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SG Mark "The Shark" Titus (Official Thread)

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Ohio State Buckeyes' Mark Titus writing his ticket from end of the bench
By Doug Lesmerises, The Plain Dealer
January 21, 2010

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Jay LaPrete / Associated Press
Ohio State's Mark Titus, right, shares a laugh Tuesday with teammate Danny Peters from his usual spot on the bench during the Buckeyes' game against Northwestern in Columbus, Ohio. Through his benchwarmer's-eye-view of the game to his hilarious, viral, videos, Titus might be the biggest star on the Buckeyes' roster. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A pioneer as an athlete-blogger, former NBA player Paul Shirley remembered his mother's advice when he started writing for his team's Web site, and potentially annoying teammates, while playing for the Phoenix Suns five years ago.

"I was lucky, because I was in the NBA, where most guys didn't know how to access the Internet," Shirley deadpanned this week. "I was also edited-slash-censored by the Suns, so that kept me from burning too many bridges. But I also did the best I could to not take shots at guys, because I could write three books about 'that guy is dumb and this is why.' But that goes into the whole propping yourself up by making other people look bad, and our mothers tell us that's never a good thing to do."

Five years after Shirley's debut, from Gilbert Arenas in the NBA to Curt Schilling in Major League Baseball to Chad Ochocinco in the NFL, athletes writing on the Internet about their lives and careers is no longer a novelty.

But an insider writing like an outsider still holds a niche, and self-deprecation in a world of egos still finds an audience, one that Ohio State team manager-turned-benchwarmer Mark Titus has tapped into while developing a Web site that has welcomed more than 2 million visitors in less than two years.

"What Mark Titus has hit on, and part of the reason what I was doing for the Suns was successful, is that people can relate more easily to failure than they can relate to success," Shirley said. "And failure seems to bring a certain cynicism-slash-sarcasm-slash-wit, which makes the writing better."

Actually, it's the illusion of failure that Titus, a 1,000-point scorer in high school who was recruited by mid-major schools, and Shirley, who actually played in the NBA, have mastered so well. But Titus' run, at least in this incarnation, is coming to an end, because the Buckeyes' senior in three more months won't be an insider anymore.

"Once I'm done playing, will what I say be relevant anymore?" Titus asked Thursday. "Right now the thing I've got going for me is the inside access on Ohio State basketball. I've thought about that a lot."
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Ohio State Buckeyes' Mark Titus writing his ticket from end of the bench | Ohio State Buckeyes - cleveland.com - - cleveland.com
 
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Posted: Friday January 22, 2010
Buckeyes' Titus famous for NOT playing

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Mark Titus seldom even gets into a game for No. 21 Ohio State. Incredibly, that hasn't kept him from becoming one of the most popular and famous college basketball players in the nation.

How many stars have a blog that has had more than 2.1 million visits? How many guys scoring 20 points a game have produced a video called "The Rainmaker'' for NBA scouts that has gotten more than 115,000 hits on YouTube.com in the last week? How many future pros are cheered by opposing fans and players and have been lavishly profiled in The New York Times, on Yahoo.com and on ESPN's SportsNation and First Take?

And that's the point. Titus' blog is about NOT being a superstar or being worshipped at the age of 20. It's about losing, getting little or no respect, learning and having fun - sort of a microcosm of the college experience.

"There are so few stars, and that's why they are stars,'' Titus said after taking his lumps in Thursday's practice. "There are only so many people who can win the national player of the year. But on every single team there are two or three guys that will never get in. And that's true for every team at every level. Everyone at some point, it seems, has been a bench warmer. And they can identify with that.''
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Read More: Buckeyes' Titus famous for NOT playing - ncaa - SI.com

Club Trillion Extras: Ohio State coach Thad Matta, the key to it all
By Doug Lesmerises, The Plain Dealer
January 22, 2010

Two heroes of Club Trillion weren't given enough credit in today's story on Ohio State's Mark Titus.

One is Andy Keller, Titus' best friend for a decade and a student at Arizona. Titus himself gives Keller plenty of credit for his contributions to the blog, and he was the force, and the editor and camera operator, behind the Titus video that gave Club Trillion it's latest boost.

"We were always a couple of goofballs in high school and people got ticked off by it," Keller said by phone from Arizona. "But now people are coming out of the woodwork trying to be friends with Mark. We were always kind of out there."

In a lot of ways, Keller is Titus without the basketball skill. And he knows better than anyone how crazy it is that Club Trillion came together like this.

"It really is kind of a perfect storm," Keller said. "He landed in the right spot. I did track at Arizona, and if I wrote about track, I had a coach who wouldn't care, but no one else cares. You have to have people who would care and a coach who wouldn't care."
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Club Trillion Extras: Ohio State coach Thad Matta, the key to it all | Doug Lesmerises' Buckeye Blog - cleveland.com - cleveland.com
 
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Mark Titus' career may be over

On the court in an Ohio State uniform, that is.

As the most famous Buckeyes walk-on ever observed on his blog yesterday, "Because I'm a walk-on, it's hard to say my career ever really started in the first place."

An MRI on Monday confirmed that Mark Titus has a torn labrum in his left shoulder. He injured the shoulder earlier this season -- he blames Dallas Lauderdale -- and aggravated the injury during the one minute he played against Northwestern last week. Titus said he was told the injury may force him to miss the rest of the season. He was not in uniform at Iowa on Wednesday.

Asked today how Titus' absence will affect the team's depth, a somber coach Thad Matta said, "You thought when Evan (Turner) went down, things were bad."
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Mark Titus' career may be over (Hoops & Scoops: an OSU basketball blog)
 
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