MTM Cincinnati: Bearcat Football

It’s tough being a sports fan in Cincinnati.  The Reds have not contended since 1994.  The Bengals…

Did I mention the Reds went to the play-offs as recently as 1994?

The bright spot around here has been college basketball, first the University of Cincinnati Bearcats under bombastic coach Bob Huggins, then the late Skip Prosser/Thad Motta/Sean Miller-led Xavier Musketeers.  Miller turned the tiny Catholic school near Norwood into a national powershouse while UC decided to retool following the end of the Huggins era.

But football?  Um…  Yeah.  Go Ohio State, right?

Well…  No.

A few years ago, the UC football program was on life-support.  Bearcat (football, not basketball) games had fewer fans in the stands than the Bengals in the pre-Marvin Lewis days.  Now that takes an enormous lack of talent.  Enter Mark D’Antonio, who coached the hapless ‘Cats to a minor bowl game in Boise, Idaho.  And then?

UC abandoned ConferenceUSA for the Big East.  (Hi, Dave!  How was that Rutgers team this year?)  Suicide?  Maybe not for basketball, which needed better competition to force its game up a notch.  The men’s basketball team is starting to reap the rewards of being a Big East team this year.  But football?

Yes, football.  Exit D’Antonio.  Enter Brian Kelly, who started on the job with a bold promise.  “We will win a BCS game.”  Not his first year.  Not last year.  This year?

Well, let’s just say Virginia Tech has a very good program.  They needed it to hold this year’s Bearcats to a touchdown and extra point in this year’s Orange Bowl.  (Excuse me, FedEx Orange Bowl.  Damn corporate sponsorships.  Get off my lawn!)

The fact is starting in 2007, Bearcats football began to take over Cincinnati during a time most people here watched the Buckeyes.  And we used to be even more rabid OSU fans than Clevelanders.  OSU games are where the Browns train fans for the Dawg Pound, so do the math.  Then Ohio State came to play UC on the Bengals turf.

Guess which game that week had better attendance.  Hint:  Chad Ocho Stinko plays for neither team.

So with the Bearcats’ appearance in a BCS game for the first time, Cincinnati has transitioned from a pro sports town, a town where the Reds struggle from small MLB marker economics and the Bengals suffer from a George Bush-like owner (only much, much smarter), to a college sports town.

So forget the Major Leagues.  Forget Ocho Stinko and the new Lost Decade.  Football here is now played at Nippert Stadium, and basketball, not baseball, owns the rest of the year.

This is a college town now, baby.  And boy, it feels good to have winners here.

Even if they aren’t getting paid.

More My Town Monday links here.

Please keep Travis Erwin and his family in your thoughts.  The man behind My Town Mondays suffered a catastrophic house fire over the holidays and will be away for a bit longer.