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Bluedawg
07-10-2008, 12:56 PM
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 (http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/story/1136537.html)

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.

Edouble
07-10-2008, 01:30 PM
Ugh **regurgitates**

Classof06
07-10-2008, 01:41 PM
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.

blazindw
07-10-2008, 01:49 PM
I can think of at least 19 other cities in the Top 20 that are more "Titletown" than Chapel Hell.

mph
07-10-2008, 01:51 PM
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?

Bluedawg
07-10-2008, 01:52 PM
Chapel Hill's trophy case makes rivals blue with envy (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/titletown/news/story?id=3428449)

hc5duke
07-10-2008, 02:15 PM
I was thinking about nominating the triangle with the hurricanes, State, Duke, UNC Central and UNC.

Minor correction, but I think Central is NCCU, not UNCC (which would be Charlotte).

Clipsfan
07-10-2008, 02:24 PM
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?

Not only that, but UCLA has more NCAA championships than any other school. They've been celebrating their 100th NCAA championship in the "First to 100" promotion for a couple years now.

DukeDude
07-10-2008, 02:27 PM
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.

roywhite
07-10-2008, 02:36 PM
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

weezie
07-10-2008, 02:37 PM
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.

CameronBornAndBred
07-10-2008, 03:28 PM
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.

Yup, the Crazies were the poster fans for the contest.

CameronBornAndBred
07-10-2008, 03:33 PM
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?

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.

Edouble
07-10-2008, 03:36 PM
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.

Son of Mojo
07-10-2008, 03:49 PM
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/2008/07/10/article/is_chapel_hill_the_nation_s_titletown ]

Son of Mojo
07-10-2008, 03:50 PM
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? :D

Bluedawg
07-10-2008, 04:15 PM
Minor correction, but I think Central is NCCU, not UNCC (which would be Charlotte).

You are correct. I looked at that and knew it wasn't right, but for the life of me i couldn't figure why.

brevity
07-10-2008, 06:43 PM
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.

91.92.01DUKE
07-10-2008, 06:50 PM
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.

Newton_14
07-10-2008, 09:19 PM
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???

CameronBornAndBred
07-10-2008, 09:26 PM
Does anyone know which year the holes actually decided to start claiming the undefeated season against 1920's' rec clubs as an official NC???

Weren't they still using peach baskets then?

EarlJam
07-10-2008, 09:58 PM
VERB Chapel Hill up the BODY PART with an ADJECTIVE NOUN!

I saw the promos. Talking about all the jerseys and banners for basketball. Half those are ADJECTIVE NOUN anyway.

Like another poster said, I can EASILY make the argument for many other cities being given the label Titletown over those ADJECTIVE NOUNS in Chapel PARENT VERB Hill.

ADJECTIVE ADJECTIVE ADJECTIVE VERB NOUNS!

Diety Damnit.

-EarlJam




















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 (http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/story/1136537.html)

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.

Bluedog
07-11-2008, 05:35 PM
Yahoo! Sports says "Forget TitleTown: Where do you want to be a fan? (http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/post/Forget-TitleTown-Where-do-you-want-to-be-a-fan-?urn=top,93426)"

They list the best cities to be a sports fan and ask you to vote: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Raleigh.

For Raleigh: "The bad: If you can't stand the Duke-UNC rivalry, Raleigh's probably not for you.

The ugly: No comment (http://graphics.jsonline.com/graphics/sports/gen/img/mar04/mike330.jpg)."

Ouch! Liked the article until the last line! :mad:

Carlos
07-11-2008, 06:36 PM
The only thing more lame than the Helms Trophy factoring into this discussion is when ESPN added included Tiger Woods in the discussion about Stanford. True, Tiger went to Stanford, but his accomplishments for the university was one NCAA title.

Much as I hate to use UNC as a reference point here, but using Tiger's pro success as a measure of Stanford's worth as "Titletown" makes about as much sense as counting Jordan's titles with the Bulls when evaluating Chapel Hill.

Uncle Drew
07-11-2008, 07:04 PM
I hate to disagree with everyone but I think the 1924 Helms Championship should be celebrated. In fact I propose making bumperstickers and tee shirts to comemorate the title.

"1924 does anyone remember the score?"

"Our 1924 team was an collegiate wonder,
anyone who remembers is now 6 feet under."

"Sure we won a championship when they still used peach baskets, let's have a reunion and dig up the caskets!"

"That 1924 championship is especially vital, we never brought it up until Duke tied us for titles."