Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Lawrence comes up short for TitleTown

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A national basketball championship and an Orange Bowl victory weren't enough to secure ESPN's TitleTown honors for Lawrence.

Valdosta, Ga., home of Valdosta State University, took the top spot of the ESPN competition, which sought to name the country's top championship city. Valdosta State University won the Division II national football championship in 2007.

Valdosta received more than 29 percent of the vote. Results were only available for the top six cities.

Parkersburg, W. Va., Green Bay, Wis., Massillon, Ohio, Boston and Gainesville, Fla., rounded out the top six contenders.

Comments

overseashawk (anonymous) says...

Never heard of Valdosta. Sounds fishy to me. Oh well though....We're the creme de la creme of college basketball at the moment. PLUS, we're ranked by ESPN as the second best program in all of college basketball since 1984. Not Bad! Although we probably don't stand a shot at winning a national championship next year it will be fun to watch a completely different team. I hate to say it but it looks like Roy's boys are undoubtedly the favorite to win the national championship.

July 29, 2008 at 4:25 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

ChicagoHawkMatt (anonymous) says...

Valdosta State???? Just shows how worthless these types of competitions are when it is left up to public voting. Some geek with a computer in his mom's basement probably cast half of the votes for Valdosta.

July 29, 2008 at 7:13 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Timmay97 (anonymous) says...

It's not even close.....UNC is insanely stacked with "experienced" talent and the recruits to boot. But remember, being the best comes with a TON of pressure. They are undoubtedly the preseason #1 team in America and I would expect them to have a terrific year.

We can all agree that it would have been nice to have Chalmers, Arthur and Rush back.....but to me, the pressure has been taken off the program without those guys returning. We have to defend a championship with only 2 significant players returning (Collins and Aldrich) and a hopeful talented recruiting class. We are about to feel what it was like for Florida once their 5 left.

I anticipate we will lose 10 games this year easily (which I'm gonna have to get used to) but we will still make the tournament. And as Danny and Miracles proved, ANYTHING can happen in the NCAA Tournament.

July 29, 2008 at 7:15 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Solomon (anonymous) says...

Back in the day, Valdosta, GA had a high school football program that probably exceeded Lawrence's. So did Massillon, OH.

That being said, I don't see how they can compare with 3 NCAA championships, 2 Helms titles, an Orange Bowl victory, all the Big VI, VII, VIII, XII championships in basketball, the track titles, and the 47 game win streak and football titles of LHS.

July 29, 2008 at 7:16 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Chicago_JHawk (anonymous) says...

Was the voting for all time or just the past year or so?

July 29, 2008 at 7:39 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

tis4tim (anonymous) says...

From the Valdosta State Athletics webpage (FYI):

"The Valdosta Wildcats hold the record for most wins in high school football with 838 and have won 23 Georgia State Championships and six National Championships.
Lowndes High School has won three of the last four state championships and five total.

Valdosta State University won Division II National Championships in football in 2004 and 2007 as well as a baseball title in 1979 and a men's tennis championship in 2006."

The criteria for the award on the same site. (I don't know if there's more to it, though):

"Search for the town, city or municipality that shares a unique affinity with its title-winning professional, college or amateur sports teams and athletes."

July 29, 2008 at 7:56 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

GAJayhawk (anonymous) says...

Hey all, KU grad who lives in Valdosta and works at VSU. We won because the entire town and county (about 100,000) voted-based on our history as the winningest high school football program in the country, recent DII football championships, and other sports at all levels.
This is a small town Friday Nights Lights type of place.
Rock-Chalk Jayhawk and Go Blazers!

July 29, 2008 at 8:24 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

robot (Robin Smith) says...

congrats to Valdosta, they deserved it. I'm glad a town like Valdosta won it and not LA or Boston.

July 29, 2008 at 8:32 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

ESPN Titletown USA?

Valdosta State is title town?

If this is Titletown, I want to live in the country.

July 29, 2008 at 8:34 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

kushaw (anonymous) says...

Soloman and Everyone: You guys are also forgetting about the KU Debate team. "Now that is how you Debate!"

July 29, 2008 at 8:58 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

KGphoto (anonymous) says...

Title town was a ridiculous idea to begin with. Just another gimmick to keep people tuned in while nothing is happening in July.

Why are we so interested in public voting results? They never seem to reflect anything accurately anyway. And they amount to nothing. Honestly, ESPN does a poll for everything. All it does is save them some marketing research. They've probably had 50 different polls for where Brett Favre will end up, just in the last week. Like I care what the public thinks about where Brett's rich-old-ass is gonna play next year.

So since there is nothing to watch in July, turn the damn tube off and go camping or something.

July 29, 2008 at 9:24 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

justinryman (anonymous) says...

Valdosta GA, almost in Florida, but its highschool football team is tops in the State of GA year in and year out. Plus the highschool sportsv team all around win championships year in and year out as well.

BUT nothing will top this past year at KU, unless football wins it all and basketball re-peats and the baseball team makes the final 8!!!!

Rock Chalk Jayhawk

July 29, 2008 at 10:04 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

wcormode (anonymous) says...

Before you clones start complaining about stupid competitions you should have actually watched the series. A town that has 380+ team championships in high school and football is stacked.

July 29, 2008 at 10:24 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

milehighhawker (anonymous) says...

interesting interview with X, thought I would share it
http://www.takkle.com/videos/7815/-/m...

July 29, 2008 at 12:57 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

d_prowess (anonymous) says...

People can make any arguement they want in support of Valdosta, GA, but I think this really is shocking that NY or Boston didn't win. These online polls have obvious bias towards large populations because of the sheer numbers involved. However, with that being said, I have to commend Valdosta because to win this, with only about 100,000 in the town, there was a MAJOR commitment by the fans. So maybe this was deserved...

July 29, 2008 at 1:21 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

smitty33 (anonymous) says...

KGphoto.. great post.

ESPN is doing a good job at trying to get anyone to watch this time of year. Baseball STINKS unless you are playing it. Bring on Football!!

July 29, 2008 at 3:45 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jprich (anonymous) says...

I'm also assuming that if you're town wasn't represented in the 'competition' - for instance Manhattan, Kansas or Columbia, Missouri, as two examples - then those citizens probably wanted to vote for a lesser-known town rather than a major city or a rival town. As they say, "everyone roots for the underdog." I don't know if Valdosta can be anymore of an underdog against the rest of the towns represented.

July 29, 2008 at 8:03 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

pitthawker (anonymous) says...

Valdosta State actually beat KU's board of regent brother Pitt State in the national championship they won.

July 29, 2008 at 8:26 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

KUbsee69 (anonymous) says...

My first semester KU room-mate was from Valdosta. He knew which school to attend.

FYI: Valdosta is the hometown of John Henry "DOC" Holiday, who also left Valdosta to spend time in Kansas.

Eventus Stultorum Magister.

July 30, 2008 at 8:40 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

jhwkfan162515 (anonymous) says...

Very very shocking. And disgusting. Screw it. We don't need that damn Eastern Sports Promotion Network to tell US who TitleTown is! It's Lawrence, Kansas, all the way! Screw you, Valdosta! Let's play your basketball team for an exhibition game and blow you clean off the face of the earth!

July 30, 2008 at 4:57 p.m. ( | suggest removal )