The old me would rip Cincinnati Bearcats fans for booing their team in last weekend’s loss to Kansas.
Not now, though.
Players wanted to be paid like professional athletes, and they got it with name, image and likeness deals. They wanted free agency like professional athletes, and the players got it with the transfer portal. They wanted to be able to jump from highest bidder to highest bidder without restrictions. They wanted to join the Lack of Loyalty Club, where their coaches have been card-carrying members for decades.
It’s all opened the door for college athletes to be subject to more criticism. Welcome to professional sports, gentlemen. Boo-hoo if your feelings get hurt over being booed.
In fairness, none of the UC players complained about the boobirds at Fifth Third Arena after last Saturday’s 54-40 loss to the Jayhawks. Perhaps most of the fans’ ire was directed toward coach Wes Miller, whose offensively challenged team is winless in Big 12 play.
I’m certainly not praising Bearcat Brian and Clifton Caitlin for being boobirds. But I’m also not telling them to keep their boos to themselves, either.
Booing players, coaches and officials at any level of sports is generally classless. The rare exception should be made if a player, coach or team is showing abhorrently poor sportsmanship or has clearly quit putting forth any effort. That wasn’t the case in the UC-Kansas game.
Booing doesn’t break any official fan conduct rules, but it’s always a little jarring to hear boos not directed at officials during a college game. College fans tend to show more respect toward their team, typically because they have some type of deep attachment to the school as an alum, a family member of a graduate and/or a donor. The amateur status of 18- to 22-year-olds also likely has kept the boobirds at bay for a long time in college sports.
But it’s also hard to blame today’s college fans for having a short fuse. They’re being told their favorite team’s roster is loaded with high-paid players. Fans are frustrated about players coming and going with no sense of loyalty to the team, university and community.
Sadly, there are no more Kenyon Martins in college sports – the guy who comes in his freshman year as a raw talent, stays at one school, works his butt off and develops into the best player in the land by Year 4. College sports is a win-now proposition. There is no next season. That’s the system the players, coaches, university administrators and TV network executives have created.
So don’t be surprised to hear more booing at Fifth Third Arena, Nippert Stadium and venues across the Big 12 and other Division I conferences.
For UC fans, they’re trying to accept this new world of professional college sports all while the Bearcats haven’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2019. Miller is in his fourth season. He took UC to the edge of the NCAA Tournament bubble last season, the Bearcats’ first in the Big 12. He retained some high-priced players and recruited a few more. The expectation is an NCAA Tournament bid this season, and that’s beyond fair.
Fans bought in. UC sold-out season tickets for the first time in five years. Football has gone in the tank since Luke Fickell left, and UC fans are hungry for a winner. Many were starting to think UC was shifting back to a basketball school. The Bearcats last month beat Xavier for the first time under Miller. UC went 10-1 in non-conference play.
The Bearcats have been a major disappointment ever since.
They’ve started 0-4 in Big 12 play entering Wednesday night’s game at Colorado.
It’s sparked growing questions about Miller’s future at UC. No doubt some of those boobirds were also sending a message to athletic director John Cunningham, whose basketball and football coaching hires aren’t looking so good right now.
It’s easy to sit here in the Enquirer’s downtown, high-rise newsroom and tell UC fans to be patient. It’s only mid-January, and the Bearcats’ next four games are against teams that entered Tuesday night without a winning record in Big 12 play.
But I’m also not the one looking for a return on my investment in a professional sports team.
Contact columnist Jason Williams at jwilliams@enquirer.com
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: NIL, transfer portal may prompt more boobirds in college sports
