By Bryan Fazio
VALDOSTA — After months of talking about why Valdosta should be TitleTown USA, it is now time to put those words into action.
The voting for ESPN’s TitleTown USA begins today, following SportsCenter’s presentation of the last finalist, Massillon, Ohio.
Fans are encouraged to vote as often as they can, starting at 6 p.m. today. The voting is strictly online on the ESPN.com Web site. The Valdosta Daily Times’ Web site (www.valdostadailytimes.com) has a link to the TitleTown site, making the voting simpler.
Valdosta has sent out the word throughout the competition. There have been a number of message boards, an advertisement in this newspaper and billboards throughout town. Governor Sonny Perdue has even made a proclamation stating Valdosta deserves to become TitleTown and telling the people of Georgia to vote for Valdosta.
Valdosta also made its case to the rest of the country when its segment aired on ESPN’s SportsCenter on July 16.
That was a full day of Valdosta sports. Valdosta State’s two national championship victories were broadcast on ESPN Classic at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. On SportsCenter that night, ESPN reporter Wendi Nix introduced the town to viewers around the country. Former Lowndes High football star Randall Godfrey was interviewed by Nix about his hometown, and made a case for why Valdosta deserved the honor. Thousands of people had shown up the previous Wednesday for the taping, showing their support for the town.
On July 9, ESPN’s largest TitleTown crew up to that point came to Valdosta, filmed hundreds of people tailgating around Bazemore-Hyder Stadium and taped TitleTown segments in front of thousands of screaming fans inside the stadium.
The crew arrived to a warm welcome from the city, seeing signs and billboards welcoming them and receiving gift baskets and Southern hospitality at its finest.
The crew later sent an e-mail to the media relations people in charge of the event, praising Valdosta for all of its support.
“Your spirit and passion is exactly what this TitleTown USA series is all about, and we couldn’t have pulled it without that,” ESPN producer Adam Hertzog said. “Talking to my colleagues, I can tell you we all felt it was one of the highlights of our careers — and we’ve seen plenty over the years! Hopefully we’ll be coming back on the 27th!”
Voting begins today and lasts through Saturday. The winner will be announced on Sunday, July 27.
ESPN started its search for TitleTown USA back in April, using a multimedia search that included fan-generated nominations and a panel of judges consisting of 12 SportsCenter anchors and 19 non-ESPN media professionals to bring the list down to 20.
In June, the 20 towns were named, as ESPN was determined to find the “city, town or municipality as the place in America that best represents the unique affinity a community shares with its title-winning professional, college and/or amateur teams and athletes.”
The network started airing short segments from the city in question, as well as playing games displaying its championship past on ESPN Classic.
The 20 finalists began appearing on the 6 p.m. edition of SportsCenter, July 4 beginning with Green Bay, Wis. Green Bay was followed by Lawrence, Kan., Pittsburgh, Pa., Knoxville, Tenn., Chapel Hill, N.C., Los Angeles, Palo Alto, Calif., Louisville, Ky., Chicago, Boston, Gainesville, Fla., New York, Valdosta, Detroit, San Francisco, Williamsport, Pa., Ann Arbor, Mich., Columbus, Ohio and Parkersburg, W.Va. The segments conclude today with Massillon, Ohio.
