Mancini's Commentaries

First is good

I'm proud that it was The Parkersburg News and Sentinel that broke the story early Monday morning about Valdosta, Ga., winning the ESPN TitleTown USA competition hours before anyone else. Let me tell you how I got the information that Valdosta won. At about 7:30 a.m. I went to the ESPN site and read the latest comments about each city in the finals until I came upon a post that said Valdosta won. I contacted a radio station in Valdosta where the nice lady who answered the phone said the newsroom was with ESPN in preparation of an announcement today. No one with ESPN was available for comment. Larry Hanson, the city manager of Valdosta, told me he was in contact with ESPN earlier in the morning that preparations were being made to film the 6 p.m. Sportscenter segment at 2 p.m. today.