franchises and more colleges has way more claim to the title than Chapel Hill.
A few years ago, I don't recall how many, there was an SI cover article that pitted UTexas against Stanford for the best overall collegiate athletics program. Since those two have already surpassed UNC for overall athletic prowess, and with Chapel Hill have nothing else to offer besides the UNC athletics program, I find it hard to give Chapel Hill the nod over Austin and Palo Alto. That said, such an argument only considers college sports and there are several towns with excellent professional sports offerings, such as Boston. Any way you look at it, I don't see Chapel Hill winning the right to call themselves Titletown.
The following is an email that a co-worker sent out to me and a few others earlier today:
Is Chapel Hill the nation’s TitleTown?
CHAPEL HILL -- Michael Armstrong smiled as he approached the stairs leading to the Carolina Basketball Museum. His silver digital camera dangled from his left wrist.
[redacted for copyright
Please see here for article: http://www.news-record.com/content/2...on_s_titletown ]
Last edited by -jk; 07-10-2008 at 04:11 PM. Reason: copyright violation
And this was my response:
I see this email is still trying to claim that imaginary “5th” NC…………Open Letter To All—IT DOESN’T EXIST!! Holding onto the claim that you own what equates to a YMCA title from the 1920’s THAT DOESN’T EXIST AS A NATIONAL TITLE just makes all Duke fans and all members of the ABC laugh at you more than we already do. Amazing that there are that many people who are together in their hatred of one school/team even when they are rivals with each other because of the one team possessing obnoxious, wine & cheese, feeling they are entitled to win everything for having refs in their back pocket holier-than-thou fans and crybaby punk players with fevered egos that are allowed to get away with what they do on the court aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand what has to be the largest cadre of smug coaches ever assembled…... The club will continue to grow by leaps and bounds. It’s also obvious that the article is a big time lie—NO Duke fan would smile going near the (I can’t believe it even exists—must be where they keep that 3rd place 1973 NIT banner that used to hang) carolinabasketballmuseum. One might go to throw a rotten egg or, well, excrement, but wouldn’t that just be adding to the pile already there?
I agree it's total ESPN filler, but the label "Titletown" should have more to do with town pride and less to do with the number of championships. If we went by the latter measure, Los Angeles, Boston, and even Chapel Hill would score nicely.
But I would think Green Bay, WI and Pittsburgh, PA fit the role better than any of those three. It comes down to a relationship between the team and its city that embraces tradition and ages well over time.
Here are all 20 nominees:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/titletown/index
Interesting how three towns are there for high school football, and none are in Texas.
SonofMojo
You have stooped to a low level frankly, one should not respond to them. It will only prompt a discussion of their self-proclaimed superiority. Please do not make us all look like them.
I can't figure out which is the bigger joke? 1. Chapel Hill in consideration for "Title Town" award or 2. The comical, imaginery, make believe, monopoly money, ymca, 1920's national championship claim..
every time they show that banner on TV during a game at the bignosecenter I can't help but think how embarrassing it is that they claim that as a national title..
does anyone know which year the holes actually decided to start claiming the undefeated season against 1920's' rec clubs as an official NC???