It's almost chic, if you're a Cincinnati sports fan, to lament what we don't have. We've gotten really good at celebrating our woe, commiserating with each other over which heartbreaking moment was worse, and generally getting stuck in the malaise that comes with not winning enough.

Or at all.

Let's not do that today.

The college basketball season begins today. We do college basketball well, even if no sport fractures our usually close-knit region nearly as much.  Closest to home are two of the country's most consistent programs, with teams set up for success, and if things go particularly right, this could be a season for UC or (and!) Xavier unlike any other.

Beyond the city limits, you can look in any direction and point toward programs that are either traditional powers, rising upstarts, blue-blood powerhouses, and programs starting to rebuild.  All are intriguing. Each inspires strong feelings.  

Most of those programs will enjoy some degree of success this season, putting us in the enviable position of being the geographic epicenter of some of the best, or at least most interesting, that college basketball has to offer.

The season is long, and its rollout is often a little anticlimactic given the quality of opponents the local schools are playing, but today marks the begin of what's good about being a Cincinnati sports fan.

Today, the college basketball season begins.

Happy Opening Day.