If it's any consolation, you only had to deal with that [insert really ugly profane description here] Tuberville for 4 seasons. Thanks to the very special people I share a state with, I'm going to be stuck with that [insert even uglier and more profane description here] as my damn senator for probably the rest of his life. That seems to be how we do things here.
I had Doug Jones when I moved back here. Now I have... this.
I had sacred duty to despise Brian Kelly the very second he became the head coach of Notre Dame. I can't imagine the disdain I would have if he left my alma mater for it. I seem to recall UC players before their bowl game being pretty open about how they felt about their coach leaving like a thief in the night.
I'm an interloper in the online college football space. I have no rooting interest, I just think a lot of the content creators are smart and funny. I really enjoy the embattled cookbook character, particularly when your team is winning. I saw the good brand talking smack. Hope you're enjoying the season.
"current power-conference teams like ... Virginia Tech "
"For the Bearcats, though, lacking both the prestige and on-field success of those teams "
I appreciate VT being considered a prestigious school in hindsight, but they were definitely not considered a prestigious school in the 80's/90's. It took the '95 Sugar Bowl win against Texas to get recognized as a decent school and then even in '99 it took a crazy alignment of stars (and a once-in-a-lifetime talent at QB) for them to make the championship game.
Hope to see Cincy with a similar alignment of stars. Always fun to cheer for the David in the DvG situations.
VT is good case study of how to go from being an independent to being a good program in P5 conference. Unfortunately, it is also a great case study of what happens when an administration fails to capitalize on the once in a lifetime momentum they have captured and instead gets too comfortable with "well it was good enough before" and refuses to evolve to keep up with the changing landscape of their industry.
Hopefully, Cincinnati doesn't get complacent when it gets near the mountain top.
Great article! I love what you did to Indiana this past weekend. They deserved every bit of it, arrogant wannabes. In two weeks I would love to see a repeat scene and sadden that purple weasel at ND. It would be perfect lesson in karma, hubris, and humility for both school and coach.
I’m happy to see the best team in Ohio have great success this year.
In my experience one of the most enjoyable sports feelings is being one of the top teams while also being an untraditional power, much like Cincinnati today. The “we aren’t even supposed to be here” feeling is just awesome. Louisville has been experienced that a few times in my life and it never gets old.
My football teams are Puntin' Miami, Duke, and Harvard. Y'all are going to have to explain that feeling to me more concretely since I'm never going to experience it myself.
I almost didn't recognize Brian Kelly because he was smiling in that photo. I suppose you can take some consolation in the fact that after he left Cincinnati for Notre Dame (always the sign of a wrong 'un in my book), he has been a miserable rage-a-holic who lives in his own punishment every day.
Rather like Scott, I am not at all biased in this matter.
Anyone else remember Uncle John's Bathroom Reader? Uncredited, unsourced, possibly the basis for an alarming amount of information I subconsciously believe but have never verified. What a bizarre product.
As a fan of TCU, I am excited to have Cincy in the conference no matter how little geographic or historical sense it makes. It's nice to see the other teams that have wandered in the wilderness "make it".
"[T]hey’ve got a non-zero shot—if a lot of things go right over the next couple of months—to be the first school from outside of college football’s traditional power structures to crash the College Football Playoff . . ." Ummmm . . . about that, Scott. I think you may be undere$timating the fundamental $tructural underpinning$ of the$e "playoff$."
Also, as a Miamian for life, I feel duty bound to point out that one of your best coaches (in my estimation) in school history left Cincinnati to take the Harvard job. Which I guess is also a backhanded way of saying UC football has come a long way in the last 25 years. Enjoy the ride.
To be honest, although I was well aware of him leaving for that job, I did not realize until yesterday that he’s *still in it*. That’s a solid run, and you can’t hate on it, like I might with, say, Brian Kelly, Butch Jones, or the Junior Senator from Alabama.
You won't get rich coaching Ivy League football, but you can achieve the closest thing to tenure available in the profession while working with some really interesting kids. Murphy took a pay cut to move back to New England and be closer to family, but it worked out for him beautifully. All of his kids got to go to Harvard, and he has now been there long enough to surpass Joe Restic as the winningest coach in the very long history of the program.
To quote Spencer, David Cutcliffe has "burrowed in like a tick" at Duke. I don't think he'll want to coach long enough to be there when his grandkids get to college age, but he seems to enjoy that job a lot. One of his backup quarterbacks this year is Steve Spurrier's grandson. (The Head Ball Coach took that Florida job but left Steve Jr. behind to get that Duke degree, and Steve Jr's son is now on the roster in Durham.)
As I discussed at length during a Cincinnati tailgate this weekend, my longshot hope is that Luke Fickell chooses to establish himself at Cincinnati this way. Obviously he's got some Very Big Jobs beating down his door, but he's also spent almost his entire life in Ohio and has six kids... with the jump in prestige and $$$ coming in the Big XII, I could see an argument for him staying (unless it's Ohio State that comes calling for him).
Wishful thinking, perhaps, but there's more logic behind it than a lot of my other wishful thinking.
If it's any consolation, you only had to deal with that [insert really ugly profane description here] Tuberville for 4 seasons. Thanks to the very special people I share a state with, I'm going to be stuck with that [insert even uglier and more profane description here] as my damn senator for probably the rest of his life. That seems to be how we do things here.
I had Doug Jones when I moved back here. Now I have... this.
I had sacred duty to despise Brian Kelly the very second he became the head coach of Notre Dame. I can't imagine the disdain I would have if he left my alma mater for it. I seem to recall UC players before their bowl game being pretty open about how they felt about their coach leaving like a thief in the night.
I'm an interloper in the online college football space. I have no rooting interest, I just think a lot of the content creators are smart and funny. I really enjoy the embattled cookbook character, particularly when your team is winning. I saw the good brand talking smack. Hope you're enjoying the season.
Thank you!
"current power-conference teams like ... Virginia Tech "
"For the Bearcats, though, lacking both the prestige and on-field success of those teams "
I appreciate VT being considered a prestigious school in hindsight, but they were definitely not considered a prestigious school in the 80's/90's. It took the '95 Sugar Bowl win against Texas to get recognized as a decent school and then even in '99 it took a crazy alignment of stars (and a once-in-a-lifetime talent at QB) for them to make the championship game.
Hope to see Cincy with a similar alignment of stars. Always fun to cheer for the David in the DvG situations.
At the tailgate Saturday, Virginia Tech was a school I mentioned as a trajectory I'd like to see us follow.
As a VT fan, be careful what you wish for.
VT is good case study of how to go from being an independent to being a good program in P5 conference. Unfortunately, it is also a great case study of what happens when an administration fails to capitalize on the once in a lifetime momentum they have captured and instead gets too comfortable with "well it was good enough before" and refuses to evolve to keep up with the changing landscape of their industry.
Hopefully, Cincinnati doesn't get complacent when it gets near the mountain top.
Great article! I love what you did to Indiana this past weekend. They deserved every bit of it, arrogant wannabes. In two weeks I would love to see a repeat scene and sadden that purple weasel at ND. It would be perfect lesson in karma, hubris, and humility for both school and coach.
I’m happy to see the best team in Ohio have great success this year.
God, I really, REALLY want that repeat at ND.
I'm hoping that facing a raucous road crowd--and Memorial Stadium was quite loud--gave the team a good warmup for the Notre Dame game.
In my experience one of the most enjoyable sports feelings is being one of the top teams while also being an untraditional power, much like Cincinnati today. The “we aren’t even supposed to be here” feeling is just awesome. Louisville has been experienced that a few times in my life and it never gets old.
My football teams are Puntin' Miami, Duke, and Harvard. Y'all are going to have to explain that feeling to me more concretely since I'm never going to experience it myself.
I almost didn't recognize Brian Kelly because he was smiling in that photo. I suppose you can take some consolation in the fact that after he left Cincinnati for Notre Dame (always the sign of a wrong 'un in my book), he has been a miserable rage-a-holic who lives in his own punishment every day.
Rather like Scott, I am not at all biased in this matter.
I’m going to print this edition out and keep it in my wallet in case I ever get jammed up in conversation in this city and find myself floundering
when in doubt, ask where they went to high school
I didn't realize you lived in St. Louis.
I refer back to my belief that the river cities of America are their own category: https://actioncookbook.substack.com/p/meet-the-unquantifiable-cities-of
Rereading that piece, I do not understand how I, someone with strong opinions on the Midwest, St. Louis, and the Yough, didn't comment there at all.
works in every not-huge major city in the world!
Anyone else remember Uncle John's Bathroom Reader? Uncredited, unsourced, possibly the basis for an alarming amount of information I subconsciously believe but have never verified. What a bizarre product.
I believe we had this in the bathroom of one of the off-campus houses I lived in in college. Truly something destroyed by technological progress.
As a fan of TCU, I am excited to have Cincy in the conference no matter how little geographic or historical sense it makes. It's nice to see the other teams that have wandered in the wilderness "make it".
"[T]hey’ve got a non-zero shot—if a lot of things go right over the next couple of months—to be the first school from outside of college football’s traditional power structures to crash the College Football Playoff . . ." Ummmm . . . about that, Scott. I think you may be undere$timating the fundamental $tructural underpinning$ of the$e "playoff$."
Also, as a Miamian for life, I feel duty bound to point out that one of your best coaches (in my estimation) in school history left Cincinnati to take the Harvard job. Which I guess is also a backhanded way of saying UC football has come a long way in the last 25 years. Enjoy the ride.
To be honest, although I was well aware of him leaving for that job, I did not realize until yesterday that he’s *still in it*. That’s a solid run, and you can’t hate on it, like I might with, say, Brian Kelly, Butch Jones, or the Junior Senator from Alabama.
You won't get rich coaching Ivy League football, but you can achieve the closest thing to tenure available in the profession while working with some really interesting kids. Murphy took a pay cut to move back to New England and be closer to family, but it worked out for him beautifully. All of his kids got to go to Harvard, and he has now been there long enough to surpass Joe Restic as the winningest coach in the very long history of the program.
Yeah, there aren't many "lifetime" gigs in college football, and that's a pretty sweet one.
To quote Spencer, David Cutcliffe has "burrowed in like a tick" at Duke. I don't think he'll want to coach long enough to be there when his grandkids get to college age, but he seems to enjoy that job a lot. One of his backup quarterbacks this year is Steve Spurrier's grandson. (The Head Ball Coach took that Florida job but left Steve Jr. behind to get that Duke degree, and Steve Jr's son is now on the roster in Durham.)
As I discussed at length during a Cincinnati tailgate this weekend, my longshot hope is that Luke Fickell chooses to establish himself at Cincinnati this way. Obviously he's got some Very Big Jobs beating down his door, but he's also spent almost his entire life in Ohio and has six kids... with the jump in prestige and $$$ coming in the Big XII, I could see an argument for him staying (unless it's Ohio State that comes calling for him).
Wishful thinking, perhaps, but there's more logic behind it than a lot of my other wishful thinking.