One day until graduation

First, if you’ve missed any of the countdown, here’s a look at each day in the countdown:

No. 10- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/10-days-until-graduation.html

No. 9- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/nine-days-until-graduation.html

No. 8- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/eight-days-until-graduation.html

No. 7- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/one-week-until-graduation.html

No. 6- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/six-days-until-graduation.html

No. 5- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/five-days-until-graduation.html

No. 4- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/four-days-until-graduation.html

No. 3- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/three-days-until-graduation.html

No. 2- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/two-days-until-graduation.html

Moment 1: “The Game” (Dec. 5, 2009)

It was cold and somewhat snowy when I opened the shades in the Pittsburgh hotel room I was sharing with fellow video team member J.P. Hummer. My dad had just texted me to say that he and my mom were up and headed to breakfast on a chilly morning.

I’d hoped for the best, but I knew it was going to be a tough battle. We were on the brink of a perfect season and a shot at the BCS National Title game. These were unforeseen and nearly unbelievable times in the Cincinnati football program. And I was in the center of it all.

We packed the meeting rooms up, and headed down to the buses to put away our things. In just hours, the ball would be kicked, and the 60-minute journey to perfection would be right in front of our very eyes.

Setting everything up at Heinz Field was just like normal: I headed to my endzone area, two guys headed to the TV truck, and John Sells, video coordinator, headed to his spot in the sideline video booth. Minutes later we all hooked up in the Heinz Field pressbox for breakfast.

WPTS Sport Director Jake Meyer, a good friend of mine, met me there. The previous night Jake and I hung out and watched the MAC title game, featuring a highly-touted Central Michigan squad, led by quarterback Dan LeFevour and head coach Butch Jones. The Chips defeated Ohio University, and little did any of us know the significance of that game at the time.

Jake and I made our way to the radio booth where I met his co-anchor for the day, Dan, who I’d talked to on the radio earlier that week when I was a live guest on Jake’s weekly sportscast on WPTS radio in Pittsburgh.

For three years I called into the radio show, live from practice. Dan and Jake asked me what it would take for UC to defeat the Panthers. When I got into the radio booth that morning to chat with the guys, Dan said, “The first one to 45 wins this game.”

Funny how things work out some times.

I headed down to the field to join my actual co-workers with about 45 minutes until kickoff. ‘If this is the biggest game I’m ever a part of,’ I thought, ‘I might as well go down on the field and soak in some of the atmospohere.’

I talked to some local news folks on the field, including WCPO sports anchor Dennis Janson, who was about to go live for a one-hour special preceding the game on ABC. DJ was one of the nicest guys I had the opportunity to work with at Channel 9, so I stopped by and said hello.

Oh, and then there was a game to be played. I found my way back up to my film booth, which was somewhat heated, but since we had the front windows open it wasn’t the warmest place in the world. However, I felt bad for the folks sitting out in front of us.

And I felt bad for my mom and dad, who, for some reason, got stuck in the very top row of Heinz Field. I thought my dad was kidding when he sent me a text that said, “Look out to your left. We’re in the top row of seats.”

Holy cow, they were. (“It was colder than hell,” my mom will still tell you)

When the game kicked off it was business as usual. Start recording, watch the play, stop recording. Repeat. It’s what I had done all season, nothing new.

Except the fact that what we hadn’t done all season was get beat, like a drum. We were tied after one quarter at 7-7, but in the second the Pitt Panthers decided that the Bearcats of Cincinnati didn’t deserve the perfect season we had our sights on. The rattled off three touchdowns and a field goal, and led 31-10 with 1:26 showing on the clock in the second quarter.

Brian Kelly, who had his sights on a job in South Bend, was suddenly looking like a normal human being, not the super coach that every national media outlet had made him out to be.

After the touchdown that put Pitt up 31-10 I received a text from John Sells, my boss. While I forget exactly what it said, the message basically said, “This one is over. We’re going to Charlotte, bye bye BK.”

I wanted to respond, but I just couldn’t think of anything to say.

And I didn’t have to say much, because seconds later the play on the field said it all.

Mardy Gilyard stood on the UC goal line with a perfect season in his hands. He received the kickoff, and the rest, as they say, is history. The play that saved the perfect season took all of 16 seconds. Gilyard covered 99 yards and sprinted into the endzone away from me for a Bearcat touchdown.

“Why are you so negative?” I immediately responded to Sells.

From there, the momentum shifted. But it wasn’t the final time momentum would shift in the game.

With 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter an almost perfect Jake Rogers missed a PAT attempt to bring UC within seven. The Cats trailed Pitt 38-30. (Highlights from ESPN.com can be seen here: http://espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=293390221)

With less than six minutes left the Bearcats had the ball on the one yard line. Zach Collaros, who had played masterfully in replacement of Pike when Pike re-injured his left arm earlier in the year, came in to run the UC offense on the goal line. He handed the ball on a read option to Isaiah Pead for six. We trailed by two.

And who stepped up on the two-point conversion? None other than Mardy Gilyard.

Pike flipped the ball to Gilyard for two points, and the score was tied with 5:46 left in the game.

Pitt’s Dion Lewis punched the ball in from five yards with 1:33 left on the clock, leading my counterpart at Pitt to look at me and say, “Damn, bro, this is crazy! I think we left you with too much time though.” There was too much time for Pike and Gilyard to tie the game and send it into overtime.

Enter Andrew Janocko, Pitt’s third string back-up quarterback, and PAT holder. Janocko bobbled the snap and Dan Hutchins couldn’t put the PAT through the uprights. Pitt still led 44-38, but they needed to keep UC out of the endzone if they wanted to keep their hopes of securing the Big East title alive.

But with 33 seconds left on the clock Pike stood behind center Chris Jurek with four wide outs to his left and Armon Binns to his right. Binns, a junior from Pasadena, Calif., was only looking at one cover corner on his side of the field.

I don’t normally do this, but I glanced away from my camera for a split second and looked down at the field. ‘Oh…my…God. He’s singled covered!’ I thought. ‘Throw it to Binns Tony, throw it to Binns. This is a touchdown.’

Pike got the snap and lofted the ball for the right corner of the endzone. It fell into the arms of Binns in stride. The crowd in front of me—mainly Cincinnati fans—was pumped.

Pike celebrates (Cincinnati Enquirer photo)

Jake Rogers came on and nailed the PAT, leaving my counterpart from Pitt to once again utter, “Damn bro. This has been one of the craziest games I’ve ever seen.”

I couldn’t agree more.

When Pitt got the ball back with 33 seconds remaining in the game, they had to throw the ball. Bill Stull was pinned on his own 18-yard line, and Bob Diaco, whose defense had been torched all day on the ground, sent out the best pass coverage guys he could get on the field.

Stull’s first pass dropped incomplete. His second fell to the turf, also incomplete. On third down he turned to Jonathan Baldwin, who had been a stud for the Panthers all season; that pass also went incomplete. With just ten seconds remaining, Stull dropped back with the game on the line.

The Cincinnati Bearcats celebrate after defeating Pitt in 2009 (Cincinnati Enquirer photo)

He was sacked by Alex Daniels to end the game. Someone in front of me popped a cork on a champagne bottle. The party was on.

I leaned out of the video booth and waved at my mom and dad. I got the thumbs up from my dad. We had done it, so long as Tony Pike didn’t give the next snap to Pitt and let them run it into the endzone.

Brian Kelly sent the offense out onto the field and Pike took a knee. The clock said 0:00, UC-45 Pitt-44. For the second straight year I was headed to a BCS bowl game as the Big East champion.

Kelly and Jeff Quinn share a hug after beating Pittsburgh. (Cincinnati Enquirer photo)

“Good luck wherever you end up,” said my counterpart from Pitt. “And represent [the Big East] well.”

“Same to you guys,” I said as we left the video booth.

I walked down a few steps and my mom and dad were waiting. I think my mom hit me numerous times saying, “I drove all this way and you guys almost lost!”

Almost.

I said goodbye to them and headed down the elevator toward the locker room to set my stuff in the equipment truck. The first person who greeted me was co-worker Joe Stanek.

The Big East champs hold their title in the locker room (from the Twitter account of Tom Gelehrter aka Tommy G)

He picked me up and gave me a huge hug. “Can you believe we did it!” he said, as excited as I was that we were a part of something so very special.

I’m not sure what my response was, but I know it’s almost unbelievable still. We were a part of one of the best college football teams in America that season.

And that, is the best moment I’ve ever been a part of in the past four years at UC.

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Disagreements? Comments? Concerns? Questions? Leave a comment below, and as always thanks for reading.

Check back tomorrow on graduation day for a special post. This has been a fun countdown to produce and organize. You’ve seen the good and the bad, the happy and the sad moments that I’ve lived through the past four years. These posts are only a small look into what I’ve experienced in the past four years, but it’s been a blast. I can’t wait to put some more memories in as I go through grad school. One more game like this one wouldn’t be too bad.

Have a good Friday.

Five days until graduation

With just five days until graduation everyone is beginning to get excited about it. To be honest, I’m not very excited about it yet. But I’ve still got a whole “work” week ahead of me to get fired up about walking across a stage and getting a piece of paper. Here’s a look at the No. 5 moment in the countdown to graduation.

Moment 5: “The day the music died”(December 10th 2009)

As we pulled back onto the campus of the University of Cincinnati on that cold night, REM’s “It’s the end of the world as we know it,” played on the car radio. How apropos.

Hours earlier Brian Kelly walked into the Westin Hotel in downtown Cincinnati flanked by police officers and he simply waved to throngs of TV cameras assembled in the lobby. He wasn’t speaking to the folks who all wanted to know the answer to the simple question, “Why?”

Why are you leaving Cincinnati? Why go to Notre Dame? They didn’t even make a bowl game! This team is on the cusp of finishing third in national polls and is undefeated? Why leave your players before the biggest game in program history?

It was his dream.

“Nobody does it like Notre Dame,” he’d say in a press conference the next day in South Bend, Ind., his new home.

On that night in the Westin Hotel it was simply a nightmare.

The whole city of Cincinnati wanted to know. It was so overwhelming that quarterbacks coach Greg Forest had to put out a tweet: “Please stop calling, texting me I do not know anything.”

He spoke for every one of us sitting in the team’s end of the year banquet that evening. It was so bad I turned my phone off, completely.

Quarterback Tony Pike told reporters that evening, “We listen to the radio and the news just as much as everyone else. It’s probably a little harder on us, because we’re getting the calls from our friends and family, wanting to know what’s really happening. It’s hard, because we don’t know either.”

No one knew that evening except for Brian Kelly.

It was the weirdest night anyone associated with this football program has probably ever had to deal with. It was such a fascinating night that even months later we sat in our team hotel and discussed stories from that evening. Everyone has a different take, everyone saw something differently, and every person has their own interpretation of what happened on that night.

I got to speak to Coach Kelly in the middle of April, ironically enough, about 50 feet away from the spot I last saw him in that hotel lobby. Now, as the head man of the program he’d dreamed of coaching for, he still remembered who I was.

That’s the BK we all remember. Ever so camera friendly, except for one night in December of 2009.

I just hope that never happens again. It was awful, but so memorable, and that’s why the night that Brian Kelly left Cincinnati to become the head coach at Notre Dame is the No. 5 moment on the graduation countdown list.

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If you’ve missed any of the other countdown stories, click the links below:

No. 10- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/10-days-until-graduation.html

No. 9- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/nine-days-until-graduation.html

No. 8- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/eight-days-until-graduation.html

No. 7- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/one-week-until-graduation.html

No. 6- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/six-days-until-graduation.html

Six days until graduation

The time is now unbelievably upon us. In less than one week I’ll be able to call myself a graduate of the University of Cincinnati. Until then, I continue the graduation countdown with some moments of unbelievable pride in my school.

Moment 6: “BCS Mania”(December/January 2009 and 2010)

Yesterday I told you of the month of December in 2008, which ended on New Year’s Eve, where I found myself standing on the field that the Florida Marlins, by the strength of Edgar Renteria’s 11th inning hit, won the 1997 World Series on.

From way up in right field, this was my view of the Orange Bowl

I always say that Carrie Underwood was right, “Crazy Dreams do come true.”

Well, that 2008 season led the Cincinnati Bearcats to their first ever BCS Bowl game, a place usually reserved for the biggest names in the sport. I watched the 2006 Orange Bowl that pitted Bobby Bowden and Florida State against Joe Paterno and Penn State just a few years earlier. Cincinnati was not a team that should ever be in a BCS bowl game, but some guy named Brian Kelly was a wizard, and he made it happen.

The Bearcats take the field in Miami. It was certainly an awesome feeling.

Standing in Joe Robbe Stadium that evening was an almost surreal experience. Before we left the hotel that afternoon for the game, myself and my co-workers discussed how we had come to the top of the college football food chain, so to speak, and reached one of the pinnacles of the game.

My how we were wrong.

One year later we found ourselves sitting in the video office with a perfect 12-0 record watching as Colt McCoy scrambled to his right and threw the ball out of bounds in the Big XII title game. No time remained on the clock. We were headed to play in the National Title game.

And then, as you all know, it was deemed that time had not run out, and Texas hit a game-winning field goal to go to the title game, where they lost to Alabama.

Well, we were close at least.

Back to Miami, where although the matchup between Virginia Tech and the UC Bearcats seemed like it would be a close game, nothing ever really clicked for us beyond the first drive. Tony Pike threw four interceptions and we lost 20-7.

Even though we lost, it’s one game that I’ll never forget.

In New Orleans 365 days later things couldn’t have been more different. Kelly had gone to Notre Dame and interim head coach Jeff Quinn was named head man at Buffalo, but he was still around coaching the Bearcats in the Sugar Bowl.

That Sugar Bowl will forever be known as the final game for Tim Tebow. And Tebow made the most of it, throwing for 482 yards and three touchdowns. One reporter noted that the game was over by halftime, “30 minutes in which Tebow had already rung up the best statistical outing of his four-year college career.”

Tebow warms up before the Sugar Bowl where he absolutely lit up the UC secondary, leading then-UC defensive coordinator Bob Diaco to cry for mercy at halftime

That game may not have been fun to watch as a UC fan, but I enjoyed watching the team my brother has rooted for his entire life. It was pretty cool to see Albert and Alberta—the Gator mascots—and to hear the Florida band play their “Jaws” theme.

My brother Tony is still jealous when he sees photos like this one

Co-worker Joe Stanek even told me, “Your brother would love this I bet.”

He would have, no doubt, but I loved those two experiences even more. UC’s football program had truly reached the pinnacle of college football, and it was exciting to be wrapped up in those experiences. While we didn’t win either game, it was almost surreal to be at those games. I noted numerous times to friends and family that, “The endzones are painted just like you see them on TV!”

Yeah, I’m a dork. And I love it.

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That was moment No. 6 in the countdown, and tomorrow we check in to the beginning of the top five rundown in the most impactful and important moments in my undergraduate career.

If you’ve missed any of the top ten countdown, check the links below for the run down:

No. 10- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/10-days-until-graduation.html

No. 9- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/nine-days-until-graduation.html

No. 8- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/eight-days-until-graduation.html

No. 7- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/one-week-until-graduation.html

One week until graduation

With just one week until I graduate, it’s time to take a look back at one of the more awesome months that I spent at UC: December 2008.

Moment 7: “Coast to Coast”(December 2008)
Imagine waking up on December 1st and dealing with snow. It’s nothing out of the ordinary here in Cincinnati, but in 2008, I was thinking “Mele Kalikimaka,” which is, as Jimmy Buffet sings, Merry Christmas in Hawaiian.

On Tuesday, Dec. 2, I stood shivering my butt off in Nippert Stadium, but the only thing I could think about were the blue skies, sand and 85 degree weather that I would be enjoying one day later. This may have been the roadtrip I was most looking forward to going on in my second season as the endzone video guy at UC.

And it was well worth it.

The view from my hotel balcony as the sun set

We left on Wednesday of that week, and stayed in Hawaii until after the game ended on Saturday night. It was much better to stand in shorts and t-shirts filming practice than worrying about the cold and snow that our friends and families were dealing with in the Queen City.

One morning my mom called me (and due to a five-hour time difference it was 1 p.m. in Cincinnati) and said, “How’s the weather?” Not trying to be a smart aleck (and failing) I replied, “Well I’m standing on the balcony of my room in shorts looking out at the ocean.”

“Adam, I’m going to kill you when you get back,” my mom said, laughing. (She was kidding about the killing, although I’m sure there were times when she wanted to do so, and I don’t blame her!)

We ate at Cheeseburgers in Paradise more than once, and how could we not being in Hawaii for half a week?

I also experienced a personal first in Hawaii: dipping my toes in the ocean. I’d never been to the beach before, and all it took was one time for me to say, “This is pretty awesome.”

On Friday morning we didn’t have to film practice but we got lucky enough to visit Pearl Harbor. And I can describe it in one word: breathtaking

After the game though we had to say goodbye to Hawaii, but it wasn’t all bad. When we landed at 2 p.m. in Cincinnati we had four hours before FOX was live on air to announce where we’d be playing in our bowl game.

The destination: Miami, Florida, and the 75th Orange Bowl.

Seriously, could the month of December be any better than this?

So we went from Jimmy Buffet to Will Smith, but no matter what your musical tastes, I think you’d find it hard to say that you don’t envy my month of December in 2008.

On Christmas Day I embarked on journey to Miami with all the other guys I worked with and equipment folks as well as our student trainers. While the 20 hours on a bus wasn’t exactly my idea of fun, when I got out of the bus in front of the Fontainbleau Hotel (yes, that Fontainbleau Hotel) I was in the city I had always dreamed of visiting.

When we weren’t working on practice my co-workers and I had an opportunity to dip our toes in the Atlantic Ocean. We literally dipped our toes in both oceans in less than a month. I stood in warm sand at the end of the month of December and simply stated, “Isn’t this awesome?”

As a Florida Marlins fan, I have watched the Fish for years on TV from here in Cincinnati, but nothing prepared me for walking on the field at Joe Robbe Stadium, a place that I daydreamed of playing at when I was a kid (and long before I realized I’d never ever make it as a baseball star).

I got to sit in the Marlins dugout. I got to see the outfield wall that the Marlins post their “World Series Champions” banners on during the baseball season. I was giddy. This was pretty flippin’ cool.

In fact, the entire month of December 2008 was pretty flippin’ cool.
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I hope you enjoyed moment number seven. What fun month it was too. Tomorrow I’ll give you moment No. 6 and a little update on something I brought up about six weeks ago. If you’ve missed any of the top ten countdown, check the links below for the run down:
No. 10- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/10-days-until-graduation.html
No. 9- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/nine-days-until-graduation.html
No. 8- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/eight-days-until-graduation.html

Eight Days until graduation

Welcome back to the countdown and on the final day of undergraduate classes at UC I’ll take a look at a moment that’s more like a four-year list of memories.

Moment 8: “Higher Ground, Indiana”(August 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010)
Sure it’s longer than a “moment” but I make up the rules for my graduation countdown, and I’ve spent more time at Higher Ground in the past four years than I’ve spent at my house I think.

Camp Higher Ground, located just inside the border of Indiana, transforms from a Camp run by the Church of the Nazarene to a full-scale football camp in August. The UC Bearcats become the main tenant of the campus.

For two weeks the entire UC football program, that includes people like me, move every part of their lives out to Indiana for training camp.

It’s a time that both Brian Kelly and Butch Jones have used to promote things like togetherness, family, brotherhood and the tight knit community that a football team needs to become a championship winning football team.

I’m pretty sure that UC football wouldn’t be UC football without the Higher Ground experience.

Higher Ground is a place that you either love or you hate. I fall on the love side of the continuum, even though a two-week stay does become quite mundane by day 12 or so.

As a video staff, the past four years have been filled with football in the day and video games at night. And food, lots of food.

To say Higher Ground has the best food we get treated to all year might be offensive to my mom, and mothers everywhere, but this food at Higher Ground is darn good. Just ask anyone who has ever been there. In my informal polling of people who just come out and hang out for a day, the food is the most memorable part of the experience.

Even though I’ll be back for another round of the Higher Ground Experience this August, the past four years have been a blast. I’m looking forward to Higher Ground already.
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Join me tomorrow for the number seven moment in the countdown. There’s just over a week until graduation. The countdown is in full swing.

13 days until graduation

In my first season as part of the UC video staff, I was involved in 13 games, and a big part of that ten-win season was one of the best defensive backs in UC history, Haruki Nakamura.

Nakamura, whose final high school game was a loss in the state title against, maybe you’ve heard of them, the Elder Panthers, was an absolute stud for the Bearcats secondary.

The post-game handshake between Rutgers and UC players and coaches in 2007. This was Brian Kelly's first Big East game as head coach in Cincinnati

Nakamura anchored a defensive backfield that took 26 interceptions from opposing quarterbacks in Brian Kelly’s first season in the Queen City.

Here’s to No. 13, the guy who now wears purple, oddly enough, as a member of the Baltimore Ravens, and less than two weeks to graduation.

15 days until graduation

The countdown is getting smaller, and it’s hard to not think of one of the best moments in recent UC football history when you think of the number 15.

With less than a minute left on the clock at Heinz Field, Tony Pike, a hometown kid from Reading High School, stood behind center Chris Jurek with four wide outs to his left, and then-junior Armon Binns alone to his right.

Tony Pike (Cincinnati Enquirer photo)

A perfect season was on the line.

Pike throws (Cincinnati Enquirer photo)

I never, never say this before the ball is snapped, but I quickly glanced away from my camera screen and said to myself, ‘This is a touchdown.’

Binns lays out to make the catch (Cincinnati Enquirer photo)

Pike got the snap, lofted the ball toward the goal line, and the rest is history.

Pike celebrates (Cincinnati Enquirer)

I hope to come up with a top-ten list of college memories, and I’d have to tell you that this moment might be really, really high on that list.

So here’s to No. 15, Tony Pike, as a Bearcat, and the fact that in 15 days, I’ll be able to walk across the stage and call myself a graduate of UC.

How well do you know me? (Quiz time)

On Monday I was walking out of the UC football office (which I could list as my secondary home address) and a co-worker, T.J., told me about how he spent his Sunday evening reading a lot of my blog posts. My aunt e-mailed me on Monday and wanted the link here so she could go back and read some things too.

So, I’m glad everyone is enjoying the blogging. Even if you’re not a NASCAR fan, I sneak in enough non-NASCAR stuff to keep you interested, I hope.

T.J. told me that he especially enjoyed the interview I did of myself last year, so I thought of a fun way to do something along those lines today.

How well do you know me, your favorite writer? I devised a little quiz to gauge your knowledge.

1. Nicknames
What was my nickname growing up (in grade school)?
A. Sunshine
B. Hollywood
C. Erkel

What was my nickname in high school (Bonus points if you know who gave it to me)?
A. Darren
B. Hollywood
C. Stats

What is the name that I was given when I began working with the video staff at UC in ’07? (and many still call me this)
A. Nozzle
B. Towlie
C. Anus

2. Music
What is my self-proclaimed favorite song? (If you follow my tweets this shouldn’t be too horribly tough)
A. Taylor Swift- “Our Song”
B. Lifehouse- “You and Me”
C. Rascal Flatts- “God Bless the Broken Road”

What do I consider to be No. 2 on the list of my favorites?
A. Taylor Swift- “Our Song”
B. Lifehouse- “You and Me”
C. Rascal Flatts- “God Bless the Broken Road”

3. This one is a gimme, who do I consider my childhood idol and role model?
A. Kyle Petty
B. Mark Martin
C. Ward Burton

4. Favorite Sports teams
What is my favorite Major League Baseball team?
A. Cincinnati Reds
B. Florida Marlins
C. Chicago Cubs

Even though I’m not a huge fan of the NFL, if I had to pick a team to root for, who would be my team?
A. Miami Dolphins
B. Cincinnati Bengals
C. Indianapolis Colts

5. Which of these two TV shows do I consider to be my two most favorite?
A. How I Met Your Mother
B. Big Bang Theory
C. SportsCenter
D. Grey’s Anatomy
E. Two and a Half Men

Bonus points if you can name my favorite TV game show.

6. What is my favorite number?
A. 5
B. 6
C. 60
D. 64

7. This one is a fun bonus question, but if you can name my number one top pet peeve of all time, you can give yourself another bonus point.

All right, how do you think you did?
Here are the answers…
1. Nicknames
-Grade School: B Hollywood
-High School: A Darren (And if you answered Craig James, Elder’s assistant AD and assistant football coach, as the person who gave me the nickname, give yourself a bonus point)
-Now: C Anus (Against my will, I must admit, and the name has stuck, unfortunately)

2. Music
-My favorite song: B Lifehouse- “You and Me”
-Second favorite: C Rascal Flatts- “God Bless the Broken Road”

3. If you missed this one, you should probably check how many times I’ve written about Mark Martin in the past. It’s Mark Martin if you didn’t pick up on it yet. B Mark Martin

4. Favorite teams
-MLB: B Florida Marlins
-NFL: A Miami Dolphins

5. Favorite TV shows
-I consider B and D, The Big Bang Theory and Grey’s Anatomy to be my two favorite shows from that list, although I am a huge fan of the other three.
-The answer to the bonus question, my favorite game show, is Jeopardy.

6. My favorite number is 60, the former number of Mark Martin in the Nationwide (check that, Busch) Series. It’s been my number for a long time.

7. Pet Peeve: I went to grade school at St. William. Can everyone read that? St. William, with no ‘S’ at the end. My biggest pet peeve is when people call my grad school alma mater St. Williams, because that’s just plain wrong.
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There were 11 questions with two bonus opportunities, so the max score was 13. If you got all 13, then you probably share my last name, or you are me. If you got more than 8 of the 11, that’s pretty good, you must know me pretty well.

If you got between 5 and 8, you know me, but obviously don’t know me too well. If you got between 3 and 5, well, you’ve got 550 other blogs to check out to learn some more about me.

If you got two or less, start reading! Seriously!

I hope you’ve enjoyed the short diversion from NASCAR news today and keep checking back here. If you have any comments, leave them under the post. I’m always happy to hear from my readers.

UC’s Anderson will transfer

Lost amidst all the NASCAR and A.J. Allmendinger blogs was the news that UC backup quarterback Chazz Anderson (whose legal name is Timothy Chazz Anderson) has decided to leave the Bearcats and transfer to another school.

In a report by Bill Koch of the Cincinnati Enquirer, head coach Butch Jones has stated that Anderson, a 2007 graduate of Pickerington Central High School just outside Columbus, will receive his UC undergraduate degree and head to Ohio Dominican to play and study to be a minister.

“Chazz wants to go in the seminary,” Jones told Koch. “That’s why Ohio Dominican is very attractive to him because they have a seminary program. He wants to go into the ministry.”

While I have yet to see any credible reports with any quotes from Anderson, I would believe this is 100 percent true. (In the article, Jones was “about 90 percent sure”)

A lot of people asked me over the past few weeks what I thought of Chazz Anderson’s departure. Let me tell you just how great Chazz is.

In four years of working with the Bearcat football program, I’ve come to know Chazz Anderson, and he is one hell of a young man. And while I certainly wish he would stay and continue his playing career as a Bearcat, I understand that he wants to play quarterback, and there’s just no room at UC for him on the quarterback depth chart.

In October of 2008, Anderson stepped into the starting quarterback role after Tony Pike broke his arm against Akron. He started against Marshall and Rutgers, leading UC to two important wins on the road to the school’s first-ever BCS bowl berth and Big East title.

Anderson makes a pass against Marshall in 2008 (File photo)

But it wasn’t just me that was fired up about the way Chazz handled himself and played against Marshall and Rutgers. My good friend and occasional blog contributor Jake Meyer was interested in Chazz’s play as well.

So on Tuesday, Oct. 16 of ’08, I wrote, “Jake was rather impressed with Anderson in the two games he watched him play. Maybe Jake will get to see Chazz tear up Pitt in a few years and say, ‘I told you so.’”

That won’t happen, but it didn’t stop Jake from commenting a few weeks ago about Anderson’s departure. “I was really impressed a few years ago when I watched those games,” Jake told me.

So was I.

Don’t get me wrong, I really wish there was a way for Bearcat fans to continue to see Chazz Anderson on the field next season. On top of being a pretty good athlete and decent football player, he’s one of the nicest guys off of the field.

I’m certainly going to miss the interactions I’ve had with Chazz over the past four years, but I will probably always use him as a shining example of the way a player should act—both on and off the field.
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The most obvious story that this has created is ‘Who is the new No. 2 quarterback?’ Right now, it’s a wide open race between Brendon Kay, Jordan Luallen and Munchie Legaux. And I’m sure we’ll know before the Bearcats take the field against Austin Peay on Saturday, Sept. 3.

Have a great Tuesday.

Thoughts on Ohio State and Jim Tressel

It seems that everyone wants to see Jim Tressel ousted at Ohio State. But one OSU graduate had some very, very passionate remarks regarding his alma mater’s head coach.

I really could care less what the school up north of here decides to do with their head coach. It seems that they are in a lose-lose situation. The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Paul Daugherty, “The question The Ohio State University needs to be pondering is this: At what point does its soul matter more than its football coach’s ability to beat Michigan?”

Well, a 1984 graduate of “The” Ohio State University, my dad, Steve recently took to everyone’s favorite quote machine to answer these questions. In response to a question posed to him by my former co-worker Joe Stanek, my dad said, “I say fire the coach and never let the players step foot on the OSU field again. Cleaning house is not a bad thing. OSU will still win games. They fired Woody, and lived through Earle Bruce.”

My dad, Steve (on the right), is a 1984 graduate of Ohio State. He's pictured here with me (left) and my brother Tony (middle) before the 2007 Brickyard 400

Well, they fired Woody Hayes right before my dad got to Ohio State, so he actually lived through the Earle Bruce era, and he always says that he was a part of the only class to go through Ohio State that never beat Michigan.

In fact, Tressel is revered for his record against Ohio State’s biggest rival. There’s even a counter on the Columbus Dispatch’s website counting the days it has been since Michigan last beat Ohio State on the gridiron.

“Tressel has done far worse damage than Woody’s 68-year-old weak right cross that player didn’t even feel. FIRE him,” my dad continued.

It’s always fun to hear my dad talk about Ohio State because he doesn’t necessarily care too much about the Buckeyes anymore. After all, he’s paying for his two sons to attend the University of Cincinnati (and one of them actually works for the UC football program—that’d be me, in case you were wondering). When Ohio State is on, he pays attention, and he wears Buckeye shirts, but he’s by no means a diehard fan of the program.

Which makes his argument stand up even more in my mind. Diehard fans of the OSU program are way too often blinded by their own fandom to see the facts. When I suggested in late 2007 that Ohio State was ducking UC and buying out a portion of the contract because they didn’t want to play against the Bearcats, I was mocked. A few months later, lo and behold, an official announcement was made that Ohio State was buying out UC.

Call me a hater, but I knew the facts before super fans wanted to admit. Not that they’ll ever tell me I was right beforehand.

And what about the five players, who now look like saints up against their head coach and protector. “Also, the players have disgraced the reputation of the school and should never set foot on the field again,” my dad said.

One grad has spoken. Do you agree? I don’t mind the reasoning behind my dad’s argument, but I could care less what Ohio State does. Until they want to play us.

Notre Dame employs video game system to help quarterbacks

Chances are if you’re a fan of college football and you’re around my age you’ve spent more than a few hours playing EA Sports’ NCAA Football on your PlayStation or XBox. I’m certainly guilty of that “crime,” if you will.

Turns out, not only are nerds like me using the video game to have fun and live out the dreams of chasing a Heisman trophy and National Title, but so are the actual athletes themselves.

*If you’ve read this story before, well, it’s because I’ve written it before. If you go to http://web.coachbutchjones.com/Dev/ and click on the “Inside Football” tab and the EA Sports menu, you’ll be able to see how UC’s quarterbacks have been using the system since Brian Kelly was the head man at UC.

Mark Schlabach of ESPN sat down and watched Kelly and his quarterbacks during a spring practice. Not only does Notre Dame employ the EA Sports Play Action Simulator, developed by EA and XOS Digital, the company that supplies film editing equipment to teams like Notre Dame and Cincinnati, but they also use new “helmet cams” mounted on the quarterback’s helmet so Kelly can break down exactly what each of his signal callers sees on each play.

Yeah, it’s like Madden 64, only, probably a whole heck of a lot better.

I am very familiar with the EA Sports Play Action Simulator, something that we used during the 2009 season where UC ran the table and went 12-0, clinching a second consecutive Big East title and a berth in the Sugar Bowl.

“It’s a good tool to have the night before a game,” Notre Dame quarterback Tommy Rees told Schlabach. “It’s a good thing to use as a refresher.”

Opponents’ defensive schemes can be programmed into the simulator and, in this case, the Notre Dame offense is installed in the game as well. Before each play, quarterbacks are quizzed on what their pre-snap reads are.

For example, Schlabach noted this instance, which took place in the Notre Dame hotel the night before their Sun Bowl victory over Miami (FL).

“Before taking a snap on a play called “North Squeeze 63 Dolphin,” Rees was asked to identify Miami's pass coverage. His options were: Cover 4, Tampa 2 or 2 Man. After correctly identifying the coverage, Rees had to throw to the correct receiver,” Schlabach noted.

One of the most fun parts about the simulator was the fact that it was in our hands to set up. The UC video staff became very proficient at setting up the games and making sure they worked before guys like Tony Pike, Zach Collaros and Chazz Anderson came into the quarterback meeting room to try it out.

It was fun. Just ask the guys I work with.

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Spring football is winding down in Cincinnati, and the Fifth annual Bearcat Bowl will take place on Saturday. It should be a fun night, so come on out to Nippert Stadium and watch the 2011 Bearcats in action.

Good news

It’s always good to share some good news with the loyal readers of the blog. After all, I feel like you partially were responsible for getting me this far.

I received my letter for grad school from UC today, and I have been admitted to grad school.

That’s right, I’m in, and I couldn’t be happier.

This means I’ll be hanging around with football for at least another year or two, but this won’t stop me from writing here and talking about NASCAR with every spare moment I can get. Also, I’ll be starting my internship with Fox 19 soon, so I’ll be having some more fun running around the city and watching sports in my spare time this spring.

I can’t wait. Cue the Black Eyed Peas…“Let’s get it started.”

2011 UC football schedule released

While I spent my Friday at Camp Higher Ground, working behind a camera for the second annual Jim McNally football retreat, the campus of the University of Cincinnati was abuzz with the release of the 2011 football schedule.

Everything I’ve seen so far has focused on the two games at Paul Brown Stadium. Of course it’s way too early to offer any opinions on the football schedules, and I will try to once again solicit the opinions of current WPTS Sports Director Jake Meyer for thoughts on the Big East football schedules.

For now, check out the 2011 UC football schedule.

Thurs. Sept. 1 vs Austin Peay
Sat. Sept. 10 at Tennessee
Sat. Sept. 17 vs Akron
Thurs. Sept. 22 vs N.C. State
Sat. Oct. 1 at Miami University
Sat. Oct. 15 vs Louisville (at Paul Brown Stadium)
Sat. Oct. 22 at South Florida
Sat. Nov. 5 at Pitt
Sat. Nov. 12 vs West Virginia (at Paul Brown Stadium)
Sat. Nov. 19 at Rutgers
Sat. Nov. 26 at Syracuse
Sat. Dec. 3 vs Connecticut

Also to come at a later date, what will my role be in the 2011 season? When the details are finalized, I’ll put them here. Enjoy your Saturday.

Breaking News: Tresey hired by UCLA

Former Cincinnati and South Florida defensive coordinator Joe Tresey has been hired to do the same at UCLA, head coach Rick Neuheisel announced on Tuesday.

The 52-year-old Tresey spent two seasons in Cincinnati (2007-08), coordinating the defense that won the first of two back-to-back Big East titles in the Queen City. He left for USF in 2009, and spent the 2010 season in the UFL as defensive backs coach for the Omaha Nighthawks.

“Joe has had outstanding success at both Cincinnati and South Florida and I know he is going to be successful here at UCLA,” Neuheisel said in a release. “He has an aggressive style that forces turnovers and negative-yardage plays and I feel our players, especially our youngsters, will benefit greatly from his style of play. He is a fine teacher and I can’t wait for him to get started.”

Tresey’s first UC defense in 2007 led the nation in turnovers gained—a margin of plus 42—and interceptions with 26.

He quickly became one of my favorite Bearcat assistant coaches. His quick wit and humor made for some unforgettable moments in his two years under Brian Kelly. For more of my favorite Joe Tresey memories, see these links:
http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2010/05/joe-tresey-hired-to-coach-in-ufl.html
http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2009/10/usf-defensive-coordinator-is-truly.html
http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2009/03/former-cincinnati-defensive-coordinator.html

Signing Day a day of (silly) hope for college football fans

Is there really anything more absurd than grown men waiting on a piece of paper to shoot out of a fax machine? In my humble opinion, it’s tough to find anything crazier.

Maybe watching a groundhog pop out of the ground?

Well, if you’re a fan of college football you ignored our good friend Phil today and instead waited for National Letters of Intent to pop out of your school’s fax machine early this morning. No shadows, no winter or spring predictions, just young men signing to play college football at the school of their choice.

For many it is a formality. Signing on the dotted line finalizes a verbal commitment given to coaching staffs during the regular season, or in early January. For some others, though, signing day is a day to make a choice.

I could care less.

Cincinnati signed 24 new players on Wednesday, and everyone was fired up about it. I get it, I get it, new blood in the program is fun and those recruiting guys (Like ESPN’s Tom Luginbill) somehow get a day’s worth of TV programming out of it.

But does it matter? If you ask me, not really. If you ask Butch Jones, UC’s second-year head coach, today isn’t the day to rank his class.

“Everyone wants to rank recruiting classes,” said Jones. “The real rankings (of the class) should occur 1-2 years from now.”

In Brian Kelly’s first year at Cincinnati, his class of 2007 (which included highly underrated video star, well, maybe you know him as your fearless blogger) was ranked 80th by Scout.com. However, an under-the-radar prospect from Pasadena, Calif., may have made the biggest splash in the past four years at UC.

Remember when, with 39 seconds left, down six to Pitt in 2009, Tony Pike dropped back to pass? Even if you don’t remember the details, you’ll surely remember the guy who caught the ball.


Along with Armon Binns, quarterback Zach Collaros and offensive linemen Sam Griffin and Alex Hoffman were all a part of that first class.

In 2008 and 2009, the UC Bearcats had the 51st best recruiting class in the nation. Players like running back Isaiah Pead (2008) and linebacker Maalik Bomar (2009) have made an impact for UC in the past few years.

Even though Jones and his staff had to scramble last year, UC still ranked 52nd in the nation. This year, however, with one full season under his belt, Jones and the football staff at UC have compiled the highest ranked class in the school’s history.

The class was ranked 41st at last check, bolstered, no doubt, by Harrisburg (Pa.) running back Jameel Poteat. Poteat de-committed from Pittsburgh after Dave Wannstedt stepped down as head coach.

For a full list of signees, as well as video highlights of the signees and the day’s events, go check out GoBearcats.com (http://www.gobearcats.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/11-cinn-signing-day.html)

It was a fun day no doubt for those coaches who recruited these young men the past few months.

We’ll really find out how good these guys are in a few years. Maybe by then Signing Day won’t be as hyped as it is now. I have a feeling that’s just an ephemeral wish from me.

2010 in Review

I love Cincinnati, but forgive me if I seem spoiled by saying after the past few years, this New Year’s Eve in the Queen City will be disappointing. Two years ago we rang in the new year in Miami, and last year it was one wild party on Bourbon Street (which I watched from my hotel room—I wasn’t about to venture down into that craziness) in New Orleans.

So, this year won’t be quite the scene it has been in the past few years, but nonetheless it will be another night to ring in the next year, and hopefully 2011 will be just as much fun and just as exciting as 2010.

There were plenty of highs and plenty of lows, and if you followed the blog, you know most of the upcoming story, but stick around. There are a few good new gems I’ve got planned, including a quick preview of 2011.

As Celine Dion once sang, “God bless us everyone, the good and the bad, the happy the sad.” Whether the moments were happy or sad, good or bad, they were one thing: memorable.

The first day of the year might be remembered by UC football fans as light years ago, and I understand how it feels that way, but the thrashing UC took at the hands of Florida was actually within the calendar year of 2010. The Sugar Bowl was exciting—if you were a fan of the Florida Gators, led on the field by Tim Tebow for one last hurrah.

Well, at least I got to see the greatest college football player of our generation play.

As we rolled toward February, the NASCAR season took over, and what better beginning could you ask for as a NASCAR fan than on day one seeing 51-year-old Mark Martin claim his first Daytona 500 pole?

It was an all Hendrick Motorsports front row in Daytona (Getty Images)

Everything seemed to be going well until that pothole got a hold of the season’s biggest race, turning the 500 into a twice-delayed race on Valentine’s Day. Even though it was sad to sit through almost as much time in delays as we did during the race, it was pretty neat to see Jamie McMurray win.

Rolling into March it was time to begin basketball season, and although my brother and I wanted to win more than one game, we only had the opportunity to win one. Another season starts up in about a month, and we’ve promised to be the best dressed coaches in the league. Let’s see how many wins that gets us.

Also in March of this past year, I began the second internship of my career, this time with FOX19, the city’s smallest TV station. The guys in sports there were more than glad to have me around and we had some good times covering everything from the Reds to the Bengals and the Cyclones. I enjoyed hanging out with Brian Giesenschlag, our producer Rufus, Zach Wells and Dan Wood, and even enjoyed the trip to Indy where Rontina McCann and I worked on some NASCAR coverage together.

We’ll see what 2011 brings, especially with the invite from the guys at Channel 19 to come on back any time I wanted to in order to help them out and get more experience.

Here I am interviewing Elder volleyball player Steve Kent after Elder won the 2010 state title in volleyball

April and May were full of local sports and spending nights at Channel 19, as well as full of school work. As June rolled in, I knew it was going to be one crazy month.

We had football camps, the Nationwide (nee Busch) Series race at Kentucky Speedway, and even a change of address for the UC football video office. To say it was a whirlwind would be an understatement. After finishing camp films, we got the notice from Butch Jones that we’d be moving into his office, and he’d inhabit our much larger office.

It turned into a month-long project for us, moving bits and pieces of our computer equipment into our new, much, much smaller office.

That was compounded by the low point of the year, as I have mentioned numerous times. The July 7th death of my grandfather made the whole year turn on a dime. Even as we moved along throughout the year, there was always that little part missing.

But, not to make it all turn out to be doom and gloom in the month of July. Sure, the summer’s most prominent month began in a rather depressing way, but it ended on a happier note for myself with the trip to Indianapolis, Ind.

My dad and I had a great view of the 2010 Brickyard 400

If you missed any of my Brickyard coverage, you missed a lot of fun observations and stories about the enjoyable weekend in Speedway, Ind. Jamie McMurray won again, and it was fun seeing Mark Martin run well again.

August is normally the least busy month on the blog, and that’s because I’m stuck in West Harrison, Ind. at Camp Higher Ground going through two practices a day with the UC football team. This year was no different, and we were busier than ever this year with the new coaching staff.

The football season began on Labor Day weekend, and from September on it was fourteen weeks of football, football and more football, with some schoolwork sprinkled in here and there. Even though the season was a disappointment, our video looked great.

And on one windy day in South Bend, Ind., the whole perception of my job was thrown into the national headlines. On October 27th tragedy struck the Notre Dame football program when student videographer Declan Sullivan was killed when the scissor lift he was filming practice from fell.

Everyone I ran into in the days following the incident said the first thing they thought of was me. During our game against Syracuse that Saturday it was the topic of discussion between the two film staffs from UC and Syracuse. At least it was in my lift in the endzone at Nippert Stadium.

We also hung the above banner on our lift and it stayed there throughout the season. It certainly wasn’t the way we ever wanted our job to come to light, and the publicity from the incident in South Bend was quite interesting to read. After all, in three seasons with Brian Kelly, nothing of the sort ever happened to me or any of my co-workers, which was interesting. Even though no official sanctions have been handed down yet, it will be a story I’ll keep a keen eye on.

The disappointing football season ended in the most insane weather I’ve ever filmed in here in my four years in Cincinnati. Inches upon inches of snow fell as Pittsburgh’s Dion Lewis torched the UC defense for 261 yards and four touchdowns.

Jordan Stepp of UC stopped Dion Lewis on this play. It was a rare sight in the snow (Cincinnati Enquirer photo)

It was an entertaining game to film, and the addition of my dad on the lift (it was senior day, and we assumed, incorrectly, that we’d be shown on the video board. Instead the “thank you” to the football staff that was given was rather quick and no one was shown on the video board, much to the dismay of my dad, who hung out on the lift for the entire game) made the game so much more fun, although my counterpart from Pitt made the game enjoyable as well.

All of this added up to a few weeks of vacation in the final weeks of December—after recruiting and our banquet work was finished—and plenty of blogs for you to read.

As we head into 2011, there’s plenty of NASCAR, college football and other things to be covered here. Basketball season will begin, I’m still refereeing volleyball, and who knows what else is in store in 2011. We’ll see what the biggest part of the year holds for us, my expected graduation in June.

Until tomorrow, or next year, have a good day, a safe night and Happy New Year!

The year in (local) sports

I love family parties. The opportunity to sit back and talk to family members is something I really enjoy. However, I hate answering one question: “What are you going to do after your graduate?” My response is normally, “I don’t want to grow up and get a real job,” but if push comes to shove I guess I can’t be a Toys R Us kid for my entire life.

Of course you read that paragraph thinking, ‘Where’s he going with this?’ and I don’t blame you. One of my courses of action after I graduate is to get into covering local sports with one of the TV stations I have interned with. So why not take a look at 2010 in local sports?

I enjoy every level of sports in Cincinnati, from high school to college to professional sports, but I obviously keep more of an eye on certain sports than others. My apologies to those teams that I seem to not care as much about. Better step up my game if I want a job in this city I guess.

Yesterday Cincinnati-area radio personality Mo Egger posted on his blog about the year in local sports. His thoughts were pretty good, and might I add that I have enjoyed four years of sitting behind Mo on flights to out of town games. He’s always a fun guy to listen to, and enjoys joking around on flights. He’s also a guy who really tells it like it is about his local teams.

Here’s Mo’s blog if you haven’t seen it yet: http://www.1530homer.com/pages/mo.html?an=2010-HAPPENED

So, with some memories of my own, here was the 2010 year in local sports.

The Moeller basketball team made a run at their fourth state title since 1999. Their state final four game and state title game was the first thing I got to cover in my spring internship with FOX19. Moeller won the state semi-final game against Cleveland-area Mentor High School, but fell, and fell hard in the state finals to Jackson High School. The Polar Bears beat Moeller 57-34.

I also thoroughly enjoyed watching the Cincinnati Cyclones win the 2010 Kelly Cup, their second title in three years. Both as a fan and as a guy who got to cover the Cyclones, it was a fun run. The Clones may be Cincinnati’s best kept secret, and the marketing they’ve employed over the past few years have made their games more exciting than they used to be. Dollar beer nights and other fun giveaways have made the Cyclones a fun night out with friends.

Of course I love to tell people about the biggest news that only I seem to care about in this city: NASCAR is coming to town (kind of). With the summertime announcement that Bruton Smith was finally making every Cincinnati-area NASCAR fans’ dream come true—bringing the big boys of the Cup Series to Kentucky—I was more excited than I thought I’d be. There’s 50 plus days until the Daytona 500, and a little over seven months until the Sprint Cup Series goes under the lights in the Bluegrass State.

My money is on Joey Logano, and I have three years of experience to back me up on that. Logano completed the three-peat at Kentucky by winning the pole and the Nationwide (nee Busch, hey, old habits die hard) Series race in Sparta. Anyone want to bet against me on that?

Reds fans—who were used to having nothing much to root for after August—saw their Reds make a run at the playoffs, and one player win the MVP. Although the Reds fell apart after they won the NL Central, the way they clinched was nothing short of awesome.

A homerun by Jay Bruce to centerfield was one of the coolest moments I had seen in quite some time, and although I’m not a Reds fan, I was thrilled to see the hometown team in the playoffs, even though they fell short.

After the summer swelter goes away, Cincinnati area sports fans start thinking this is the year the Bengals make that elusive Super Bowl run. Even with the city in Reds fever, the Bengals found a way to make headlines of their own. This year, with the addition of superstar wideout Terrell Owens, most Bengals fans thought their team would be unstoppable. Not so much.

The Bengals turned into the “Bungals” as the season rolled along, and fans have become disgruntled once again. I honestly don’t follow much NFL ball, but it’s so entertaining to open the Cincinnati Enquirer every day and read the angry letters to the editor about the Bengals. Kinda makes me wish I was more of a fan of some NFL team. It would make this more fun.

The biggest surprise of this sports season locally was the absolute failure of the UC Bearcat football team to repeat as Big East champions for a third year. Sure, not a whole lot of “experts” (real or perceived) expected UC to win the Big East, but no one, no one, expected to see this much of a failure by the Bearcats.

Next year is a new year, and that’s how UC football fans should look at it. Plus, Mick Cronin has the basketball team playing well, so that’s a plus for Bearcat fans.

Without reading Mo’s blog I would have completely forgot what Mo called “The Worst TV Sports Move” of the year, even though it happened right in front of my eyes. Egger said FOX19 letting go of Zach Wells was the aforementioned “Worst Move.”

In my six or so months of hanging out at FOX19, I got to know Zach, and learned a lot from him. I’m glad he got to stay in the city (he’s now working at WKRC, Channel 12) and so we all get to hear from one of the most fun guys I’ve worked with in my two internships in as many years.

One of my favorite Zach Wells memories wasn’t of the advice he gave me (and Zach was willing to give me advice, and lots of useful advice to boot) but of the day I walked in to the station and he looks at me and says, “You know what we need to do to get fired up this evening?” I gave him a quizzical look, and said, “What?” He made a few clicks on his computer and within seconds was blaring Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On a Prayer” from his speakers, complete with Zach playing the air guitar.

We had fun that night, and I would enjoy working with Zach Wells in the future if I had the chance to do so. After all, it’d let me cover local sports, kind of like this blog post attempted to do.
To borrow a line from Zach Wells, “It’s time to turn out the lights on another edition” of the local sports blog here. Join me tomorrow for a final look at the year, and possibly a little look ahead to 2011.