Crosstown Dream Teams: Who'd Win?

Our Hemingway celebrates the Shootout with memories of greatness past

Scott Seward returned to his native Cincinnati in 2023 after 21 years in California, where he was director of marketing for the Carmel Bach Festival and before that, director of communications for the Northern California Golf Association. He currently works for the Bach Ensemble of St. Thomas in Terrace Park and Jazz Vivace in Walnut Hills. He is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Xavier University and plays trumpet professionally. He and his wife reside in Mariemont.

The Crosstown Shootout is Saturday at 2, UC. We yield the floor to Mobster Scott.

*

As the Shootout approaches, I have been reminiscing about the incredible games that powered this rivalry and trying not to get too depressed about the state of the current game. Sure, X has won five in a row. That fact would have made me excited in the past. Now? I’d rather beat UConn, and I imagine UC would rather beat Kansas. I can name only one player on UC’s roster. I know the head coaches share a surname. That’s about all I know about Wes Miller. So I will root for X, but I will probably forget the details quickly.

The old days always walked a fine line between disrespect and bare tolerance. Disrespect won in the 2011 brawl, the Shootout’s darkest moment. But disrespect, when properly controlled, produced the best rivalry in the game. That was always the difference in this rivalry.