C-Town Sports

I've acquired many nicknames in my time. The ones I am most proud of are “Sharpie”, “Jer-bear”, and “Nerd”. Okay, that last one wasn't so much a nickname as a hurtful description of my high school study habits, but I got it just as much as the other two. However, of all the monickers I've heard (and trust me, there have been many) I think my favorite is “C-Town”. How I earned it is simple. When I went away to college for the first time and people asked where I was from, I wasn't going to tell them Mt. Orab, a small town of about 4,000 that was turned upside with excitement when a new Kroger Marketplace opened, so I decided to say Cincinnati, the closest major city, which in all honesty wasn't that far away. Trying to impress my classmates with my cool Midwest lingo, I shortened my adoptive hometown's name to C-Town.

I was proud to say I was from Cincy, even though I wasn't actually from there, but I still hail The Queen City, The 'Nati, The Nasty Nati, Porkopolis, Chili Town; Cin City, as my own. But for years, not many Cincinnati sports fans could name their hometown with much pride. Long gone are the days when the Reds had a respected nickname of their own, and brought home the town's only major sports championships. Distant memories are the Bengals of old who lost Superbowls to Joe Montana and Jerry Rice. Most have forgotten about the Bob Huggins era in Bearcat basketball, when he led them to a Final Four, and one season was a Kenyon Martin injury away from a seemingly destined national championship.

You don't need to tell us Cincinnati fans that it's been rough.

For the most part, this entire decade has been one “maybe next year” after another. I realized just how bad it had gotten when local TV sports anchors tried to get Cincinnatians excited about the Cyclones winning hockey championships in some league called the ECHL. But hey, they did win the coveted Kelly Cup twice in three years. Other than the Bearcat's football team making school history in terms of success (which wasn't saying much), and a couple of [very] brief postseason appearances for the Bengals, Cincinnati hasn't been so much as a blip on the national sports radar.

But all that could be changing soon... I hope.

The Bengals have the T.Ochocinco Show, and a defense that actually looks like, well, an NFL defense (all in favor of the reinstatement of the phrase “Cardiac Cats”, say aye). The UC football Bearcats are looking to build off a couple of impressive seasons, and as for the basketball team... well they still suck (it can't all go right, okay?). But for me, the most surprising event is what's going on at Great American Ballpark. It's mid-August, and the Reds are still in it. They've begun their annual death march known as the West Coast road trip, and Reds are still in first place. Maybe, just maybe, this is a sign of hope for the Queen City.

Now, I say this with all the skepticism of a Cincinnati fan who has seen franchise players get hurt in playoff games, big stars come to the city and flounder, and great coaches leave for no other reason than more money. I've heard (and regrettably said) on many occasions that maybe 'this time' things will be different. But they never are. Ultimately, this town just goes back to its regular losing ways. Why? No one knows, we don't have a goat curse or hurricane to blame it on, all we have are names like the “Bungles” and the “Shreds” So after all this, why in the world would I think that there's any hope?

Because this time, things will be different in C-Town.