Help me with a reality check...

[Killick]

Local fans, in a discussion online, are all butt-hurt because of ESPN's suggestion that the annual Cincinnati-Xavier basketball game should air on ESPNU or (as it is this year) ESPN2, rather than the mother ship. Fans: "That's disrespectful! It's one of the biggest rivalries in the country!"

My take: Nobody, but nobody outside this area gives two dookies about the game.

I'm too close to it to actually judge, having covered UC for a bunch of years (and attending the god-forsaken univ), so tell me...

Does America-at-large even know about the "Crosstown Shootout" or give a ****?

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Where the **** is Cincinnati?

 

[bydesign77]

They have a basketball rivalry?

 

[LongTimeListener]

As long as the game is on an available station, why does this stuff matter? There was so much hue and cry a few years back about ESPN taking the bowls off network, but I defy you to find one person who cared that the Rose Bowl wasn't on ABC.

 

[sostartled]

I'm a sports fan, but not a college basketball (or NBA) fan and didn't have a clue. But if there's nothing else (big) on, throw it on ESPN instead of the 17th running of SportsCenter.

 

[Killick]

Thanks. The hyperbole is so thick here at ground zero, it's nice to get a little perspective.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I can't believe we live in a world where people parse which of its networks ESPN puts games on. We are, what? Still only two weeks removed from the great UConn-Women-On-ESPNU Controversy of 2010?

 

[poindexter]

Nobody in the country cares about your Skyline chili rivalry.

 

[93Devil]

No one gives a **** about this game in Richmond, and this city has an A-10 school.

What games would bump it?

 

[DanOregon]

Hell - wasn't the USC-UCLA football game on FSN this year? Hell - that used to follow Ohio State-Michigan every year on ABC. Times change.
Unless you are Duke-NC, you should just be thankful someone with a camera shows up.

 

[Killick]

Nobody in the country cares about your Skyline chili rivalry.

Hell, I prefer Gold Star anyway.

 

[Stitch]

Is there a difference between ESPN and ESPN2? I don't know of any cable system that doesn't have both in the same package. ESPNU is a bit different since not every company carries it in HD.

 

[93Devil]

I cannot think of any college hoops match-up, outside of UNC/Duke, that warrents a top billing on ESPN over a top-10 team against anyone.

 

[golfnut8924]

I have honestly never even heard of a Cincy/Xavier "rivalry." There are scores of rivalries that are big on the local stage but don't make any noise outside of those boundaries.

 

[Stitch]

I have honestly never even heard of a Cincy/Xavier "rivalry." There are scores of rivalries that are big on the local stage but don't make any noise outside of those boundaries.

Me neither, at least any hype that would surround it.

 

[dixiehack]

I've heard of it, but I'm a hoops junkie who has also visited Cincy a few times and has an affection for the city. It's probably equivalent to a Big 5 game from Philly - interesting but not earth-shattering.

 

[Killick]

Oh, it's huge here in town. It starts with a luncheon about a month beforehand. They sell special basketballs at Skylines to mark the occasion, go all nuts about it here in Cincy. Frankly, I was pretty hyped about it in my younger days, can't get too worked up about it anymore. Haven't cared for a good long while. Probably since days of Huggins and Xavier's David Letterman look-alike coach, Pete Gillen.

(Though, if Cincy wins, I'll still give my Xavier friends **** about it...)

 

[Det. Jimmy McNulty]

Although I couldn't give two ****s about the ****ty of Cincinnati, X-UC is a pretty nice rivalry. Though it doesn't hold a candle to the Big 5 games, it's still nice.

BTW, Miami is UC's real rival.

 

[NoOneLikesUs]

There's too much college basketball on TV.

 

[imjustagirl]

Nobody in the country cares about your Skyline chili rivalry.

Hell, I prefer Gold Star anyway.

Friends off.