A recent study utilized Google search terms to provide a look at how each state is perceived.
For Tennessee, those adjectives were “fat,” “stupid” and “humid.”
That’s a little harsh — OK, not the humid part, but the other two.
In fairness to the terse Googlers, it is a fact that Tennessee is one of the nation’s most obese states: With a 31.7 percent obesity rate, the Volunteer State comes in fourth in that ignominious ranking.
But obesity is a problem nationwide, and fighting the epidemic has become a serious public health push.
First lady Michelle Obama encourages healthy eating and reminds us in TV spots to exercise every day. Mayor Karl Dean is probably conducting a walk in the city right now.
Kids are a target demographic in the anti-obesity initiative, and kids have heroes.
The NFL does their part: using their stars and their hours of airtime to promote the Play 60 program, encouraging kids to get an hour’s worth of physical activity daily.
The Titans are, of course, part of this. No doubt the new Jumbotrons — the largest outdoor screens in the league — will use interstitial time to tout the program.
Those Jumbotrons are the centerpiece of the $25 million renovation project at LP Field. That’s what folks will talk about.
But in addition to big, fancy TVs — designed to get people out of their houses and into the stadium and, once there, stuck to their seats — the team also added a dozen elevators — six on each side of the stadium, capable of moving 11,000 fans hourly from the ground to the upper deck.
In other words: For 10 Sundays a year, the Titans are encouraging fans to eschew the stairs. Don’t Play 60, kids. Wait five and enjoy the ride.
The Titans commitment to encouraging physical activity was trumped by too many TV shots of empty seats last season — telltale indicators folks wanted more convenience and more entertainment at the stadium (and maybe, a few more wins). The pocketbook won, as it does so frequently, over the principle.
The walk up the concrete spirals from the box office to Row FF in Section 314 isn’t a lot of fun. It’s taxing; it’s repetitive. In the heat of August and the cold of December, the elements make it that much more exhausting.
In other words: It’s exercise, exactly what the NFL — the Titans included — claim they want their fans to get more of.