Mark Titus

Mark "The Shark" Titus
College Ohio State
Conference Big Ten
Sport Basketball
Position Shooting guard/Small forward
Jersey # 34
Career 2006–2010
Height 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight 225 lb (102 kg)
Nationality American
Born June 25, 1987
Brownsburg, Indiana
High school Brownsburg High School,
Brownsburg, Indiana
Championships
Team
Tournaments
2007 NCAA, 2008 NIT, 2009 NCAA, 2010 NCAA

Mark Titus (born June 25, 1987) is an American blogger and former walk-on basketball player for Ohio State. Since October 2008, he has written about his basketball-related experiences in his blog 'Club Trillion'. He was selected in the 2010 Harlem Globetrotters draft.[1] He has worked as a contributing writer for ESPN Insider on men's college basketball and in 2011 began contributing material for ESPN's new site, Grantland.com.[2]

Biography

Born in Brownsburg, Indiana,[3][4] Titus played basketball at Brownsburg High School in Indiana.[4] For Brownsburg High, Titus scored more than 1,000 career points (only other 1,000 point scorers in BHS history: Eric Riggs '94, Jered Reeves '02, and current NBA player Gordon Hayward '08) and was voted second team All-Indiana selection twice.[4] He played on the same AAU team as future NBA players Daequan Cook, Eric Gordon, Josh McRoberts, Mike Conley, and Greg Oden.

In the fall of 2006, Titus enrolled at Ohio State University, where he planned on attending medical school and being a student manager for the basketball team.[4] He was quickly added to the roster by coach Thad Matta as a walk-on, and was cleared to play for the Buckeyes on November 10.[4] In the Buckeyes' season opener, Titus received three minutes of playing time and made each of his two free throw attempts.[5] Titus played in 14 of the team's 39 games.[6]

During the 2008–2009 basketball season, Titus created his own blog, "Club Trillion", with the name referring to his line in the box score for many games: '1' in the first column (minutes played), followed by zeroes in the other twelve columns (points, rebounds, etc.).[7] Titus' blog, and his antics as a player, gained him some attention in the sports media. Titus had many of his followers join him in growing mustaches and pictures were posted on his blog. He appeared on ESPN.com's 'BS Report' with Bill Simmons on March 11, 2009, and again on March 24, 2010.[8] On April 9, 2009, Titus, although a walk-on with no hopes of playing in the NBA, used his blog to formally announce his entrance into the 2009 NBA Draft.[9] The blog entry eventually became a headline story on Yahoo!’s home page.[10]

During his senior season, Titus received cheers from opposing fans,[7] and received coverage from opposing school newspapers.[11] Titus was mentioned in the New York Times[12] and the Associated Press.[13] Titus has also made comedic jabs at teammate Evan Turner.[14] Titus' "Mr. Rainmaker" video on YouTube has received over 490,000 views.[15]

On March 6, 2012, Titus released his first book entitled "Don't Put Me In, Coach: My Incredible NCAA Journey from the End of the Bench to the End of the Bench." The book tells the story of his time as a benchwarmer at Ohio State.[16]

Titus has since joined the sports journalism website Grantland.com, writing primarily about college basketball and providing readers with his power rankings every week starting in the 2012-13 season.

College basketball statistics

[17]

Season School GP MIN FGM FGA FTM FTA 3PM 3PA REB AST BLK STL PF TO PTS
2006-07 Ohio State 14 18 1 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 1 3 0 5
2007-08 Ohio State 8 10 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 3
2008-09 Ohio State 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0
2009-10 Ohio State 8 18 0 3 1 2 0 3 1 1 0 0 1 0 1
CAREER TOTALS 32 48 2 6 3 4 2 6 5 3 2 2 5 0 9

References

  1. ↑ http://www.bucksinsider.com/mens-basketball/titus-drafted-by-globetrotters/
  2. ↑ http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/3341/dont-worry-buckeyes-fans-ohio-states-got-this
  3. ↑ http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/players/playerpage/1167915/mark-titus
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 "Mark Titus Biography". OhioStateBuckeyes.com. 2007-06-29. Retrieved 2010-02-04.
  5. ↑ "Ohio State University Official Athletic Site". ohiostatebuckeyes.com. Retrieved 2010-02-04.
  6. ↑ "Ohio State University Official Athletic Site". ohiostatebuckeyes.com. 2007-04-06. Retrieved 2010-02-04.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 http://www.coshoctontribune.com/article/20100123/UPDATES04/100123006/Buckeyes/--Titus-famous-for-NOT-playing
  8. ↑ "Bs Report - Audio". ESPN. Retrieved 2010-02-04.
  9. ↑ "Club Trillion: To Whom It May Com. Stern". Clubtrillion.blogspot.com. 2009-04-09. Retrieved 2010-02-04.
  10. ↑ Brennan, Eamonn (2009-04-30). "Mark Titus enters NBA draft, is kindly asked to leave". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved 2010-02-04.
  11. ↑ http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=73597
  12. ↑ Thamel, Pete (2009-12-27). "A Last Man Off the Bench Rides a Blog to Stardom". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-05-12.
  13. ↑ "Buckeyes' Titus is famous for riding the pine". Pittsburgh Tribune. 2010-01-24. Retrieved 2010-02-04.
  14. ↑ http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/ncb/columns/story?columnist=greenberg_jon&id=4907516
  15. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5V6FCitvRUM
  16. ↑ http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Put-Me-Coach-Incredible/dp/0385535104
  17. ↑ ESPN: Mark Titus stats

External links