UC Media Coverage

[Little Danny]

Hopefull we will start getting some more coverage with training camp start up in August. Don't get me wrong, I am glad we are building the practice bubble, I am just tired seeing daily updates of it and that being the only story of the day. I really don't need to get excited because some guy move a few bricks over to the other side of the construction site. I am also tired of hearing that JoeBlow.com has us ranked 97th in the Country. I am tired of getting more news from Vidal Hazelton's twitter account than from people who get paid to cover the Bearcats. Somebody tell me about guys like Taylor, Phillips, etc., confirm to me that Dorian Davis was kicked to the curb and start printing stories and reports to get me excited about training camp. I want somebody to tell me they talked to Zach Collaros and he can't wait to play Fresno to prove he is the same guy we saw in 4.5 games last year. I want to hear Derek Wolfe or JK Shaffer tell us they are taking all the speculation about UC's defense as a personal insult and they can't wait to show everyone how wrong they are! I want to hear from Coach Butch Jones that he has heard a lot of doubters about our program but he is here to assure everyone that we are going to continue to rise, not fall.

Who's with me!

 

[Daniel Drake]

The access the media has to the Cincinnati program is very unique. Not many programs allow what Cincinnati has. OSU has one or two open practices. Cincinnati's are all open. I guess is that is saying two things. 1) Shame on the media for not taking advantage of that and 2) GoBearcats.com and BearcatLair.com offer more info on the team than many other schools do. Hopefully we will see Scout and Rivals do the same but they both have new publishers so who knows. Hopefully Big Koch will give us a lot of info as well.

Unfortunately the only two that have had really good practice reports in the past are either filtered by the administration (gobearcats.com) or pay (BearcatLair.com).

With #81 and #85 an the same team for the Bengals along with side story of PacMan and Matt Jones and with the Reds in the playoff hunt for the first time in a decade I doubt that we see the Bearcats get much attention from the local media until the start of the season.

Hopefully with CTR and Josh Katzowitz at Sportsline we can get some more attention there, but Josh is doing the NFL and CTR is doing baseball so I doubt it.

 

[Racinejake]

I hear what you're saying, Daniel. We hardcore UC fans might be able to find the information on the team between the dozen or so UC fan sites, but it just stinks that the local mass media is not giving us the attention we deserve. Right or wrong, there's a perception thing with not getting a lot of press from your local hometown paper. Plus, many of the fringe/casual fans get most of their sports news through the Enquirer or ESPN. These people aren't going to be logging on to Bearcat Lair or gobearcats.com in large numbers to get their news like we will.

 

[Daniel Drake]

I hear what you're saying, Daniel. We hardcore UC fans might be able to find the information on the team between the dozen or so UC fan sites, but it just stinks that the local mass media is not giving us the attention we deserve. Right or wrong, there's a perception thing with not getting a lot of press from your local hometown paper. Plus, many of the fringe/casual fans get most of their sports news through the Enquirer or ESPN. These people aren't going to be logging on to Bearcat Lair or gobearcats.com in large numbers to get their news like we will.

I agree 100% and that is what stinks. I wasn't trying to say it is good by anymeans. I have the opinion that we have a unique opportunity that most markets don't have. Our program is more open than most - partly because of the open stadium and partly because we are trying to promote the program more than some need to - but they (local media, national media) still don't take advantage of it. ESecPN is a lost cause in my opinion since they throw more money at the conferences that they need to support for their TV packages.

I don't live in Cincinnati. How is the radio coverage? I think that in Columbus we hear something about OSU camp everyday.

I know that the big preview magazines are often wrong because they don't do their homework with UC. To get position breakdowns you are forced to one of the sites I mentioned. I love gobearcats.com and think that it does a great job, but to me - and I could be wrong - it is going to be like listing to Obama talk about his programs. It is going to be a biased.

I follow recruiting, but love this time of year when we get to hear about our teams. The only problem is that you have to search to be able to find them. Casual fans are not going to search for (http://www.gobearcats.com/blog/2010/07/positional-analysis-defensive-line.html) or (http://www.bearcatlair.com/home-news/countdown-to-camp-qb-rb-and-te)

 

[Little Danny]

Daniel, the radio coverage stinks. 700WLW is the big kahuna of the broadcast in Cincinnati and they probably won't mention UC football until September. Once the season starts, the game will be preempted by Reds baseball. Sports talk show hosts like Lance McAlister will likely talk primarily Reds, Bengals and he'll be giving a lot of love to ND this fall. He'll insist he won't talk UC because there is not enough interest in them.

I agree with Racinejake that a lack of commitment by the traditional media outlets does UC no favors in town. Perception is reality and the fact that the Enquirer, the radio and TV offer little Bearcat football coverage is validation to many that UC is small time. This hurts not only in getting people root for the Bearcats and attend games at Nippert, but it hurts in recruiting as high school kids look elsewhere (The B10, SEC, Boston College, North Carolina, etc.).

Like you, I live in Columbus. The local media would give an update if a reserve player passes gas in a crowded room. The local media openly roots and supports for the Buckeyes. In Cincinnati, it is much different. The media's reaction to UC is one of indifference. I've always said if the hometime media is not going to be a homer for a program, who is?