Grass-Roots Campaign Spurs Massive Travis Knight Surge

A last-minute push from fans and friends of former UCONN Husky Travis Knight has left the ITV voting landscape unrecognizable. Recent exit polls show that Justin Kolikof holds a firm but diminishing lead over the former basketball prodigy.

The recent swell in voting has been particularly strong in Knight's hometown of Salt Lake City, Utah. Brent Kerlowski, Travis's childhood friend who now lives in nearby Provo, Utah was quoted as saying, "Yeah in '96 when Trav -- that's what we called him, Trav -- was drafted by the Bulls, we we're all 'Oh my God he's gonna win titles with MJ!'... but then he was pretty much immediately traded to the Lakers, but then we were all 'He's gonna be the next Kareem!' We had pretty high hopes for the 'Knight-Rider,' we called him that too...but yeah, this Internet voting thing is awesome too I guess..."

"Really, this is something of a distinction," said Sam Wasner, Knight's hometown barber. "I mean he does hold the record for fastest disqualification when he fouled out in 6 minutes time in Game 4 of the '99 finals, but almost a hundred votes on a softball website? That's gotta be a close second."
An emotional Wasner continued, "He does get some kind of compensation right? I cut his hair a few months ago, and his check bounced. He keeps coming in but I've had to tell him my scissors are broken -- I just don't have the heart. The boy really needs a haircut though. And a hot meal."

Knight, a super-unrestricted free agent since the 2003 season, can often be seen reading, hanging out in local sneaker establishments, and drawing diagrams of videogame levels he thinks would be "really badass." Travis currently resides in Salt Lake City, though, it should be noted, he still makes his annual summer pilgrimage to the East to eat at his favorite Blimpies in Fairfield, Connecticut.

E-mails and text messages to Knight were not immediately returned, but according to an official statement made by his agent/handler/uncle, Randy Knight, Travis was "probably really honored.... What is this for? Like a gameshow or something?"