Living in Cincinnati can be surprisingly difficult during football season when you’re an Ohio State fan. Bearcat fans spew pure hatred for their Ohio brethren, while those that wear Scarlet and Gray don’t usually give their “friends” from the Queen City the time of day for a second thought.
Sporting the O-H-I-O colors in Clifton, Oh. isn’t necessarily a rarity, but doing so requires the ability to hold a quiet strength as the obvious minority in hostile territory. It also gets you a failing grade in this University of Cincinnati professor’s class:
GOAT PROFESSOR AT UC RT @fullsteve: If you wear Ohio State gear in my classroom this week, you will fail my course.
— Jordan Belfort (@ZSibony) September 23, 2014
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsThis tweet was unmistakably in good fun, and the professor wouldn’t actually flunk a student for being an Ohio State fan during a week that’s pivotal for the relevancy of Cincinnati’s football program. But I also don’t think he expected the kind of attention it garnered, because it was deleted shortly after. (I have a feeling his superiors probably wouldn’t like him saying something like that, joke or not.)
He added this later on Tuesday afternoon to signify he was kidding around, and made a nice cover-up bet to his potential expense:
OK, Twitterverse, since my joke is going viral, how about this: If OSU beats UC, I’LL wear Ohio St. gear on UC’s campus Tuesday. #LordHelpMe
— Steve Fuller (@fullsteve) September 23, 2014
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It’s uncertain why exactly Cincinnati fans hate Ohio State so much—despite only being separated by (roughly) 110 miles, the two teams have met just 13 times since their first matchup in 1893. The Buckeyes, who are currently 2-1 and ranked No. 22 in the AP Poll, own the series with a 12-2 record, and haven’t lost in 117 years.
Of course, there is the notion that some of the Cincinnati players feel as if Ohio State overlooked them during the recruiting process, and fans/alumni are bitter that the Bearcats don’t play in a Power 5 conference, despite being one of the most competitive programs over the last decade. (And they’ve got reasonable cause.)
If Cincinnati is ever going to end its stretched out losing streak to Ohio State, however, it would be this weekend. Bearcats quarterback Gunner Kiel has lived up to his five-star hype so far, throwing 10 touchdowns in two games and leading a potent offense full of playmakers at skill positions—something that OSU has struggled to defend as of late.
You’re free to embody yourself with Ohio State attire, Buckeye fans/UC students. But if your team loses to “Little Brother” on Saturday, I would advise to keep anything Silver Bullet-related in storage until you return home for Winter break.
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