Yes, I've Been To A Xavier Muskie Game

[GopherRock]

As part of the Super-Sized Barnyard Road Trip in January/February 2008, I partook in a Muskie game at their home arena in Cincinnati. Here's what I said about it in my epic trip recap:

Xavier University is a small Jesuit college on the north side of Cincinnati that has a fairly extensive basketball history. A poster on the Gopher Hole suggested that the accolades that get heaped on Gonzaga should go XU’s way. They’ve got a couple of NIT titles, as well as a very new arena/dining hall, the Cintas Center. We got over to campus a little bit early, and he was able to show me around the relatively small campus. Before the game, we stop at the student union for a blue beer. It’s just Bud Light with a bit of food coloring in the tap, but it’s certainly interesting.

Then it’s over to the Cintas Center. The seating at Cintas is an interesting configuration. The lower bowl goes all the way around the court, but the upper deck ends at the baselines on the north end, and a large ballroom occupies the space the “upper” deck should be. The student section is in the lower bowl below the ballroom, and the area is designated by benches, instead of the chairbacks around the rest of the arena. The XU student section is a lot like the hockey student section at Mariucci Arena: unorganized, unoriginal, and full of drunk people too busy to care about the game. Too busy, except for one minute detail: what my friend David refers to as the Wheel of Death. This is essentially a large, flat pinwheel with a spiral painted on it. When the opponent is shooting free throws, the general idea is that the wheel is stood up and spun in line with the shooter’s eye and the backboard, distracting him and making him miss. This wasn’t working the time I was there.

What I liked about Cintas is that it didn’t try to be what it wasn’t. It didn’t try to overwhelm you with either numbers or blaring pyrotechnics. They knew (and let you know) that you were in the home of the Xavier Musketeers, but let it go at that. The crowd was smart, and knew when to get in with the ebb and flow of the game.

Tonight’s game was against LaSalle, and it was a game that the Muskies drew off to a hard-fought win. Another thing I liked about CIntas is the fact that they provide halftime stats to the crowd. At the end of the concourse, near the entrance to the ballroom, there is a printer that kicks out copies of the halftime stats page, available to anyone who asks.

The whole blathering epic can be seen here. However, don't read it unless you've got ten minutes to waste sitting on the toilet and doing your business.

 

[Gopher Bandanna Guy]

Cool recap of what must have been one hell of a roadtrip. I wonder if the XU students will be able to bring in that vertigo-inducing pinwheel?

 

[PMThor]

Hahaa. How could you NOT hit Danas before a Xavier game? Come on back, I'll buy a couple for you Rock (which means it'll cost me about 6.50, it's a cheap hole in the wall, but it's our hole in the wall).

The student section gets into certain games a lot. UC. dayton. Some other big ones. The kids are still figuring things out, trying new things for certain teams, every year it changes. LaSalle just won't get our dander up. I have to say you picked an unusually bad game to see.

Please remember, X is a school of about 6,000 or so. We fill an arena of 10,250 to capacity with the 300 pound gorilla across town in Cincinnati with an attendance of about 40,000. X has outdrawn UC for attendance for 3 straight years now (but not local coverage, apparently). Cintas is 10 years old, cost $43 million in private money, and was voted one of the toughest places to play recently. X hasn't lost a conference home game now in 3 years. Technically it's not a "ballroom" on the end though. We prefer to call it where the grey hairs go to get away before the game....

You guys are welcome to come back down anytime you like. We are a friendly folk, college basketball crazy (would you know about Xavier if it wasn't for basketball?) and are looking for quality OOC opponents. Someone call up Tubby please.

Oh and don't you guys serve beer in your arena? I wouldn't know how to do that. Thank you Jesuits!

 

[coasterville]

I was GopherRock's host when he visited the fine city of Cincinnati in general, and Xavier in particular. I agree Thor, LaSalle was probably not the ideal night to show him around campus and a game, but that was the night he was in town. That room is a ballroom when the arena is not being used for games (the arena is also a full fledged convention center) - but during the games is one of the two clubs, and as Thor alludes to is where you can find the well heeled 'gray hairs' and me before games.But enough about facilities...

I've been more or less following Gopher basketball since Tubby Smith was named coach, after he was shamefully run out of UK. Looking at this past season, I see you have the Butler win we failed to get. One thing to be mindful of is our Brad Redford spent a few games down the stretch on the DL. He can be the three point specialist.

As has been alluded to in other threads, yes we were able to become a nice benficiary of the mess that happend at Indiana U a couple years ago, in the form of Jordan Crawford. He has grown to embrace the system after a rough start in Orlando. Yes, we had a rough November and December in the Old Spice Classic, then losing multiple road games in December. I credit that to our first year head coach and team building the team chemistry, I really do think we are much improved over the team we had at the start of the season.

Looking forward to an exiting game with you, congrats on making it to the Big Ten finals.

 

[GopherRock]

The student section gets into certain games a lot. UC. dayton. Some other big ones. The kids are still figuring things out, trying new things for certain teams, every year it changes. LaSalle just won't get our dander up. I have to say you picked an unusually bad game to see.

Please remember, X is a school of about 6,000 or so. We fill an arena of 10,250 to capacity with the 300 pound gorilla across town in Cincinnati with an attendance of about 40,000. X has outdrawn UC for attendance for 3 straight years now (but not local coverage, apparently). Cintas is 10 years old, cost $43 million in private money, and was voted one of the toughest places to play recently. X hasn't lost a conference home game now in 3 years. Technically it's not a "ballroom" on the end though. We prefer to call it where the grey hairs go to get away before the game....

You guys are welcome to come back down anytime you like. We are a friendly folk, college basketball crazy (would you know about Xavier if it wasn't for basketball?) and are looking for quality OOC opponents. Someone call up Tubby please.

Oh and don't you guys serve beer in your arena? I wouldn't know how to do that. Thank you Jesuits!

Oh, I really liked Cintas Center. Not in the same way that I like The Barn, but I like the place. I was just trying to flesh out the "why" a little bit. And yes, I'd love to come down to Cincy again for another Muskie game.

I also liked the stop at Skyline, although if memory serves me right, my hosts (Coasterville and Co.) were more Gold Star Chili aficionados than Skyline.

The solution to no beer in The Barn is easy: Get lit up beforehand.

 

[PMThor]

Oh I know Coaster. And I agree about Gold Star. Favorite for Cincy Chili is Pleasant Hill Chili.

And no harm done with what you said about Cintas.

I have absolutely no animosity towards Minnesota. I hope for a great game, where we both play well and the best team wins. Oh and the refs suck. Just saying that beforehand, getting it out of the way.