Are there Buckeye fans in Cinicinnati?

[Yachtzee]

OK, I've got to take issue with that one. This is most certainly not a Michigan city. What it is is a city split right around 50/50. If anything it's tilted a little more towards OSU, but I think it's the Michigan fans being quiet the past few years as anything else. They're a group that can dish it out, but doesn't take it very well. We're within an hour of Ann Arbor, and there are plenty of people who live on the other side of the state line who come into Toledo to work, so there's a decent amount of Michigan fans. It makes things a lot of fun leading up to the game since it's a fairly even split and both sides are fanatical about it. But it's definitely not a Michigan town.

That may well be now. I haven't been to Toledo in ages. But when I went to grad school at BGSU during the John Cooper era, you could have sworn the Ohio-Michigan Border ran right down Wooster St. in Bowling Green. A friend of mine who was born and raised in Toledo still complains about the Toledo Blade favoring the Wolverines and Tigers over the Buckeyes and Indians. Maybe it's 50-50 and whichever team has the upper hand has the more vocal fans, but when I was in the area, Toledo seems pretty strong for Michigan.

[SunDeck]

I grew up on the West Side (Delhi) and went to public school, but felt the same way. For the most part, people were Notre Dame fans over Ohio State. It helped develop my dislike of the Irish, even though I don't have much love lost on OSU either.

Rooting against the Irish in my family is like rooting against god. In fact, my dad probably counts it as a venial sin.

Me? I like 'em all right and I also pull for the Bucks generally unless they play UC. Sure, that's pretty much a losing proposition, but there it is- I'm a UC 91 grad.

[Caveat Emperor]

I'm really getting sick of articles like this out of Columbus: "You don't love us enough!" Give me a break. People that beg to be loved often don't deserve it or else they wouldn't have to beg for it.

Agreed, although this was just an internet article and not from any reputable Columbus media outlet as far as I can tell.

The very simple fact is that the Cincinnati sports media covers UC, Xavier, Miami, UK, Ohio State and a bit of Ohio University. With that many colleges locally (plus two professional sports franchises), you'd be delusional to expect the Buckeyes to dominate the attention and be front page news constantly.

Honestly, if I had to rate things on their importance to the Cincinnati sports fanbase (generally -- of course certain people will have their own ranks), the list would probably go:

1. Bengals
2. Reds
3. University of Cincinnati
4. Xavier University
5. High School Athletics
6. Ohio State

1-4 will shift depending on who is winning currently, but on any given day any one of those top 5 is bigger news in the tristate than anything happening in Columbus. Cincinnati loves a winner, and I imagine that if the Buckeyes were playing mediocre football and basketball, they'd be even further off the Cincy radar screen.

[SunDeck]

5. High School Athletics

Excellent point, Caveat.

In a way, Cincinnati has a small town attitude towards high school sports. Here in Bloomington and in other small towns in Indiana, high school football and basketball get major coverage in the local papers.
I took a friend to an Elder/Cleveland St. I's game at the pit sometime ago. He was blown over to see 12,000 people attending a high school football game.

[Yachtzee]

As a side note, I got an email from Kent State last week. They were encouraging me to buy season tickets for Kent State football by making note of the fact that it would give me the chance to purchase tickets to the Ohio State game down in Columbus.

[Danny Serafini]

That may well be now. I haven't been to Toledo in ages. But when I went to grad school at BGSU during the John Cooper era, you could have sworn the Ohio-Michigan Border ran right down Wooster St. in Bowling Green. A friend of mine who was born and raised in Toledo still complains about the Toledo Blade favoring the Wolverines and Tigers over the Buckeyes and Indians. Maybe it's 50-50 and whichever team has the upper hand has the more vocal fans, but when I was in the area, Toledo seems pretty strong for Michigan.

I can't speak for BG, but Toledo has never been pretty strong for Michigan. It's always been a pretty even split for as long as I can remember. The Blade is pretty even towards both of them. Whichever team is better will get the bigger spot on the front page that year, but that seems fair. They do cover the Tigers more than the Indians, but that's a Toledo media in general situation. With Detroit being the closer city their sports teams all get more coverage than the ones in Cleveland, and Cleveland gets a bunch more than Cincinnati, which sadly is just an afterthought here.

[pedro]

Oh no, somebody doesn't like us! Boo Hoo!

[redhawkfish]

The only school I support in Ohio is Miami. I graduated from there, and have hockey and football season tickets. I don't care whether Ohio State gets any coverage or not!

[max venable]

The only school I support in Ohio is Miami. I graduated from there, and have hockey and football season tickets. I don't care whether Ohio State gets any coverage or not!

Okay...Thanks for sharing.

[Reds Freak]

Personally I don't understand what the big deal is. Does Cincinnati have some moral obligation to cover Ohio State sports? Is it Columbus' duty to report on every happening of the Reds? Sure, I would love to see more Reds and Bengals talk up here in Columbus.

But in this day and age, there are countless ways to read information and updates about your favorite teams. If I want to read a story on Ohio State recruiting, I'm not going to look in the Cincinnati Enquirer. I'm going to read the Buckeye Sports Bulletin. If I want to hear some Reds conversation, I'm not going to turn on 1460 The Fan in Columbus. I'm going to log in to Redszone or podcast Lance McAllister's talk show. I don't see why it is a slap in the face if the story on the Ohio State game isn't the main headline in the newspaper.

[bucksfan]

That may well be now. I haven't been to Toledo in ages. But when I went to grad school at BGSU during the John Cooper era, you could have sworn the Ohio-Michigan Border ran right down Wooster St. in Bowling Green. A friend of mine who was born and raised in Toledo still complains about the Toledo Blade favoring the Wolverines and Tigers over the Buckeyes and Indians. Maybe it's 50-50 and whichever team has the upper hand has the more vocal fans, but when I was in the area, Toledo seems pretty strong for Michigan.

I can vouch for Danny. It is 50/50 at "worst" up here. Too many tsun fans for my taste at times , but it makes it interesting and fun. Very lame in Reds coverage here though and always have been. Understandably though the TIgers get the bulk of the coverage due to the proximity as well as Mud Hens affiliation. It's what made me closet Tiger's fan after 18 years!

I'd add that the Indians, ever since their early 90's rise to prominence, have been covered fairly well IMO (but again I am not an Indians fan by any means).

There have been times in the past when I have been to Cincinnati area for weddings or whatnot on football game days and Iadmit it felt completely strange on those occasions. I can only compare it to walking around a mall 1 week before Christmas and there was no sign or mention of the holiday at all. But these were limited experiences and some years ago, but they did form some level of an impression on me for sure. But I am all for the local people supporting the local teams, it just suprised me quite a bit at 1st. Nowadays with all the coverage everyone gets, and the recent success in both the football and hoops programs, I'd imagine the situation is different than how I last experienced it.