For the past four years, Mark Titushas done a great job becoming the world’s most famous walk-on.
When blogs got hot, he was there with Club Trillion. When lack of playing time didn’t allow him to display his skills, he took to YouTube with one of the most hilarious videos you’ll ever see.
The number of people following him on Twitter? 18,281. That’s roughly double the people following Evan Turner, his Ohio State teammate and likely second overall pick in Thursday night’s NBA Draft.
So when it came to thinking up who the Globetrotters might invite to its tryouts, Titus became a natural.
“We’re always out there monitoring people and his name just kept coming up,” said Globetrotters CEO Kurt Schneider. “In order to be a Globetrotter you need to be a great basketball player, which he is. He’s a dead-on shooter and he does the trick shots. You need to be an entertainer and his stuff on his blogs and his Twitter feed are hysterical and you have to be a good person, which we’ve heard he is.”
In order to make the team, Titus still has to try out at training camp in September, though Schneider admits that Titus’ social media domination gives him a leg up on the competition.
“He can help us get out brand out there even more,” Schneider said. “He comes with a built-in fan base.”
Another positive? Out of all the cities the Globetrotters travel to, Columbus, Ohio — where Titus played (more accurately sat) for the last four years — is one of its most popular stops.
“We set a record there last year,” Schneider said.
Titus said he was rehabbing his shoulder when he got the call from the Globetrotters.
“This guy on my voicemail said I was drafted by the Globetrotters,” Titus said. “I wasn’t sure if it was a joke because I didn’t know they had a draft.”
Titus said the opportunity to perhaps play for the Globetrotters would be a once-in-a-lifetime chance, but he has other things on his mind as well.
He’s currently pitching his book about his years at Ohio State, tentatively titled “Don’t Put Me In Coach,” to publishers. He said that before he got the call from the Globetrotters he was planning on moving out to Los Angeles, where Jimmy Kimmel and Bill Simmons might help him find a job. But he says he has to take the Globetrotters opportunity seriously.
As for his skill set, he’s pretty confident. Titus says he can hit a half court shot about 10 percent of the time. He’s much better at swishing baskets while sitting on the bench and says he’s always good for the over the backboard shot.
“I’ve also practiced with that bucket when people think it has water and it really has confetti,” Titus joked, referencing the familiar Globetrotter trick. “I’m really good at that.”
Schneider said all Globetrotters get a background check, which Titus said he was concerned about.
“I hope they don’t find out about the rec league game I played in in sixth grade,” Titus said. “I was on the Spurs and we were playing the Pacers. In the middle of the game, I stopped at half court, took my shoes off and wanted to quit.”
Somehow I think the Globetrotters, whose Twitter followers number almost 3,000, will see that as an impediment from giving Titus the edge to make the team.
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