"I do know, having been both a Southeastern Conference president and a Big Ten president, that it's like murderer's row every week for these schools. We do not play the Little Sisters of the Poor. We play very fine schools on any given day.".
Gordon, babe, do you remember September 25th? Eastern Michigan? Does a 2-9 record ring a bell? Or what about October 9th? The Indiana team that has an 0-7 record in the conference and was steamrolled for an embarrassing 83 points by Wisconsin? In fact, counting the Hoosiers, you've played the bottom 3 teams in the Big Ten with a whopping three conference wins between them. You didn't leave your home stadium for one non-conference game. Not one! Yet you feel the need to sneer down your nose at Boise and TCU? Really? Look, I feel your Buckeyes should be in the conversation and certainly would give any team in the country as much as they can handle. Your defense is unbelievable. I would love to see Boise and TCU get their shots against your Buckeyes. But you and the mighty BCS keep holding these teams down by excluding their conferences from the big party, and then you're going to blame them for it? Gordon, stick to what you do best by making sure all of the drones keep putting that annoying "Thee" in front of Ohio State University. Unless, of course, you are willing to play a game on that annoying blue turf.
The attendance at U.C.'s first three basketball games has been frightening. A total of 12,690 fans have made it to Fifth Third arena for the first three games. Not enough to declare a sellout if they all showed up at the same time. Last season UC had 13,787 for the first two games. Granted, the opponents have been less than intriguing, but last year began with Prairie View A & M and almost 7-thousand were on hand. Obviously winning will cure that, but the lack of enthusiasm by the base to support the team by just showing up is sad. I have some friends, and some from out of town, who consider Cincinnati a great sports town, but they say the fans are mediocre. I can't argue. They'll come out in droves for the winners. I saw close to 30-thousand fans running the streets of New Orleans last year before the Sugar Bowl. Yet, it's been impossible to get those same people to Nippert Stadium unless the team is winning big. It's not just U.C. fans. You look at the Reds attendance figures from this past season when they were clearly in the race and it was almost impossible to get a big crowd. But give those same fans a cheap bobblehead made in China and they start lining up at 4:30 in the afternoon. The only exception to the rule seems to be the Bengals, and this year it's even starting to catch up to them, like it did in the early part of the decade. Fans should not be asked to accpet inferior products, and that's what they're getting at PBS. I understand that. Same way with the Reds from 2001 to 2009. Same with UC football in certain years. And we know how far basketball has fallen. But Mick or no Mick, it seems to me there are more than 4 to 5-thousand people in this city who would really like to see the Bearcats bounce back and experience a resurgence in basketball. It's tough to recruit to an empty gym. I know UC just landed what appears to be a good recruiting class "on paper." I just hope those kids don't see the same thing I've seen through the first three games of this season.
All of that being said, I'm guessing 5-thousand or so for the game against Savannah State tonight, even though it's not a school night.
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