Top 8 Signs You're Soft

Haven't been here in quite a while, but thought you guys might enjoy this post I originally posted on the 247 board after seeing all the familiar UC fan reactions after losing the Shootout...

The sheer entertainment value of posts from whiny fans after each Shootout is off the hook. Bearcat fans, here are the Top 8 signs to look for to discover if you're soft:

8. Who cares about basketball? We’re a football school now.
Good point. We all know you can’t possibly root for two teams at once. It's probably even psychologically impossible. Give me a break. Sure seems like I saw a lot of excitement after the Miller's team's performance in Kansas City. You weren't just a football school then. But you are after losses, and even before a loss is likely.

7. Every loss is due to luck or a unicorn.
Last night was Jack Nunge. "He's a sub. A role player." Yeah, right. Jack plays starter minutes, and had been as important to Xavier's success as any other player on the team to this point, even before the Shootout. Maybe, just maybe, Steele exploited a massive weakness in your team with Nunge having the skillset to do it. Never mind that he only did things last night he’s proven perfectly capable of doing. He simply did it more because your players are Charmin soft in the paint and on the glass.

6. Yeah, but we’re classier.
Who are you, Butler? Child, please. This is big boy sports with millions at stake, played by highly-competitive athletes and coaches with emotions. And when things were the other way (Huggs was anything but classy, Kenyon Martin flexing after dunks, Born Ready dropping F bombs on Xavier coaches, the list goes on and one), you embraced them and loved it. And you know what? I don't, nor didn't blame you.

5. They cheat!
After all, how else could they beat us? Yawn. This is a corollary to the “classy” argument, especially when you have literally zero evidence to make that statement, or to conclude you don’t cheat—except perhaps that a cheating team wouldn’t likely lose as often against us as you do. But, hey, if it makes you feel better…

4. Sure, we lost, but we invented Benadryl (or whatever).
Once again, this is code for games against our basketball rival really have virtually no meaning. Why? No, not because they own us. But because our university does great things outside of sports. Now there is absolutely truth that many things far more important than basketball happen at every university. But when things are going well (e.g., UC football this season), I see no one asking why everyone's making such a big deal out of the football team, when we're working on cures for cancer. It's simply an excuse to pretend you don't and shouldn’t care, but only used when you lose. That’s the definition of S. O. F. T.

3. It's their Super Bowl. It means more to them than it does to us.
WTAF! If you go into any highly-competitive game against a rival and that’s how your team feels, you now know precisely where to place the blame. And it ain't on your ready-to-go, locked-in opponent. Look, the word "snowflake" is wildly overused these days, but here's an instance where it couldn't be more appropriate. Hey, we were absolutely the Super Bowl for the Dayton Flyers for decades, twice a season even (and sometimes 3 times). And you know what we did? We kicked their *** at our gym without fail, literally never losing a game since the Jimmy Carter administration. And we still had plenty of success whipping their *** at their gym and in conference tournaments.

2. But we've won two National Championships.
Yep, and so has San Francisco. Which program would you rather be—Xavier or San Francisco? Which team has had more recent success? Which can leverage their clearly still-relevant accomplishments moving forward. That hasn't worked out so well for San Fran—or a host of other past champs, like La Salle, Holy Cross, Wyoming, and other D1 National Champions who won their titles looooooong before the modern era of college basketball and the NCAA Tournament. If your biggest accomplishments were before the grandparents of the kids you're recruiting were even alive, there's a serious question about how meaningful they are right now, let alone in the future. I've often said, if someone offered me wings and beer, but told me I had to erase Xavier's 1958 NIT Championship—when the NIT was still prestigious—I'd say "Make the sauce hot, and I'd like a side of blue cheese dip and celery too, please." And that's how I would feel about any accomplishments that predated by fandom, and was only remembered by people older than dirt. If many-decades-old accomplishments are even your 58th best argument for why your team is superior, it simply means you've fallen woefully short in more recent, and far more relevant times.

1. We should cancel the series.
Not sure there’s a softer mindset or response a fanbase or coach (Mick) could possibly have. You probably routinely picked up your marbles and went home as a kid. And that attitude probably made you the last pick on the playground. And it still stings today, doesn't it? Cancelling the Shootout would be an absolute clown move. Deep down, you know that too. And you know the ONLY reason you wish it would happen is because you hate losing to your rival. Yet the game somehow still means more to us? Hmmmm

You probably just locked up post of the year.

Let's consider another point to make under #3: this game is considered to be one of the top rivalry games IN THE NATION - BY THE NATIONAL MEDIA. This isn't an "inside the beltway thing. This isn't Pitt v Duquesne. This isn't Jacksonville v UNF (in Jacksonville, which is truly a non-event). The list could go on and on.

It's a rivalry that now has flipped from 17 out of 25 UC to 18 out of 26 for Xavier; 3-3, and 8 out of 11.

Oh, one more thing they like to go on about: Xavier being in Norwood. Notwithstanding the fact that Xavier actually is and always has been located in Cincinnati with a Victory Parkway address, it is rather funny that a large city (state) school that is located in CLIFTON would want to go down this road. It's like the poor mid-majors at VD doing the same thing, when the University of Dayton happens to be located in .... wait for it ... DAYTON!

Thanks, Dash! Good to see you again!