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geef Offline
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Favorite UC memories/ traditions
With apologies to baseball fans and our burgeoning Olympic sports lineup, it's the offseason. So, I thought I'd start an old farts thread on here. I'd love to hear folks' favorite memories and traditions from the days gone by.

I'll start with one, and it predates my time as a student. It's 1986, I'm in middle school, and a buddy of mine asks three of us at school if we'd be interested in being ball boys for the upcoming football season. We're all in. For a 13 year old, despite not being the salad days of UC football, it was a pretty intimidating environment and we really had to pay attention. The problem was that none of us had ever played football (which begs the question of why we were asked), and that was apparent in the first game of the year.

We were clearly a sore spot, and when we showed up for the second game, we were assigned to just retrieve balls and give them to student managers (I believe that's who they were) who basically acted as ball boys instead of us. One of our jobs in retrieving balls was to go into the student section for every field goal and extra point. There weren't nets behind the goalposts, so every kick went into the stands. We were supposed to retrieve the balls, but we had competition. A group of UC students (15 of them?) would plant their biggest guys in the student section, and the rest would spread out around the stadium. When the ball landed in the section, the brutes would inevitably wrestle it away from us, then play a game of keep away by launching the ball from section to section to their buddies who spread around. We chased them as the play continued, sometimes lasting a whole drive, only to have to sprint back to the student section and do it all over again (there were quite a few opposing PATs in those days).

We were judged to be inadequate at this task as well, and somehow we regained our ball boy posts for the game against #1 Miami. We were excited to see Testeverde and the Hurricanes up close and personal, and it was a big time environment at Nippert - they even had extra seating at Nippert for the game. We were at our absolute best, and feeling pretty good about our performance. In the 4th Quarter, though, I was standing next to the least athletic of my buddies. For some reason, just as Miami was lining up at scrimmage, he swore that the line judge yelled, "Ball, ball!". The guy couldn't throw a football straight if his life depended on it, but just as Testeverde snapped the ball, my buddy launched the perfect spiral. It was so perfect that he hit his intended target - the line judge - in the head. The play was called dead. That game was our swan song as ball boys.

Three of the four of us went to UC, and all of us (including the spiral-throwing, collar-popping eventual Miami dolt) remain fans today. Our buddy maintains to this day that the line judge yelled, 'Ball, ball".

Gimme your early memories, traditions, etc. And let me know if you were one of the yahoos who we chased around the stadium after PATs.
 
04-29-2019 10:41 AM
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crex043 Offline
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Post: #2
Favorite UC memories/ traditions
Watched Pike to Binns live on TV. I remember where I was and who I was with.
 
04-29-2019 10:48 AM
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doss2 Online
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RE: Favorite UC memories/ traditions
I wish UC did something to recognize the best coach UC ever had - Sid Gillman.

50-13-1

He is the only coach ever inducted into both the College and Pro Football Hall of Fame.
 
04-29-2019 12:14 PM
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bearcatdp Offline
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RE: Favorite UC memories/ traditions
"Another Bearcat First Down!"
 
04-29-2019 12:27 PM
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OKIcat Online
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RE: Favorite UC memories/ traditions
(04-29-2019 12:14 PM)doss2 Wrote:  I wish UC did something to recognize the best coach UC ever had - Sid Gillman.

50-13-1

He is the only coach ever inducted into both the College and Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Sid was before my time at UC but I agree completely.

How do we not claim and honor his legacy? And every time I'm in Marge Schott Stadium I'm amazed that Sandy Koufax's name is nowhere to be found. The story I've heard is they can't identify his UC jersey number. As sad as that lost number is, so what? Put another one of those baseball shaped signs on the outfield fence with his name on it.

Lots of great football memories, among them the takedown of Rose Bowl champion Wisconsin during the Minter years was a pretty special day on campus. But dismantling #7 Rutgers @ Nippert felt like a sea change for UC football (and for Dantonio's career I suppose). It was a long climb from Tim Murphy's one very good season before leaving town through Minter's slow rebuilding but that win over the Scarlet Knights ushered in a decade of mostly great football memories.
 
04-29-2019 12:58 PM
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colohank Offline
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RE: Favorite UC memories/ traditions
Air Force came to Nippert in the early 1960s, and at halftime they put on a customary aerial demonstration with their mascot -- a gyrfalcon. Partway through the routine, the hawk suddenly abandoned its handler and landed on the front rail of the Shank Pavilion. An announcer reminded folks that the bird could be dangerous, and I remember seeing the crowd in the pavilion shrink back from the front rail. Meanwhile, a cadet was sent to retrieve the errant hawk. He descended the steps of the pavilion, poked the bird with what appeared to be the antenna of a walky-talky, and the hawk took flight again, eventually landing on the roof of the old gym building at the head of the stadium. By this time, the teams were coming back on the field, and since there were pigeons flying around the gym, I figured the bird had found new home and meal ticket and was a lost cause.

Midway through the third quarter, though, a cadet came running down the stadium steps grasping the gyrfalcon, and the crowd erupted in applause.

A decade later, I was working with the National Park Service in North Dakota and was assigned to guide a newly appointed Assistant US Attorney on a tour of Theodore Roosevelt NP. When I found out he was an Air Force grad, I related this story to him. He said he remembered it too. He was on their football team and played that day.

I also recall a time when someone decided that UC needed a card section. It was a pretty sorry endeavor, totally lacking any coordination and involving too few people to make effective displays. Meanwhile, on the other side of the stadium, our opponents (XU) put together an impromptu card section of their own, holding up sheets of newspaper or whatever else they could find. I hate to admit it, but theirs was a lot better than ours.

And finally, UC was to be featured on ABC's game of the week when Tulsa (and QB Jerry Rhome) came to town in the early 1960s. Since the grass on the field had already cured to an uneven tan, somebody decided it needed to be dyed green to look better on color TV. Then, a day or so before the game, it rained, and all of the green dye drained off the field and onto the cinder track, where it formed a bunch of dark green puddles.
 
(This post was last modified: 04-29-2019 01:08 PM by colohank.)
04-29-2019 01:05 PM
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BearcatMan Offline
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RE: Favorite UC memories/ traditions
I always loved when the band marched to all of the fraternity houses the night before Homecoming, that was a blast...I may have even given Tuba a brew or two at some point.
 
04-29-2019 01:08 PM
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namrag Offline
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RE: Favorite UC memories/ traditions
Huggs first year at UC was my sophomore year at UC. Basketball had decent, but not great, attendance. Add in that The Shoe was new, and they hadn't needed to sort out things like seating for those in wheelchairs. They would let the entire party sit with the person in a wheelchair right behind the baskets. In this story, my father had just had knee replacement surgery, back when it was a much more intensive surgery than what it is now. So he was in a wheelchair.

So the 89/90 season there was the rumblings of excitement. Lou Banks, Levertis Robinson, Andre Tate, and Keith Starks were all very talented (I wish they would have had another year with Huggs).

On my birthday, Saturday December 16, Rudy Flyer came to town. I cannot recall if we were already on winter break or not. I grew up watching UD because we lived just north of Dayton. But by then I was all about UC, and I had partially converted my father.

They let my entire family (5) and my girlfriend at the time all sit behind the basket with my father.

It was a good back and forth game from what I recall.

UD scored with less than 30 seconds to go to tie it up. UC had the final possession, and they were playing on the basket that we were sitting behind.

They came down, ran the clock to 15 seconds, and gave the ball to Lou. Lou waived the other players off, so they all went to the corners to clear the lane for Lou.

He went one-on-one, juked and jived, and slipped in a layup for the win!

When Lou hit the layup he kept running past the basket, right to where we were sitting. I will never forget my father, just a few days post-op, being the first one to jump up out of his chair and high-five Lou!

That is probably my best UC basketball memory ever.

I will save for another time my best UC football story. It involves my very drunk friend (also a UC alum), the UC sidelines, an exercise bike, and one of those propane jet heaters.
 
04-29-2019 01:27 PM
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Topcat Offline
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RE: Favorite UC memories/ traditions
I used to enjoy the games back in what most of us on here refer to as the dark days of UC football. We almost always played our home games at night, so you would sit around all afternoon watching the "real" college football games on TV, then stroll over to Nippert for the football game... which basically served as the holding pen until the bars started to liven up.

There was always plenty of room for everyone to spread out and have sufficient space to set your beer down.

For the most part, the competition was usually decent. Va. Tech, Rutgers, Louisville... teams like that. Miami OH (who always gave us fits back then) was usually the biggest crowd. There was always the cupcake game where we would beat up a 1AA team too.

Of course, we didn't go there uptight about the game nor did we expect to win. If we did win, it was a nice bonus to the evening. There was something charming about the games back then.

But alas, I would much rather it be like it is now. Large crowds, pregame activities and everyone soiling themselves if we lose.
 
04-29-2019 02:22 PM
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Bearcats#1 Offline
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RE: Favorite UC memories/ traditions
My favorite UC moment is finding out Doss is an hourly worker at Lowes. He posts from the employee breakroom while he sips on a can of coke and eats his vending machine bag of Funyions.
 
04-29-2019 02:36 PM
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Lush Offline
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RE: Favorite UC memories/ traditions
great story geef. it was a different time. i certainly don't have much a great story since i wasn't the one who procured a keg whilst waiting in line outside at night for x tix aught double oh. that would have been the logan and satterfield administration. i was a freshman. me and my dude didn't even try getting a cup. i'm not even sure if they had cups but i imagine if you break into the shoe and steal a keg you probably had the foresight to grab cups. those guys were having fun. if memory serves me, i think they had a mattress and where sliding on it down some stairs outside leading into the shoe. if that makes sense. i liked getting f*cked up enough even way back when but i kept thinking about how illegal everything was and how certainly the university police make at least rounds for this pretty considerable ensemble. which never materialized. but i'll tell you what, i'll i could think about was how long my buddy was gonna be taking a piss at the multicultural wing or whatever the only open warm place was so i could go in there even if i didn't have to piss just to stay warm

and right into spanish at eight. the only night spent over at our institution
 
04-29-2019 02:40 PM
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BearcatJerry Offline
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RE: Favorite UC memories/ traditions
I love college football for all the traditions... And UC has plenty of them.

-The Fanfare and the band running down the steps at Nippert.
-I love the tune and the words to "Cheer Cincinnati" and taught them to my kids at an early age... I think it's a gem of a fight song.
- As someone else noted the "Another Bearcat First Down!"
-The iconic Mardy Gilyard TD reception and him running into the fans and hugging the kid in the 1st row of the South endzone.
-The Bearcat being arrested after throwing snowballs... The Bearcat getting caught in the wiring for the extra point net after parachuting into Nippert with the game ball. (Not really a tradition, I know...)

I know I can think of others, but that's at the top of my head.
 
04-29-2019 03:04 PM
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natibeast21 Offline
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RE: Favorite UC memories/ traditions
(04-29-2019 02:36 PM)Bearcats#1 Wrote:  My favorite UC moment is finding out Doss is an hourly worker at Lowes. He posts from the employee breakroom while he sips on a can of coke and eats his vending machine bag of Funyions.

hahaha
 
04-29-2019 03:12 PM
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chatcat Offline
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RE: Favorite UC memories/ traditions
When the city of Cincinnati renamed Clifton Avenue AVENUE OF CHAMPIONS.
 
04-29-2019 03:26 PM
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TubaCat Offline
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RE: Favorite UC memories/ traditions
(04-29-2019 01:08 PM)BearcatMan Wrote:  I always loved when the band marched to all of the fraternity houses the night before Homecoming, that was a blast...I may have even given Tuba a brew or two at some point.

Always a good time, even though the beer was usually warm Natty Light. 04-cheers
 
04-29-2019 03:36 PM
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BearcatMan Offline
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RE: Favorite UC memories/ traditions
(04-29-2019 03:36 PM)TubaCat Wrote:  
(04-29-2019 01:08 PM)BearcatMan Wrote:  I always loved when the band marched to all of the fraternity houses the night before Homecoming, that was a blast...I may have even given Tuba a brew or two at some point.

Always a good time, even though the beer was usually warm Natty Light. 04-cheers

College budgets and whatnot 03-lmfao
 
04-29-2019 03:43 PM
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bearcat72 Offline
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RE: Favorite UC memories/ traditions
Last football game of the 1968 season. Senior Jim O'brien's 48 yard field goal at the gun to steal a victory from Miami 23-21. Greg Cook's final season and also Bo Schembechlers last game at Miami.
 
04-29-2019 04:12 PM
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Captain Bearcat Offline
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RE: Favorite UC memories/ traditions
2008: "It's football time in Cincinnati!" - blared over the loudspeaker before the team rushed out of the tunnel.

I remember really hoping that line would become a tradition.

(it's at the end of the video below)



 
04-29-2019 04:29 PM
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Captain Bearcat Offline
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RE: Favorite UC memories/ traditions
Thanksgiving Saturday 2009 against Illinois - my parents and all my brothers came down to Clifton to pregame in the grade school parking lot on Short Vine. A buddy who's a great cook brought his RV down and had delicious food. It was a noon game, so game time snuck up on us fast and we had 2 cases of beer leftover. So my Mom, inebriated, decided to go around our group and pack everyone's pockets full of beer. She even put 2 in the hood of my winter jacket.

Good thing I was taller than the security guard & the ticket taker, or else I woulda been busted...
 
(This post was last modified: 04-29-2019 04:44 PM by Captain Bearcat.)
04-29-2019 04:44 PM
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geef Offline
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RE: Favorite UC memories/ traditions
Great stuff, all! Keep 'em coming......
 
04-29-2019 04:47 PM
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