For all of the excesses of big-time college and professional sports, there is a tangible civic benefit.

        Sports teams can bring communities together, providing a common interest that unites people from different walks of life.

Xavier guard Romain Sato walks through a confetti shower Wednesday at Cintas Center from fans sending off the Musketeers to the NCAA Tournament. (Michael Snyder photo) | ZOOM |

        Fans all over the Tristate, even those with a passing interest, are ready to back a winner. And Cincinnati, at last, has plenty of winners in its basketball teams. The timing couldn't be better.

        Take it from none other than the city's First Fan, Cincinnati Mayor Charlie Luken.

        He has presided over one of the most difficult years in the Queen City's history. Police-community relations remain tense. The city was rocked by racial violence in April, and an economic boycott sponsored by a coalition of African-American organizations has followed. The inability to capture the cow that ran away from a Camp Washington slaughterhouse made the city the butt of national jokes.

        But the successes of the UC men's and women's and Xavier men's basketball teams, Mr Luken said, “give people a reason to feel good about being from Cincinnati. We've been beaten down so much lately. This is bragging rights.”

        Mr. Luken's enthusiasm is shared by fans from Lawrenceburg to Williamsburg and West Chester to Walton.

        Desaree Tatum, 28, went shopping Wednesday afternoon at the XU Bookstore on campus to buy school colors to wear to work Friday. She's an MBA student at Xavier and works at a Cincinnati brokerage firm.

        “I work with a lot of people from UC and UK (Kentucky),” said Ms. Tatum, of Mount Auburn, as she picked out blue sweat pants, a matching XU jacket and gray T-shirt. “I've got to stick up for my school.”

        Later, more than two dozen fans, including university president the Rev. Michael Graham and vice president John Kucia, gathered outside the Cintas Center to send off the Musketeers with a confetti shower.

        “It's a real source of pride,” said XU sophomore Laurann Gross of St. Clairesville.

        It's the UC men, especially, who have captured the interest of the region. The Bearcats enter the tournament with the most victories, 30, of any of its 64 teams, and they're one of four No. 1 seeds.

        Champions of both the Conference USA regular season and C-USA tournament, the Bearcats are poised to make a run at the Final Four like they did 10 years ago.

        David Pressler, a UC alumni, will be driving to Pittsburgh with his son and daughter — also UC graduates — and will buy tickets from scalpers to see his beloved Bearcats play their first-round game Friday night against Boston University.

        “There's definitely more excitement this year,” said Mr. Pressler, 56, an architect. He has a new black UC flag to hook to his car window for the drive.

        “I've already got my airline ticket to San Jose,” he said of the site of the West Regional finals. The Bearcats will have to win their first two NCAA games to advance to California.

        The Bearcats are led by guard Steve Logan, a first-team All-American. But Xavier has a superstar of its own in second-team All-American and center David West. Two of the country's 10 best college basketball players have built their games within 10 miles of each other in the city.

        Xavier, winners of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament, won 20 of its final 22 games to finish 25-5 and earn a No. 7 seed in the West Region. The Musketeers will play Friday afternoon in Dallas.

        “I don't know of another city that can boast of two conference champions,” Mr. Luken said. “It is the city of champions.”

        Make that three. The UC women won the C-USA tournament. The team has a best-ever 26-4 record and will play Saturday night as a No. 6 seed in the East Region against St. Peter's.

        Bearcats coach Laurie Pirtle, who has taken her team to five consecutive postseason tournaments, doesn't resent the shadow cast by the UC men's team and coach Bob Huggins.

        “It's not a shadow,” Ms. Pirtle said. “It's a big spotlight. Everybody knows who we are because of the men.”

        UC was one of just six schools in the country to have both their men's and women's teams ranked in the Top 25. The others were Duke, Stanford, Connecticut, Oklahoma and Florida. The UC men were fifth in the final poll, and the women were No. 19.

        “Laurie's done a great job,” Mr. Huggins said. “Their talent level has improved virtually every year. They put a lot of time in. They work hard.”

        The hard work of the UC and XU teams — and don't forget the 31-victory run of the Xavier women's team last year into the Elite Eight — is appreciated.

        In an era when professional athletes are widely considered as complacent, fans are drawn to the effort and emotion of the college game.

        Cathy Sarky, 39, of Hyde Park, is a UC graduate but roots for all four teams — the men and women from Cincinnati and Xavier. But the UC women are her favorite.

        She'll be hosting a private party Saturday night at Tickets Sports Cafe in Covington to watch the Bearcats on television. Her guest list is diverse, white and black, male and female.

        “I really believe sports can bring us together like nothing else,” Ms. Sarky said. “It's a lot of fun to follow how they do. It's great how their success has brought focus on Cincinnati other than all the negatives.”
Complete NCAA coverage at Cincinnati.com

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