The bloody outcome of 2011 was aided and abetted by a shock jock mentality that pervaded the press at that time. There had been bad blood on the floor in the years prior and the press was eager to fan the flames by publishing inflammatory remarks by players in the days leading up to the 2011 game. The media promoted a fight moreso than a basketball game and they got it. The trash talking from the bench to the floor that led to the brawl was about the remarks the players had read or heard on the radio. I suppose the media has a duty to report what they hear but it just reminded me of school days when a coward would egg on a fight between adversaries because he wanted to watch a fight that he didn't have the gonads to be in himself. Sorry if I sound bitter but neither school can live down this black eye that must be re-lived every year moving forward.
Also, the same Mick Cronin that got a lucrative contract at UCLA, took his team to the NCAA finals and last but not least hasn’t been fired!!! Have a good one!
I've been going to these games (XU season ticketholder) since the mid 80s. The most exciting games were the ones downtown after the big fight. Half the crowd was XU and half was UC. Sold out. After every basket, half the crowd went nuts.. It was perfect. But....the schools want the games back on their own courts. Is it cool to have a home game against UC? Yes. But it is not as good as a neutral site with both sets of fans there.
Yes, those games took on the flavor a an NCAA tournament game with fans from both teams equally represented. Made for some entertaining partisan chanting back and forth. The home and homes are brutal environments for the visiting teams.
"UC’s Myron Hughes knocked down Xavier’s Eddie Johnson as they were running down the court. Hughes told me Johnson elbowed him first, saying: “I turned around and slugged him"...SORRY Eddie. You're evidently trying to save face (suggest you can take a punch). I was courtside. It was the most egregious foul I've ever seen on a basketball court (a true 'cold-c^ck punch'). If it had been seen by the refs I suspect that Myron woulda been suspended from basketball for quite awhile (it made Yancy Gates cheap-shot punch look like a love pat).
Dec 9, 2022·edited Dec 9, 2022Liked by Paul Daugherty
Fun read, MP. I miss the intensity or even that I care about the game.
One of my memories is watching from our second row seats a young XU beat writer named Michael Perry chase Lenny Brown off the court after Brown hit a buzzer beater to defeat top ranked UC. I wondered how the UC grad and fan felt about his job at that moment.
All I was thinking about at that moment was making my deadline, filing a coherent story and finding Sherwin Anderson, who guaranteed the victory the day before but said I couldn't write that until it happened. :)
It’s the greatest rivalry in all of college basketball! Go X!
Yawn…Basket-bore.
To each their own
The bloody outcome of 2011 was aided and abetted by a shock jock mentality that pervaded the press at that time. There had been bad blood on the floor in the years prior and the press was eager to fan the flames by publishing inflammatory remarks by players in the days leading up to the 2011 game. The media promoted a fight moreso than a basketball game and they got it. The trash talking from the bench to the floor that led to the brawl was about the remarks the players had read or heard on the radio. I suppose the media has a duty to report what they hear but it just reminded me of school days when a coward would egg on a fight between adversaries because he wanted to watch a fight that he didn't have the gonads to be in himself. Sorry if I sound bitter but neither school can live down this black eye that must be re-lived every year moving forward.
Yea it wasn’t the idiotic actions by all the dumbass and insecure players (and Chris Mack) embarrassing their schools at all. Zip that up.
Obviously it was. I'm just pointing out the fervor that was promoted by the media leading up to the game. Read: Aided and abetted.
Chris Mack showed how classless he was after that game and Mick Cronin showed what class was
That was the day I became a Cronin fan. He dropped the mic on that press conference.
Ironic wouldn’t you say?
The same Mick Cronin that had to be physically restrained from trying to attack JP Macura. Child please!
The same Mick Cronin that actually disciplined his players..yes that Mick Cronin
Also, the same Mick Cronin that got a lucrative contract at UCLA, took his team to the NCAA finals and last but not least hasn’t been fired!!! Have a good one!
I've been going to these games (XU season ticketholder) since the mid 80s. The most exciting games were the ones downtown after the big fight. Half the crowd was XU and half was UC. Sold out. After every basket, half the crowd went nuts.. It was perfect. But....the schools want the games back on their own courts. Is it cool to have a home game against UC? Yes. But it is not as good as a neutral site with both sets of fans there.
Yes, those games took on the flavor a an NCAA tournament game with fans from both teams equally represented. Made for some entertaining partisan chanting back and forth. The home and homes are brutal environments for the visiting teams.
"UC’s Myron Hughes knocked down Xavier’s Eddie Johnson as they were running down the court. Hughes told me Johnson elbowed him first, saying: “I turned around and slugged him"...SORRY Eddie. You're evidently trying to save face (suggest you can take a punch). I was courtside. It was the most egregious foul I've ever seen on a basketball court (a true 'cold-c^ck punch'). If it had been seen by the refs I suspect that Myron woulda been suspended from basketball for quite awhile (it made Yancy Gates cheap-shot punch look like a love pat).
Fun read, MP. I miss the intensity or even that I care about the game.
One of my memories is watching from our second row seats a young XU beat writer named Michael Perry chase Lenny Brown off the court after Brown hit a buzzer beater to defeat top ranked UC. I wondered how the UC grad and fan felt about his job at that moment.
All I was thinking about at that moment was making my deadline, filing a coherent story and finding Sherwin Anderson, who guaranteed the victory the day before but said I couldn't write that until it happened. :)
Zip em up.
" Number one in the country, number two in the city " ! EPIC ! One of the best sports quotes of all time !
That was my favorite edition of the shootout too. Feels like yesterday.
That was the first game of the year, if I remember correctly.