Welcome To The Future

It seems like every time I go to Kroger and envision myself playing Supermarket Sweep as I fly through the aisles picking up my bread, milk, and eggs, someone will recognize me and want to discuss my blog. While it’s cool to have my ego stroked every now and then (easy with the jokes), I always end up being a little upset with how these conversations go. That’s because not only is my Supermarket Sweep time severely hampered, but nearly everyone I talk to says something about how Club Trillion and the Trillion Man March has developed into some sort of cult. When people first starting using the “C word”, I became pretty offended, mostly because I associated cults with people like Charles Manson, Jim Jones (no, not the Jim Jones that makes it rain), and those Scientology weirdos. But then I realized that being a cult doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. All it really means to have a cult following is that a majority of people either don’t know about or don’t like your “cult”, but those who do like it are crazy about it. Sure sometimes cult followings exist for inexplicable things like scientology and Michigan football, but every now and then cult followings are created for awesome things like The Big Lebowski, Arrested Development, and the song “Colt 45” by Afroman (more like “Cult 45” amirite?). Now that I know the word “cult” is not synonymous with “delusional mass murders and suicides”, I’m actually pretty pumped to think that this blog has garnered a following as passionate as it has. Basically what I’m getting at is that even though my basketball career may be over, this blog will live on simply because it has become more than just a blog. It is a lifestyle, as well as a way of life. I enjoy writing it way too much and the Trillion Man March enjoys reading it way too much for me to just ride off into the sunset now. This blog will be around for a very long time, or at the very least long enough to annoy each and every one of you with my absurdity. In other words, I’m going to use the Cousin Eddie approach.

So now that I’ve made it clear that I’m keeping the blog alive, what exactly will I write about since I can’t write about warming the bench at Ohio State anymore? I can’t say for sure, because I don’t exactly know, but I do have a few ideas for the future that should work out nicely. (That was straight from the Digger Phelps school of asking yourself a question and then immediately answering it.)

Idea #1: Since the blog seems to have carved its niche as the voice of benchwarmers, I feel an obligation to try and keep it just that as best I can. That’s why when basketball season rolls back around, I’ll try to do some interviews of walk-ons around the country, maybe let some walk-ons guest blog from time to time (probably not), and really just give my take on happenings in the world of college basketball in general. I’ll probably just end up complaining about how unbelievably horrendous Ted Valentine is as a referee and/or how bad of an idea the 96 team tournament is, but hopefully every now and then I can impart my wisdom on important matters such as how to check out the cheerleaders without them noticing or how to skip out on the defensive drills in practice by faking a stomach ache. It’s a lot harder than you think.

Idea #2: Many of you might not have known, but I was actually on a full ride scholarship my first two years at Ohio State. That’s right, Ohio State gave me the same amount of money to have Scheyerface every time I touched the ball that they gave to Greg Oden’s penis to wreak havoc on all of college basketball, most of tOSU’s coeds, and ultimately everyone who was brave enough to look at his nude pictures when they leaked on the internet. Come to think of it, I was asked to join the team by an assistant coach and I never went to any sort of tryout, so really you could argue that I was recruited and given a scholarship just like every other guy on the team. You would have a weak argument, but you could argue it nonetheless.

Following my sophomore year, though, my scholarship was taken away and given to guys like Noopy Crater and Walter Offutt, who both transferred within two years of setting foot on campus. Sure I’m a little upset that I could have potentially had a four year full ride at Ohio State, but when I wasn’t on scholarship anymore it meant that I wasn’t held to the same standard as the rest of the guys. This gave me the opportunity to screw around in practice more and eventually start my blog. Plus, I couldn’t be too upset about losing my scholarship because Noopy clearly needed the money more than me. After all, weed isn’t cheap.

The (indirect) founder of Club Trillion

Considering the circumstances surrounding my four years at Ohio State, I think I have a greater appreciation of a scholarship than just about anybody else. Ohio State gently tickled my testicles for two years by giving me a full ride but then right as soon as it started to feel good, they jammed my nads in a toaster, plugged it in, and dropped it in a bathtub full of water. I might be exaggerating a little bit, but the point is that after being pampered for so long, it stung pretty badly to have to return to a less glamorous lifestyle. Even though being a walk-on for a very good college basketball team is still one of the coolest things I’ll ever get to do, the fact remains that it sucks having to go to countless workouts, open gyms, and practices knowing that I’m still paying my own way through college and my grades are suffering because of the huge time commitment basketball is (my grades were also suffering because I was skipping class or falling asleep in the back row of class, but that’s not important right now). Because I lived it for two years, I know exactly what walk-ons have to go through, which is why I plan on starting the first ever scholarship exclusively for Division I basketball walk-ons.

Based on what the Ohio State compliance office has told me, I probably won’t be able to give out the scholarship exactly as I’d hoped because of some head-scratching NCAA rules (that’s redundant, really). I still have to talk to the appropriate people and try to work something out, but if a scholarship in that traditional sense doesn’t work, I will at least give out a retroactive scholarship after the winner graduates that will essentially erase all the student loans he would have just taken out. The goal is to eventually make it a full ride scholarship (covering all expenses for an entire year), whether in the traditional sense or retroactive sense, but it could take awhile for the fund to grow big enough to see this happen (unless, of course, a large company decides to sponsor the scholarship—please email me if you or someone you know works for a company that might be willing).

As far as criteria for the scholarship, it’s pretty simple really. It will be given to the guy who essentially reminds me of myself the most. A majority of walk-ons try especially hard to fit in, are terrified of upsetting the coach, and are always a little uptight over just about anything. Guys like this will have no chance whatsoever at winning the scholarship. Instead, I’ll be looking for the guy who pulls pranks on his teammates, interrupts his head coach midsentence to make immature wisecracks, and knows the lyrics to at least ten Journey songs. Also, bonus points will be awarded for growing a sweet mustache during the season. I think you get the idea. Basically, this has the potential to be the most badass scholarship handed out every year and could possibly evolve into something big enough to have an annual awards ceremony. No matter how hard I try, I can’t envision a scenario in which this isn’t going to be awesome.

Idea #3: As cool as the “(Insert Sponsor Name) Club Trillion Scholarship” will be, it will still only be limited to a select group of players. Only Division I men’s players who are entering their final year of eligibility (or if the scholarship is retroactive, they would have just finished their final year of eligibility) would qualify for the scholarship, which leaves out the thousands of other benchwarmers in the country who have no chance of winning any individual awards whatsoever. Club Trillion is the voice of all benchwarmers, not just the seniors, so I’ve decided I’ll hand out a couple of awards other than the scholarship. This will encourage all of America’s finest benchwarmers to battle each other for scrub supremacy, which will in turn create a much better competition than if it were limited to just seniors.

Of the awards that will be handed out (there really needs to be a ceremony for all of this), one will go to the guy who accumulated the most trillions over the course of the season and the other will go to the guy who recorded the largest trillion in a single game. The awards won’t be some pansy participation ribbon like the peewee soccer league ribbon you got for chasing butterflies and picking dandelions every time you got on the field. No, the awards will be custom made WWE-style belts that will be just as badass as you imagine them to be. With each passing year, former winners will be invited back to the awards ceremony (I just decided there will definitely be a ceremony) and will be encouraged to wear their belts as a way of telling everyone else at the ceremony that they are just a little bit cooler than all of them. There isn’t a single walk-on in the world (other than Danny Peters) who wouldn’t want to win either of these. I can picture guys jumping out of the way of rebounds (like I did) and playing lackluster defense (like I did) to avoid getting called for a foul, just so they can maintain their trillions and take one step closer to getting their hands on a Club Trillion belt. I think I’m more excited for next basketball season than I ever was for any season in my Ohio State career. This should be fun.

Idea #4: It’s pretty clear to see that the Club Trillion blog won’t have too big of a problem living on during the basketball season, but the unknown part of the blog revolves around what happens in the offseason. The truth is that most of you don’t care about college basketball between May and September and to be honest, I don’t either. Even though my blog isn’t exactly about college basketball but is really just a benchwarming blog in general, a problem still exists during the basketball offseason.

To combat this problem, I’ve decided to basically make Club Trillion my personal blog until college basketball is relevant again. Originally this seemed like an awful idea considering most days I just wake up at noon, play a few games of NBA Jam, go to Chipotle, and then surf the internet the rest of the day, but the more I got to thinking about my plans for the offseason, the more I realized that I’ll have a lot of blogging material in store.

Here are some of the things I’ve got coming up:

• Kentucky Derby – I’ve heard that the derby is nothing more than something that’s hyped up seemingly forever and then lasts a minute or two. So basically it’s just like my first sexual experience.
• Trip to Los Angeles – I’m heading out to LA in May to hang out with Jimmy Kimmel and Bill Simmons. And by hang out, I obviously mean beg them for a job. Fingers crossed.
• Indianapolis 500 – If you know anything about me, it’s probably that I love America, professional wrestling, and playing fundamental basketball. But if you know anything else about me, it’s that the Indy 500 is the single most important event of my life each and every year. Until I start handing out the Club Trillion awards, of course.
• NASCAR All-Star Race – Towards the end of May, I’ll be heading down to Charlotte to hopefully party with Jeff Gordon and Richard Petty’s mustache. Safe Auto is covering the cost of my trip and in exchange I’ll be doing some guest blogging over on their website. I’ll pass along the details when the time comes.
• Club Trillion Night with Columbus Clippers – The Columbus Clippers recently asked me to be a part of Club Trillion Night at Huntington Park on May 17th. I said yes so quickly you would have thought I was Chumbawamba being offered a chance to do some tubthumping. The game coincides with Dime-A-Dog night ($o.10 hotdogs), which is another way of saying “there is absolutely no excuse for you to not show up to this game if you live within driving distance of Columbus”. I’ll be throwing out the first pitch of the game and then taking part in just about all of the in-game promotions that make minor league games so popular. Among the in-game promotions is a hotdog eating contest between members of the Trillion Man March and myself, which will probably end up being more entertaining than the game itself. The only way to get picked for an in-game promotion is to wear a CLUB TRIL shirt to the game, so I recommend getting one soon. Also, I’ve been told to inform all Ohio State students that you can get a ticket at the Union for five bucks or something starting on Friday (April 23rd). The Clippers are trying to break the Huntington Park attendance record for this game, so please stop by the Union and pick up a ticket or you might run the risk of missing out. It promises to be an awesome night that shouldn’t cost you much more than $15. (I’ll tweet more details about Club Tril Night as we get closer to the day of the game—follow me here to stay up to speed.)

Even though this blog entry was less exciting than Ben Stein counting down the top moments in Michigan football history, I’m hoping you can see that the future plans for the blog will be a lot of fun for all parties involved. Those who don’t understand Club Trillion feel the need to call the Trillion Man March a cult, which is a label that I used to find offensive. I now realize that being called a cult is actually a compliment and something I take a lot of pride in. The Trillion Man March is a passionate group of fans that I love interacting with on a daily basis. This is reason enough for me to continue blogging and give back to benchwarmers across the country as best I can. Sure I may have let you down with a sub-par blog post this time around, but I’m hoping that the fact that I just linked you to the coolest website on the internet with the last sentence of this post at least gives you a sliver of hope that the blog is headed in the right direction. ___________________________________________________

If you want to help build the Club Trillion scholarship fund and you’re a fan of comfortable t-shirts, I strongly suggest getting yourself a CLUB TRIL shirt as soon as possible by clicking here. A lot of the proceeds from the shirt sales will go towards the scholarship, but a portion will also go to A Kid Again, a local charity aimed at enhancing the quality of life for children with life threatening illnesses. You can help two great causes and own the most comfortable shirt around, all for less than half the cost of your average college textbook (you really don’t need to buy them anyway).

Some of you have sent me emails suggesting that there be a new t-shirt design since you already own three of the Run DMC-inspired shirts. Your requests will not go unanswered. The guys over at Homage and I are working on three new designs for shirts, one of which will end up being the design we sell. I’ll probably put the three designs on the blog and let the Trillion Man March vote for the best one. Definitely be on the lookout for that. ___________________________________________________

Your awesome YouTube was sent in to me by Tim Z. There’s your shout-out, Tim. And here's your video.

Proud To Be An American But Even Prouder To Be A Buckeye,

Mark Titus

Club Trillion Founder

Fat Free is the Way to Be

With the spring upon us and summer looming, cutting down on fatty food and getting fit becomes a focus for many of us. In the workplace another opportunity presents itself for trimming the fat - our writing. Far too often we write without adhering to the KISS (keep it simple, stupid!) principle. This results in writing full of fluff and fat. In the business and technical setting, writers should strive to be clear and concise; oversized documents aren’t desirable.

A careful review of your writing after composition with a fat-free lens can cut out those unwanted pounds. Ask yourself “who cares?” You should only be including information which is relevant to the reader; anything else is simply excess. Utilizing numbered/bulleted lists or tables can cut down on words and provide brief representation of content.

For tips and strategies to put your writing on a diet, see the Fat Free Writing Series[1] and Fat-Free Writing or How to Eliminate Wordiness in 10 Easy Steps[2]

Remember, just like any fitness plan, cutting the fat from your writing takes time, dedication, and practice. Keep yourself engaged in your work by striving to improve your writing. It’s a skill that will carry throughout your career.

[1]http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/technical_writing/47968
[2] http://www.rwanational.org/galleries/08handouts/Oortman-Buchholz-FatFree-handouts.pdf

Marketing Yourself

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been busy in my personal life prepping my condo to sell. Some things my realtor and I have done to market my condo include:
1. De-cluttering and packing away anything that doesn’t need to be on display.
2. Sweeping up the leaves on my patio to highlight one of the condo’s best features.
3. Approving marketing flyers.
4. Uploading the details of the condo to an online listing service.
As I have marketed and branded my condo as a great place to live, I started thinking how can these strategies be transferred to marketing and branding one’s career? Some effective strategies might include:
1. Developing a 30-second elevator statement. In 30 seconds or less be able to tell someone who you are, what you do, your strengths, and your goals.
2. Highlighting your best work features. Know your strengths and ensure the people you work with know your strengths and what you enjoy working on.
3. Developing, or updating, your resume, cover letter, and career portfolio.
4. Networking at face-to-face events or through online social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Marketing yourself at work and in your career is one effective technique to stay engaged. Even if you’re not looking for a new job, marketing yourself can help you to move up in your own company or focus on projects best suited to your strengths.

Ontario- Quebec High Speed Rail Study Delayed

Ontario-Quebec High Speed Rail Study Delayed

April 13,2010...High Speed Rail Canada has discovered that The Governments of Québec, Ontario and Canada feasibility study for high–speed rail (HSR) in the Québec City–Windsor corridor completion has been delayed.


High Speed Rail Canada, http://highspeedrail.ca is a citizen's national advocacy group dedicated to the education on, and the implementation of, high speed trains in Canada.

The high speed rail feasibility study is being done to update the previous 1995 study on the Ontario-Quebec corridor. EcoTrain Consortium composed of the firms Dessau, MMM Group (formerly Marshall Macklin Monaghan Limited), KPMG, Wilbur Smith & Associates and Deutsche Bahn International (DB International) were awarded the $3 million contract in February 2009.


The study was to be completed by now but an investigation by High Speed Rail Canada has revealed that the study is not completed.


According to Bob Nichols, Communications Branch, Ontario Ministry of Transportation, the study is moving forward but due to the complexity of issues has been delayed. He was unable to give a date when the study will be completed.


Paul Langan, founder of High Speed Rail Canada, states," It is truly unfortunate that the consultants could not complete the study within the timeframes identified in the study. However, we do not have to wait for this study to be completed to commit to high speed rail in Canada. Thirty years of previous studies have stated that high speed rail is viable option between Ontario and Quebec.


For more information contact Paul Langan, High Speed Rail Canada at 519-654-0089 or highspeedrailcanada@yahoo.ca

Second Chance at The Big Dance

After taking a much needed and overextended break from my rigorous and demanding life as a blogger, I’m proud to say that I’m back. To give you an idea of how long it’s been since my last blog entry, consider this – since you last heard from me, Apple has finally made the iPad available to the public, KFC has released their plan to murder everyone in America, and Ricky Martin has announced that he likes kissing dudes on the lips. Or something like that. In other words, it’s been way too long since my last blog entry and I’m sorry. Let’s just try to forget about it and move on. (Ricky Martin kissing dudes on the lips, I mean.)

Many of you came to this blog in the past three weeks in hopes of finding some of the most in-depth and comprehensive analysis of the NCAA Tournament you had ever seen in your life. Even now, I’m sure many of you are dying for my analysis and insight concerning the inner workings of March Madness. While I would love to tell you about how I spent what should have been my last game on the Ohio State bench in a hotel room barfing my brains out, I’m guessing that after discussing my bout with diarrhea in my last blog entry, you’ve probably read more about my dysfunctional digestive system than you ever wanted to. In all honesty, if I hadn’t already been puking uncontrollably, our heartbreaking loss to Tennessee would have done the trick. It was a tough way for me to end my “career” and I really don’t think I’ve coped with it well enough to talk about it yet (which is another way of saying “if you want to read about my experiences in this year’s NCAA Tournament, buy my book when it comes out next year”). If there was a positive to come from the loss, though, it’s that I was freed from the shackles the NCAA has had on me for the past four years the moment JP Prince shoved his arm into The Villain’s face and forced The Villain to miss what would have been the game tying three. Now that my “career” is over, I can do things I previously wasn’t able to do because of ludicrous NCAA rules. Things such as go on an all expenses paid trip to the Final Four courtesy of Axe.

Remember when you were 10-years-old and all you wanted to do was give your friend a powerbomb by jumping from the roof of your house onto a trampoline below? (No? Well, maybe you should just stop reading my blog.) And then remember how your mom flipped her Michigan when she saw the trampoline close to the house and you climbing a ladder to the roof? Well, as it turns out, despite what you probably thought at the time, your mom wasn’t going crazy because she was jealous of how big of a badass you were. She was actually going crazy because as you were climbing the ladder she recalled a Dateline special from three years earlier about how some Owen Stout kid from New Jersey died because he was backyard wrestling. Nevermind that Owen and his feeble-minded friends jumped from ten feet higher than you planned on jumping, not to mention the fact they substituted an incredibly stable trampoline with a flimsy folding table. Your mom was set in her ways and refused to let you be the envy of everyone in your school, no matter how many times you explained to her that you were going to lay a bunch of mattresses at the base of the trampoline in case you accidentally bounced off. As you put the trampoline and ladder back where you found them, chances are you mumbled something under your breath about how badly your mom sucked and how you wished you could have powerbombed her from your roof. But even though you may have hated your mom, it doesn’t change the fact that all the blame you placed on her should instead have been redirected toward that idiot doucher Owen Stout. After all, it was his one screw-up that ruined it for everyone else.

My point in telling that completely irrelevant and drawn out story is that it almost exactly describes my feelings toward Axe deodorant (up until this past weekend, of course). In high school, I was a strapping young gent in peak physical condition who would conquer rival teams through an incessant use of my silky smooth J and then turn around an hour later and make love to any and all women who thought they had what it takes to swim with The Shark. Following each of my impressive displays of manliness on the basketball court, I would be faced with a rather unfortunate stench permeating from my man parts, which would seriously hamper my displays of manliness off the basketball court (if you know what I mean) if the situation was not attended to in a swift manner. Because of this, I would apply a couple pumps of Axe body spray to my areas of importance after getting out of the shower. This was a common practice among my peers and didn’t seem like that big of a deal to me. But then I went to college.

(Note: I may or may not have made a handful of false claims in that last paragraph.)

Much like Owen Stout (hate that guy) ruined backyard wrestling for all of us cool kids who weren’t complete idiots, my roommate during my freshman year at Ohio State ruined Axe deodorant for me. My dorm featured a bedroom I shared with one roommate that was directly attached to a bathroom I also shared with the same roommate. Throughout the duration of the year, my roommate (we’ll call him “Jason”, mainly because that’s his name) would wake up for his 7:30 am class some time around 6:30, take a quick shower, and then cake on his Axe body spray, presumably because he thought it was bug spray and he was planning on backpacking through the Amazon Rainforest later in the day. This would be particularly annoying for me because my class didn’t start until 10:30, which meant my alarm came 3 hours too soon and contained just a little bit more body spray than I had hoped. After an entire year of Jason’s overuse of body spray resulted in my lack of sleep, it became burned in my mind (and nostrils) that Axe body spray was sent to America by the terrorists in hopes that it would make us all hate each other. Three years later, I decided to give Axe another chance, mostly because they offered to pay for my entire trip to the Final Four, but also because I know what it’s like to have been dumped in the 7th grade, which is to say that I know what it’s like to beg for a second chance. I gave Axe the second chance I never got in 7th grade and they absolutely made the most of it.

My trip to the Final Four began when a chauffeur arrived at my apartment on Friday afternoon in a Ford Explorer. As I walked downstairs, I felt like Kevin McCallister and started salivating in anticipation of my very own cheese pizza. Sadly, this was not to be. I was instead greeted with a few bottles of water and a cup full of peppermint breath mints, which I’m pretty sure are the exact opposite of a cheese pizza. I honestly thought all drivers provided cheese pizzas for their clients, or at the very least a tub of ice cream like the one Preston got in Blank Check, so you should understand why I was shocked to learn that movies aren’t always accurate depictions of real life. Still, as much as I may have wanted to channel my inner Evan Turner and do the whole “Do you know who I am?” prima donna routine, I bit my tongue and decided to try to make the most of the experience.

I eventually arrived in Indianapolis around 8 pm and met a representative from Axe, his friend, and my brother at a downtown restaurant. This is the point in the story where I could discuss what I had to eat and drink, but that’s boring and is in no way even half as interesting as me talking to our waiter about the text messages Tiger Woods sent to his porn star mistress (I would link you, but the texts are extremely vulgar – you have been warned) and then subsequently asking the waiter how he feels about golden showers. Anyway, during the dinner I noticed a private room in the restaurant that was almost exclusively full of tall black guys. I tried my hardest to not stereotype, but a room full of 6’10” black guys screams “basketball players” about as loudly as a room full of 12-year-old Asians screams “spelling bee” (remember – it’s not racist if it’s a compliment). My stereotypical assessment of the men in the room turned out to be an accurate one, except the basketball players were all seemingly middle aged, which is something I didn’t originally notice. Because I pride myself on being a basketball historian of sorts, I spent the next few minutes trying to figure out who exactly was in the room. Apparently the former basketball players weren’t all that great because my brother and I couldn’t figure out who any of them were. In fact, the closest we came to figuring someone out was deciding that one guy either had the first name “Michael” or the last name “Thompson”, but we were 100% sure it wasn’t Mychal Thompson. So yeah, it’s safe to say that there were a ton of basketball legends in Indianapolis on this particular night.

After dinner, we made our way to some nightclub that surprisingly enough didn’t feature a professional athlete carrying a loaded weapon or making it rain (unless you count me and my jumpshot – that thing is always loaded and ready to make it rain). The lack of firearms made me seriously question the potential of having a good time in this nightclub, but all of my doubt was immediately erased the moment I noticed that there was another basketball player in the club who is arguably more talented than me. Don’t get me wrong, though. It’s not like I changed my opinion of the club (I’m calling it a bar from now on, only because the more I write “in the club”, the more I get 50 Cent songs stuck in my head) solely because I saw former Maryland standout Greivis Vasquez walk in. That would make me some kind of Maryland basketball groupie (like Scott Van Pelt). No, I realized that this bar was capable of producing a good time because I not only saw Greivis Vasquez, but I also saw the absurd amount of Affliction clothes he was wearing and the unfortunate-looking female he was dancing with.

After watching Greivis dance with what I originally thought was one of his teammates for a few minutes, I felt an obligation to help him out a little bit. While there was nothing I could do to help him not look like he was dressed to challenge Brock Lesnar for the UFC Heavyweight Championship, there was something I could do to help him quit dancing with what looked like a combination of Pizza Face and Lori Beth Denberg. I tried to distract him from his dancing partner by introducing myself as a guy who used to play basketball for Ohio State. He continued dancing and said something like, “I love Ohio State and I love Evan Turner.” I responded with, “You obviously don’t know Evan Turner”, but I don’t think he heard/comprehended what I said. His lack of response told me that he didn’t care what I had to say and just wanted to focus on dancing with this chick (although it looked more like he was wrestling a grizzly bear). I figured that there was nothing I could say to change his mind, so I did the next best thing and bought him some alcohol. That way he could at least convince himself that he was dancing with a good looking girl. Lord knows he wasn’t convincing anybody else.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that I also met another big name college basketball player later in the night. Matt Bouldin, who was a senior for this year’s version of the Gonzaga basketball team, brought his distinctive mop top to the same bar I had been at all night. I introduced myself much like I did to Vasquez, by saying I played basketball at OSU, ya know, just so it was clear that I wasn’t some crazed fan. He asked me if I knew “that trillion guy” to which I replied, “I am that trillion guy!” He then gave me a one armed embrace and became visibly excited that he got to meet me, which was really awkward because I was probably more excited that I got to meet him. I mean, the guy allegedly dated Taylor Swift, which, rumor or not, is an accomplishment in its own right (I’m still kicking myself for not asking if the rumor was true). Anyway, Matt Bouldin wasn’t dancing on any girls who were below the acceptable attractiveness level (read: he wasn’t dancing with middle linebackers), so there’s really nothing bad for me to say about the guy. Even if I did have something bad to say about him, he reads my blog, which gives him total immunity as far as I’m concerned.

The following night, the same Axe representative, his same friend, my same brother, and the same me went to the national semifinal games at Lucas Oil. Axe clearly has a higher opinion of me than they probably should, which is something that became strikingly obvious as soon as the Axe guy handed me a $400 face value ticket. Even though our seats were great, they were still a little further away than I was used to watching basketball games from. But when I went to see one of my assistant coaches (who was sitting in the 400 level of the stadium) in between games and saw Robbie Hummel from Purdue sitting a few rows ahead of him, I realized how awesome my seats really were. That’s because Robbie told me he was sitting in the seats that were provided by the NCAA for whatever awards ceremony he was in town for – an awards ceremony that one Evan “The Villain” Turner (not to mention Villanova’s Scottie Reynolds) was also in Indy for. Robbie informed me that The Villain gave his tickets to the Hummel family because he didn’t want to come to the games, presumably because someone told him that I had a much better seat than he would have had. In case you don’t think this is a big deal, let me throw this analogy your way. A benchwarmer scoring much better tickets to the Final Four than the national Player of The Year (30 rows up vs. 400 level) in the same sport is like the high school kid at your local auto repair shop getting a lower level 50-yard line ticket to the Super Bowl, while Mad Mike from Pimp My Ride could only score a ticket in the nosebleeds. I trust you now understand how big of a deal this really was.

The coolest part of Saturday night, though, came after the games were over and our group of four went to a popular downtown cigar bar. After hanging out in said bar for about thirty minutes, the manager of the bar came over and informed our group that former Ohio State great, Jim Jackson, was going to stop by soon (the manager of the bar was friends with the Axe guy – it’s not like he walked around and told everyone in the bar when celebrities were making a visit). I’m pretty confident the manager of the bar didn’t know that I played basketball at Ohio State, because when Jim came into the bar, the manager brought him over to our table and introduced him to everyone in our group (had he known I played at OSU, he would have known that I had met Jim Jackson 100 times before). Still, I meet Ohio State legends all the time and every one of them has no idea who I am. This time, however, was different. As Jim Jackson turned to shake my hand, something triggered in his mind that he had already met me 100 times and it prompted him to say, “How have you been?” How have you been? He didn’t ask me how I currently was doing. He asked how I’ve been. This means he didn’t want to just know about my present state, but he also wanted to know about everything leading up to my present state since the last time we talked. This marked the first occasion of me meeting an Ohio State legend for the umpteenth time and them remembering me. Do you have any idea how many times I’ve been introduced to Greg Oden? I still don’t think he knows who I am and I’ve been friends with him since 8th grade. (What’s worse is that I’ve been introduced to his penis one more time than I ever wanted to. Thankfully, his penis doesn’t know who I am and, by the grace of God, I pray it never will.)

After Jimmy (that’s what I call him now that we’re BFF) left, the Axe guy and his friend commented on how cool it was that Ohio State basketball is kind of like a fraternity in that we all know each other really well even though we’re generations apart. I don’t exactly remember how I responded to this, but I’m guessing I shrugged my shoulders as if to play it off like it was no big deal and then said something along the lines of, “Yeah it’s pretty much like that every time I see a former OSU player.” In reality, I was absolutely stunned that Jimmy knew who I was (or more accurately knew that he had met me somewhere before, but just couldn’t place where). I felt an excitement rush over me that I hadn’t felt since the Christmas of ‘96, when I opened an odd looking box and found a Starter pullover jacket inside, which (as I’m sure you remember) was something everybody in school absolutely had to have if they wanted to be taken seriously. I may have been a pledge for four disrespectfully strenuous years, but thanks to Jimmy Jackson, it appears that I’ve finally been fully accepted into the fraternity that is Ohio State basketball. I say we throw a kegger and invite some sorority chicks over to celebrate.

Even though I’ve technically been turned loose by Ohio State and the NCAA, I’m still going to try to make this blog as family friendly as I possibly can, which is why I refrained from telling the really juicy stories from this past weekend (especially the one involving cocaine, a dead hooker, cinderblocks, and a lake on the outskirts of town). The only real change I’ll make to the blog now that I can say what I want is that I’ll comment on things I previously wasn’t allowed to comment on (like how badly I want to kick Ted Valentine in the groin). Also, I might use words like “nippletickler” every now and then. But for the most part, I want to stay family friendly, so I apologize for not divulging more information on my weekend (I’m saving those stories for the book – sorry but it’s smart marketing, or “smarketing” as I like to call it). Still, I had the chance to meet and re-meet some big names in the world of basketball and I also received confirmation that I’ve got more pull than The Villain, as evidenced by the fact that my ticket to the Final Four games was much better than his. All in all, it was a pretty good weekend.

I know this blog entry may seem like an endorsement for Axe, but I can assure you that I have no contractual agreement whatsoever to mention them or their products at all. I do, however, feel an obligation to mention that they showed me an awesome time this past weekend. Not only was I wined and dined like I’ve never been before, but it was also revealed to me that Axe was founded by a black man who actually wanted the company to be called “Ask” [citation needed]. Apparently the white guys working for him misheard him every time he told them his idea for the company name, and after awhile it stuck. I guess you learn something new every day.

In all seriousness, I had a fantastic time to the point that I genuinely feel bad for hating Axe three years ago. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the one scent of Axe body spray that made me lose hope in humanity during my freshman year of college, but I definitely think my overall perception of Axe has completely changed. I’m guessing many of you have similar horror stories about someone who wears way too much Axe body spray, and you’ve developed a hatred in your heart for Axe because of it. I know your pain. But I’m here to tell you that sometimes all it takes is giving someone a second chance for them to show you that you had them wrong all along. Especially when their second chance involves $400 Final Four tickets, $50 steaks, and all the peppermint breath mints you could handle. I really don’t give two Michigans what your feelings toward Axe are (I swear I don’t have to endorse them) or whether or not you feel an urge to go buy their products. All I’m saying is that I spent most of 7th grade begging for a second chance that never came and even to this day I wonder what might have been (honestly, I think she might have been the one). And if I can change my outlook on a deodorant company that I swore sold weapons of mass destruction developed by Al-Qaeda, I don’t see any reason why my 7th grade girlfriend can’t find it in her heart to give me the second chance I never got ten years ago.

I’ll be anxiously awaiting your call, Alicia.

___________________________________________________

Many of you have expressed your concern about the future of this blog and rightfully so. I haven’t exactly made it clear what I plan on doing with it now that my benchwarming career is over, so I completely understand why the Trillion Man March is in a frenzy. Rest assured, the blog will be around for a very long time. I won’t go into great detail right now about what I plan on doing with the blog (mostly because I’m going to write about it in the next blog entry), but I felt like it was important for me to stress that you have nothing to fear. I’m not going anywhere.

With that being said, all of you who were on the fence about whether or not you wanted to buy a Club Trillion shirt should no longer be nervous about the possibility of your shirt being irrelevant three months from now (at least not as irrelevant as it would be if I shut the blog down). The shirts are selling like something that sells really well (Chipotle burritos? iPads? internet porn subscriptions?) and have been featured on some really sweet websites such as Uncrate and ClubTrillion.com, so I suggest you make sure you aren’t the only one in the Trillion Man March without one. Do yourself a favor and get yours now by clicking here.

By the way, many of you have probably noticed that the ordering process for the shirts has changed (but the redonkulously soft material HOMAGE uses to make my shirts hasn’t changed one bit) and the charity the shirt sales previously benefited appears to have been cut out of the equation. I will go into more detail as to why this is in the next blog entry, but for now, you should know that a portion of the shirt sales are still going to benefit A Kid Again, a local charity aimed at enhancing the quality of life for children with life-threatening illnesses. The reason all of the money is no longer going to A Kid Again is partially because I have a buttload of student loans to pay off, but also because I plan on starting a scholarship exclusively for walk-ons across the country, and I’m going to use the shirt money to lay the foundation for it. I’ll explain it all in more detail in the next blog entry. For now, go buy a shirt, help a great cause, and become the coolest person in your circle of friends. ___________________________________________________

I’m sad to report that the two NCAA Tournament games I attended produced zero one armed embraces. This means that the final total of one armed embraces for the year comes to 46. But when I throw Matt Bouldin into the mix as an honorary embracer, even though we didn’t actually play Gonzaga, it boosts it to 47. Not a bad season.

One Armed Embraces: 47 to date (7 in postseason, 0 last game, 1 honorary) ___________________________________________________

Your awesome YouTube was sent in to me by Jeb S. There’s your shout-out, Jeb. And here's your video.

Proud To Be An American But Even Prouder To Be A Buckeye,

Mark Titus

Club Trillion Founder

New Beginnings

It’s officially spring…a time of endings and new beginnings. William Bridges introduced a transition model that involves 3 different zones…an ending, a neutral zone, and, finally, a new beginning. This is a good time of year to reflect on what each of those zones holds for you.

In Canada, April marks the beginning of a new fiscal year for our government (which, within Life Strategies means an end to several of the government-funded research and development projects we’ve been working on). It’s also the end of the university term – with lots of end-of-term projects and marking but also a chance to look ahead and prep for the new term beginning in a few weeks.

In our gardens, we’re seeing new buds on trees and fresh growth poking through the ground. In front of our new Life Strategies offices we were delighted to see the spindly trees out front erupt with gorgeous pink Magnolia blooms – like a reward for surviving a long and busy winter.

To successfully move on to something new, however, requires attending to all the tasks associated with closure and completion of projects. It’s easy to get excited about new beginnings and ignore those final pieces that wrap up the past season, life stage, or contract.

Within the Life Strategies team, we sometimes engage in “ticky contests” at such transitional times. In our ticky contests, we earn points for completing items on our To Do lists – each task, no matter how small, earns a ticky. Everyone benefits by having the weight of endless to do items finally removed from their shoulders – and all get rewarded (usually with gift certificates); the person with the most tickies, of course, gets doubly rewarded – a shorter “to do” moving into the new season as well as the biggest gift certificate!

The neutral zone is a time of reflection, regrouping, and redirection. It can be an exciting time as old projects are tidied up and new possibilities are considered. However, it can also be a confusing time, with less certainty about schedules and expectations in the months ahead.

Within the Life Strategies team, after extending Amanda Pereira’s contract for 3 “new beginnings,” we’ve now said “au revoir” (the French version of “until we meet again, rather than a more permanent “goodbye”). We have been working full out for the past year and are very much looking forward to a slightly quieter spring and summer for consolidating some of our in-house projects as well as beginning several new external ones. In his work on Flow, Csikszentmihalyi wrote of the importance of matching skills to challenge; in my own “flow” research, I’ve added “resources” to the skills side of the equation – Flow occurs when challenges are carefully balanced to available skills and resources. We can use the neutral zone to replenish resources and re-energize, ready to face new beginnings with energy and excitement.

As you reflect on your own transitions this season:

• What still needs your attention and energy?
• What needs closure?
• What needs to be completed before you can move on?
• What is happening for you in the neutral zone that sometimes comes with springtime?
• Have you taken the chance to re-energize over this Easter long weekend?
• Looking ahead, is there something you need to do to prepare for the upcoming season?
• As you enter a new beginning, what excites you?
• How will you keep your energy up?
• What resources will you need, personally and professionally, for a successful transition?