Cincinnati’s 2013 Football Intro Video Is All Sorts Of Insanity

(Courtesy Stadium Journey)

It goes without saying that Bearcats football has established itself as one of the top programs in the country over the last decade. As such, with the onset of every football season at Cincinnati, comes ever increasing excitement from the fanbase as the days tick closer and closer to the opening kickoff of the first game. But in recent years there has even been growing anticipation for the intro videos the UC A/V department rolls out before each home game on the Nippert Stadium jumbo tron as the game itself. Overall they’ve been outstanding and have really done a nice job firing up the crowd.

I even ranked all of the intro videos up until the 2011 version (which was terrible, btw) but didn’t include the one from last season. That was definitely a step up from the prior year. Still, my favorite since Cincinnati started putting these together was what I dubbed the “Pat Summerall Special“. How UC got him to do the voice over for the video I’ll never know. Too bad the season didn’t go as well as the video but at least we can look back on it and pretend the Bearcats went undefeated, using it as inspiration.

And if you were at the game on Saturday to witness the Bearcats stomp all over the Boilermakers, you probably were also witness to the newest intro video UC’s A/V department has created.

Breaking it down…

• If I were to sum up the previous minute and a half of footage into a few words, they would be “insane”, “headbanging” , and “seizure inducing”.
• I feel like if I put the video on mute and played some Slayer in the background it would have the same effect. Although it’s probably way easier on the eyes and ears on a massive jumbotron than a foot in front of me on my computer.
• Love love love the “Do Your Job” and “Everything Is For Cincinnati” messages. At their core, these are the same spiels Butch Jones preached during his time here but way more imposing. Maybe it’s because they’re being yelled at me this time around instead of simply spoken but after watching this I want to go slap a small child’s ice cream cone to the ground and scream “CINCINNATIIIIIIII!!!” in his sobbing face.
• The visual effects on the players are very cool. I really like the broken snippets of guys like Brendon Kay, Anthony McClung, and Jeff Luc along with what looks to me like their shadows or ghosts surrounding them. It ties in nicely with the rhythmic guitar and the drum in the background.
• Perhaps the best part of this intro video – ALL football highlights and NO footage of abandoned buildings around Cincinnati. That was my biggest beef with the 2011 iteration. Maybe it’s my crazy personal preference but I’d much rather watch a clip of Ralph David Abernathy sprinting across the goal line than a homeless guy pissing behind a dumpster. I know, I’m weird like that.
• Overall the intro video depicts a Cincinnati team itching for a fight like a boxer pacing in his corner of the ring. Or, with the way the Bearcats chewed up and spit out the Boilermakers on Saturday, a lion pacing in its cage before being released into the wild and hunting down a gazelle might be more appropriate. Regardless of the comparison you want to make, this video got me pumped up for the 2013 football season and in that sense it definitely did its job.