Why OSU Should Ignore The UC Bearcat Challenge

First lets start off with the challenge itself which came last night as Ohio State was being honored by the Cincinnati Reds for winning the CFB Playoff National Championship this year. In what has become sort of a tradition the Reds have invited the Buckeyes and Coach Meyer to Great American Ballpark to throw out first pitches and get a round of applause from the crowd. Which in and of itself is a nice gesture and should be applauded. Then comes along the official University of Cincinnati Bearcats Twitter account to rain on the Buckeye parade…

A simple enough gesture the Bearcats want to host Ohio State in Football and/or Basketball. Getting Ohio State to play at Nippert Stadium would be great for the Bearcats. On the other hand though would do nothing for OSU and in fact would cost OSU quite a lot. How you say could it cause OSU harm? Lets discuss.

THE BAD

Loss of money– OSU is a self-sufficient Athletic Department and has the largest Athletic Dept. in the country and it takes quite a lot of money to run said AD. One home game alone on ticket sales at $80 per ticket x 106000 tickets = $8.5 million. Add in merchandise, parking, food, and other forms of income and OSU is easily bringing in 20-25 million per home game on the conservative side. Playing a game at Cincy would cost probably $500k just to travel and feed and lodge the players and coaches and OSU employees. OSU really truly cant afford to play at Cincy.

Recruiting- OSU and Cincy for the most part do not recruit the same players. When was the last time you saw a recruit with an OSU and Bearcat hat on the table when making a decision? Never is probably correct. So there is no recruiting advantage to playing at Cincy. In fact say OSU loses that would hurt OSU recruiting and give Cincy coaches a chance to make up ground on OSU on the recruiting trail.

Stadium size- Nippert Stadium holds roughly 35k fans. Sure they could play at Paul Brown which prob holds closer to 70k fans but OSU wouldnt get a cut of the money raised and would have many more fans there than the Bearcats.

Ohio Schools- If OSU caves to the Bearcats would other Ohio Schools start calling out the Buckeyes to visit their schools? Maybe? Why take the chance it is a PR nightmare.

Perception- OSU prides itself on being the only true “BCS” school in Ohio and dominates the state and there is no reason to ruin that perception because of a funny banter tweet.

But why not Basketball?– Have you seen the chicanery that happens in UC vs Xavier games? The pent up aggression between OSU and UC is palpable and there is a lot at stake and is it even worth it? Want an Ohio Tourney with OSU, XU, UC, and Dayton? Sure would be fun play it at a neutral spot not at each others home courts.

THE GOOD

There is not a single good reason for OSU to play Cincy in Cincy ever in any sport. Can you think of one? If so let me know in the comments thanks.

A Brief Digression From Football Talk

On September 22, 1995, Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” was the number one song in the country. Bill Clinton was still in his first term in office. I was beginning my senior year in high school. And the Reds clinched the National League Central Division.

They hadn’t made the playoffs since. Until now.

Jay Bruce is a pimp. If my wife slept with him, I’d give her a high five and buy him a drink.

I realize this is a mainly Cleveland-centric site, but I had to say something. I mean, it’s been 15 freakin’ years. I was there in October of 1999 at Riverfront Stadium when Al Leiter and the Mets made Steve Parris and the Reds their bitches. I was pumped in 2000 when the Reds traded for my all-time favorite player (Ken Griffey Jr.) on my birthday and then proceeded to disappoint year after year. For God’s sake, the Bengals have made the playoffs a few times since the last time the Reds did. And I was there on April 5 of this year right after the Reds lost their opener against the Cardinals, writing a post where I predicted they would win 88 games and win the NL Central, with all three of my readers – and myself, if I’m being honest –  thinking I was sniffing paint fumes while doing so.

And here we are. 88-69 with five games to play and winning the NL Central, with my MVP prediction (Jay Bruce) hitting the walk-off home run that clinched it. It’s beautiful.

Cross-posted at Not Dead Ninja Storage.

The moral is, sometimes rooting for a team that sucks can pay off, big time.

Junior goes to Chicago

Fox Sports reports that Ken Griffey, Jr. has approved the trade offer dealing him to the Chicago White Sox.

The Reds will receive pitcher Nick Masset and second baseman Danny Richar in return for Griffey.

We’ll be sorry to see him go. Perhaps Junior will get his opportunity to finally contribute to a World Series team, if the Sox can keep their lead in the AL Central.

Link

Dodger fan taunts Griffey, gets jock

RedsThe Reds played a pathetic series on the Left Coast last week against the Dodgers. Aside from having to deal with the humiliation of losing three in a row and dropping to the bottom of the Central, the Reds’ fielders had to deal with some pretty rough heckling from the LA fans.

At some point, Ken Griffey, Jr. had enough, and responded to a fan’s heckling with a present of his own (sic):

I was going to try and get in Ken Griffey Jr’s head a little bit. He had to walk right by us to get to the dugout and I just couldn’t help myself. So I started with the basics: YOU SUCK..SHOULDN’T YOU BE ON THE D.L…TOO OLD FOR CENTER….that kind of stuff… He called me some fat references which was hilarious and then he told me I couldnt touch the threads on his jock…

…After the 6th inning he walks out and stops to talk to me holding a brown paper bag in his hand. He motions to throw it to me and I told him no, I know that trick. He laughs and says catch it, so I put up my hands and he tosses it over. He wouldn’t leave until I opened it and when I finally did, the whole place erupted with laughter. Griffey throws me his jock…

…He shot me a grin. When he came out in the 8th he shot me another smile, and I told him he still has the greatest swing in baseball. I hope he heard me, I think he did. I love Griffey. In fact, some of my first Dodger games were because Griffey was playing and my boy was a huge fan of his in Seattle. He may be the greatest fielder of all time, but when you come to my stadium, you’re fair game.

Griffey even autographed the jock “3 Jr.” A nice touch.
griffeyJock.jpg

Read the entire story (with pic goodness).

Reds road games?

RedsSo, the Reds have six road trips lasting ten days or more.

I’ll tell you what: if Cincinnati makes it into the postseason, the team will have definitely earned it.

Has that ever happened before? (I’m asking… I don’t know. Calling all baseball stats wizards: please enlighten us in the comments.)

It only took one inning to beat the Cubs

RedsIn the most recent installment of the “Battle of the Identical Logos,” the Red Stockings were down by five runs in the fifth, then managed to score six times in the sixth to finish Chicago. To add insult to injury, the winning run was walked in. I’m not sure, but I think Pinella actually blew a blood vessel afterwards.

Yes, it’s early in the season, but the Cubs haven’t won at home yet. This does not bode well for a team that was expecting nothing less than dominance and a Series berth.

Meanwhile, Cincinnati seems to be shaking off the cobwebs and getting into a rhythm. Maybe I was alone in this, but I felt that the only thing that kept the Reds from being a lot more dominant last year was a handful of ill-timed injuries. If they can stay healthy, I wonder if they’ll stay at or near the top of the Central for most of the season.

And how about this Hamilton kid? Hitting .308, reaching base 7 of his last 10 attempts, and two HRs in both starts. What do you think: is Hamilton just hype or is he the real thing?