The Evolution of the Crosstown Shootout

Frank Victores-USA TODAY SportsGet your torches and pitchforks out. Prepare to go to war. It's us versus them. You are either with us or a no-good, yellow-bellied coward. It's Cincinnati versus Xavier and there is no game on the schedule that means more. Sure, the Bearcats want to win every American Athletic Conference game and knock off Iowa State later this month, but losses to Xavier do more than dampen holiday spirits. They ruin whole seasons.

But how did we get to this point? Just being located near each other cannot be enough to spark a rivalry that has drawn more than a few drops of blood.

Our story begins where so many do, in the dusty annals of history. In the first game ever held…