A FEW MO' THINGS, 12/19/12
Make one last Drew Stubbs joke here....
We're playing basketball tonight.
OK, I'm not playing, though the public spectacle of me lacing them up and running up and down the floor would be worth a high admission price (not as high as ticket holders for tonight had to dole out, but still), but we, as in the city of Cincinnati are playing basketball tonight.
Against each other.
The way we should.
Today is the last even veiled reference at last year's fight. It's the natural storyline, and though it's more played out locally than a Bootsy Collins holiday concert, it was inevitable that the national folk will bring it up while bringing back the images tonight.
Then maybe, finally, we can move on.
This isn't meant to be another Kum ba yah piece on how everyone should hold hands tonight and cheer on each individual player regardless of the laundry they're wearing tonight as we celebrate the wonderfulness of our city.
Our city would be wonderful without the Shootout Classic.
But it wouldn't be the same, and it won't be the same without this rivalry, one that should be about the game itself, but one that has room for polarizing personalities, intense moments, heated exchanges, and rub-your-face-in-it moments for fans of the winning team.
You know, the way sports are supposed to be.
The UC/XU series did not need to be interrupted, and it's a credit to the leaders in place at both schools after last year's game that it wasn't. To not play the game this season would've highlighted an incredible leadership void as these two schools.
Leaders find solutions. Leaders find compromises. Leaders don't immediately turn to the last resort.
The last resort would've been to shelve the game, an unnecessary, desperate act that would've deprived those of us with the game and sports themselves in proper perspective of an annual event we love. It would've stripped a meaningful game from both program's schedules, and it would've cut into the UC and XU experiences of the individual Bearcats and Musketeers.
It would have been the wrong thing to do.
Instead, the leaders at both schools reached compromises and found solutions and we have basketball tonight. We've got a new venue, a different atmosphere, and a new, if sorta hokey, name.
We can have the same great rivalry.
It's not what it could be. The on-campus atmosphere at big college basketball games is what makes the sport unique. We won't have that this year. And by most accounts, we won't have a full gym either.
There's a number of reasons for that, but if you think back to the run-up to the last ten or so Shootouts (that's what they were called then), most of the pregame buzz was about how their was no real pregame buzz.
The rivalry always used to be better, or it was getting too intense, or one school didn't want to have it, or it meant more to the other, or it missed a certain large-meloned coach, or one school had bigger fish to fry, etc, etc, etc.
Then the ball was tipped.
And we often ended up having a great game.
I don't know if we'll get one tonight. While I don't think we get the third consecutive Crosstown Blowout many are expecting, this feels like the kind of game UC should win by 8-12 points (Though what Bearcat fan among us can shake the feeling that when Cincinnati is supposed to win, they don't? Not this one.), if they can avoid going dead cold from three and if they don't totally nut up at the free throw line. But either way, we'll have a winner and a loser because we at least have a game.
I know some people will never let last year go. I know others on both ends of this game will always take their feelings for the other a little too far. I know that there are some who will take this game tonight a shade too seriously.
Don't let them ruin tonight.
Enjoy one of the best two annual events on the Cincinnati sports calendar. Be grateful that the series is continuing without interruption. And throw yourself into rooting for your team, yelling at the other school's coach, and berating the refs like an insecure middle-manager.
And remember, regardless of who you're taking tonight, we can focus on hating the Steelers on tomorrow.
Enjoy the Shootout Classic.
Oh, and Go Bearcats.
-We're at the Holy Grail at the Banks before the game today, doing our show live, starting at 3:04. Here's the "artwork." 
We've got prizes. Cardboard Heroes and Miller Lite have both come through big, and we've got a pair of tickets to tonight's game to giveaway. It's going to be incredible.
"Incredible" might be a stretch, but be there.
Guests scheduled to stop by....
3:20 - Joe Sunderman
3:42 - Terry Nelson
4:04 - Dan Hoard
4:20 - Steve Wolf
4:42 - Leonard Stokes
5:04 - Paul Dehner, Jr.
-The guy I want to play well tonight: Sean Kilpatrick.
Not for obvious reasons. Sure, my team has a far better chance of winning if their best player has a good game, but SK's Shootout Classic last season was a nightmare.
He missed nine of 12 shots and often threw up threes that had almost no chance of going in. He never seemed fully engaged on either end. Maybe he just had a bad game, or perhaps XU did a bang-up job on him defensively (they did), or it's worth wondering if he was rattled by a crowd that showed up intent on making him miserable.
Either way, I'd like to see a guy who's become such a good player have a signature game tonight.
SK's comments, or shall we say, a tiny portion of his comments about Tu Holloway stoked the rivalry, which was to be expected. But the extent to which his quotes were blown out of proportion were absurd. He was abused by an "interviewer" who manipulated a college player's quotes and skewed them in a way that were far from representative of what he'd said. And XU players and fans were all too eager to ignore to context his comments were given in.
The other side would have done the exact same thing, by the way. We love to pretend to outraged at even the smallest slight. See Legaux, Munchie v. Louisville.
Sean Kilpatrick ended up having a fantastic season last year, and he's become one of the best players in the Big East, and the best player on a very good team.
He's put his nightmarish Shootout Classic behind him. I'd like to see him put it even further behind tonight.
-It will be interesting to see what we get from tonight's officials. The crew in the '08-'09 was way too vigilant, assessing 983 technical fouls. Last year's bunch might have allowed the players to use switchblades before they blew any whistles. Given last year's events, do the refs get a little too whistle-happy in anticipation of something that probably won't happen?
-Speaking of officials,sorta, is anything causing more sleeplessness right now that the thought of Marvin Lewis with a challenge flag in his hand early in the third quarter this Sunday?
-Preach on, Coach Kelsey.
-This, at least the concept of this, is awesome...
I like it, because it accomplishes the three main objectives behind designing a more modern Nippert...
1) It maintains the charm, history, and quaintness of the stadium while brining it up to date. They're leaving the name of the place alone (though I do wonder how easier this project would be if they sold naming rights, the name in this instance should remain in place) and the renderings seen above give you the impression that Nippert Stadium will still keep many characteristics of its history.
2) Makes the fan experience better. This is not, and should not be about, adding a ton more seats. It should be about accommodating its larger crowds by expanding the size of concourses, adding restrooms, and making it easier to move around.
3) Adding suites. They're a necessity. They just are. I don't like it. Regular people don't like them. But rich people buy suites and pay a lot of money for them. Last I checked, this athletic department needs money.
What can't happen: Construction disrupts the fan experience to the point that this becomes counterproductive.
What I wonder about happening: This getting done quickly while there's still public momentum for getting football to where we want it to be.
What about? Tailgating. I'm just not sure there's a solution to everyone's satisfaction.
What else should they do? Add ribbon boards visible to people in the closed end zone, move the names and numbers of honored Bearcats to the press box side, put in a brand-new PA system, add a Bearcat walk of fame that leads to actual stadium entrances instead of turnstiles that look like they were borrowed from Surf Cincinnati, rename the radio booth after Jim Kelly Jr, take public suggestions for what they'd like to see, pad the bleachers, put photos in the concourses of some of Nipper's best moments (don't all have to be UC games, BTW), and build the most modern, state-of-the-art, spacious radio booth in college football.
-I'm out, join me at the Holy Grail today. If not, we get started at 3:04 on ESPN1530. Here's today's hit play, turn up, and walk away....
