Going home to watch the Bearcats

It doesnt matter where you live now, or how long you've lived there. Where you grew up will always be Home.

I went home Saturday, same as every year when the Bengals play in Baltimore. Fly to BWI, point the car south, end up in Bethesda. Eat at the Tastee Diner -- 2 scrambled, bacon, rye toast, drive to Great Falls -- amazing cataracts on the Potomac River, perfect fall afternoon, nobody around -- drive past Home, where I havent lived in 35 years, smile wistfully, feel the shiver roll up the back of my neck. . .

Then head for the pub with the 2 TVs showing Ohio State and UC.

About UC: Amazing. They manhandled the 13th best team in the country. B. Mauk was creative, gutsy, accurate. But the defense stole the day. Physical, fast from sideline to sideline, dominant in a way I've never seen. Something else: What a nice coaching job from B. Kelly, who has effectively rallied his players from what could have been a freefall, after the 2 losses. He's using Dantonio's talent, but he's getting more out of it than Dantonio ever did. The guy down at PBS might ask for an audience.

To the game today, which almost certainly will be a letdown after a perfect Saturday at Home.