College basketball and nobody minds a good cross town rivalry between a couple of teams that have universities just two miles apart.
That distance is the distance between the two universities in Cincinnati making any sports event one of the geographically local rivalries in the country. The big universities there are Xavier University and the University of Cincinnati. The two teams meet annually to play in the Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout.
The university of Cincinnati has nearly seven times the amount of students as Xavier with just under 42,000 enrolled and the Cincinnati Bearcats have a 48-31 lead in victories over Xavier Musketeers in this annual event that started back in 1928. Xavier though have won 11 of the last 15 crosstown shootouts so have dramatically closed the gap in recent years.
With their recent record, Xavier have also established themselves as on of the country's premier college basketball programs and made its sixth straight NCAA Tournament appearance in 2011 and its tenth in the last 11 years.
The latest Crosstown Shootout took place last weekend and it was Xavier Musketeers that again would go on to win. However, this match was engulfed in controversy right at the end as the fierce rivalry boiled over onto the court that saw staff and players involved in a complete free for all.
Perhaps the two universities should consider an annual wrestling or boxing event if the players are more interested in scrapping than playing the game that they are there to play. For sure sport is sometimes hotly contested and rivalries do sometimes rear their ugly head - but all sportsmen should be aware of all of the consequences.
That distance is the distance between the two universities in Cincinnati making any sports event one of the geographically local rivalries in the country. The big universities there are Xavier University and the University of Cincinnati. The two teams meet annually to play in the Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout.
The university of Cincinnati has nearly seven times the amount of students as Xavier with just under 42,000 enrolled and the Cincinnati Bearcats have a 48-31 lead in victories over Xavier Musketeers in this annual event that started back in 1928. Xavier though have won 11 of the last 15 crosstown shootouts so have dramatically closed the gap in recent years.
With their recent record, Xavier have also established themselves as on of the country's premier college basketball programs and made its sixth straight NCAA Tournament appearance in 2011 and its tenth in the last 11 years.
The latest Crosstown Shootout took place last weekend and it was Xavier Musketeers that again would go on to win. However, this match was engulfed in controversy right at the end as the fierce rivalry boiled over onto the court that saw staff and players involved in a complete free for all.
Perhaps the two universities should consider an annual wrestling or boxing event if the players are more interested in scrapping than playing the game that they are there to play. For sure sport is sometimes hotly contested and rivalries do sometimes rear their ugly head - but all sportsmen should be aware of all of the consequences.
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