But it got me thinking about what ideas possibly came up and didn't make the cut as the team was brainstorming a new catchphrase and marketing campaign. Keep in mind, these completely fabricated samples are all for amusement. I’m a big fan of T-Town and would not have chosen to raise my children here if I didn't love the place. But every growing city has growing pains. We can have some summer fun, can't we? 

Here are the contrived ideas that would have been axed had they ever been real:

“Tuscaloosa: Apartments for One. Apartments for All.” 

U of A has gone from roughly 21,000 students in 2004 to around 37,000 in 2016.  Outside developers screamed with delight and followed. As a result, the Great Tuscaloosa Apartment Boom was born. But in the end, TTS decided that highlighting the abundance of multi-unit dwellings was not necessarily something that would make people want to visit. Thus, it was trashed. 

“Tuscaloosa: Run a Red Light, Receive a Free Picture”

Giveaways are always a good draw to get people in the door, or in this case, to visit a city. But when the team remembered that the free picture of your car and tag came with a fine and court costs, besides the fact that they would be promoting an action that was punishable by law, this one quickly ended up on the cutting room floor. And, PSA: Don’t run red lights. It’s incredibly dangerous. 

“Tuscaloosa: Bring Your College Student and their Credit Card; Leave their Car at Home”

I often hear people in the community talk about how the traffic in our fair city diminishes greatly when school is out. And it’s true. And with ride services like Uber in place, why can't we encourage this? Actually, TTS, save this one for later. 

And last …

“Tuscaloosa: Where Overweight People Come to Be Unhappy”

Inspired directly by comments made by Sally Field, which for her should be pretty embarrassing. Even Forrest Gump would have known better. We should all send her this t-shirt and autograph it in the only size we need here: XXXXL. Apparently, Tuscaloosa is “the one and only” place you can overeat.  I never knew.  

I tweet insignificant things @ozborn34.