Got a text tonight from a colleague, and he told me to switch on the local PBS station immediately. A copy of Bearcats Rising was up for auction – an auction run by UC – and the opening bid was for $9. Greg Harrell and Brad Wurthman gave it the hard sell. Said it was a literary masterpiece. Said I was a whale of a writer. They talked about my shoe collection. They talked about my beard. They talked about how awesome I am.*
*The first four statements they made about me and my book are definitely true. I might have made up that final part of the paragraph.
The auction lasted for 2 minutes, and though I listened hard for a ringing phone, I never heard anything. It started at $9 and ended at $9. Took me a year and a half to write. Couldn’t get a $10 bid.
Tough business, eh?
Saw one of my sources for Bearcats Rising the other day at a UC basketball game. He was one of my more colorful (and, thus, one of my favorite) interviews – my favorite quote that I used by him was the ever-popular, “What a clusterfuck.” And I made sure to include in the book that he actually lowered his voice when telling the best stories because he didn’t want his kids to overhear his college exploits.
He told me he really enjoyed the final product, but he also said that – partially because of quotes like the one above that he gave me – he couldn’t let his 10-year old son read the book quite yet. I laughed, and after I said goodbye, I thought to myself, “Is that a good thing? Or should I be worried that I’m losing a small piece of my readership because I didn’t censor the tawdriest of quotes?” I’ve actually heard from a few people – my wife, for one – who thought my book had too many curse words in it (all of which, I should point out, were contained by quotation marks).
But I don’t feel bad about it. That’s what the people said. That’s how college football players talk. That’s how college football coaches speak to their players (Brian Kelly to UC quarterback Ben Mauk after giving him the starting job before the 2007 season: “Now don’t fuck it up.”). That’s real life.
If 10-year-olds can’t read the book right now, so be it. But I’ll add this: I read Ball Four and The Bronx Zoo when I was young. I saw the Breakfast Club when it came out in movie theaters in the mid-1980s. I curse around my parents now, and they laugh.
None of that made me a lesser man. None of it f—-d me up.
So, you want to hang out and pick up a signed copy of Bearcats Rising in the process? You have yet another chance. This Thursday, 6 p.m., Barnes & Noble, Newport on the Levee with former Bearcats and current Bengals punter Kevin Huber and former Bearcats/Bengals/Patriots DB Artrell Hawkins.
Come on out. It’ll be good times.
Bearcats Rising signing, Colerain, LaRosa’s Pizzeria, Kerry Coombs. With Lonnie Wheeler and John Baskin, who collaborated on Cincinnati Schoolboy Legends. Coombs will sign both books.
Seriously, what could be better? Thursday, Nov. 5, 7-9 p.m.
Come out and meet Coombs in his element. Here. Should be a good time.
No. 1, the Bearcats Rising kickoff/book signing is Thursday at Joseph-Beth at 7 p.m. The special guests scheduled to appear are former QBs Dustin Grutza and Don McMillan.
No. 2, I’ll be in studio with Mo Egger next Monday at 1530 Homer at 5 p.m. Mo said he’s giddy about it. I feel the same way.
Back to regularly-scheduled programming.
Thanks much to John Erardi for the complimentary story about Bearcats Rising. 
Got a call from my buddy C. Trent the other day.
“Have you been to Joseph-Beth?” he asked.
“Nope. Why?
“Because your book is all over the place.”
Then, he was kind enough to send me photos. Here they are for your enjoyment.
And, then there was this. Unbelievable as long as it lasts.
From Lance McAlister, the king of sports talk in Cincinnati:
I started reading the new book by Josh Katzowitz on the beach yesterday….fantastic. Must read for UC fans. It details the history and rise of UC football. Great stuff on each era of UC football….including Jim Tressel’s interest in the job, the condition of the facilities at UC(hilarious story of foot coming through ceiling above the weight room), why Tim Murphy took a 40% paycut to leave UC and coach at Harvard, the impact Rick Minter and Bob Goin had on the program, and the shadow of Huggins on the program, plus much more.
He doesn’t mention the salty language in the book. But it’s there.
And by appearances, I mean radio appearances (so you don’t actually have to see me in the flesh).
Thursday, July 23, in studio with Lance McAlister on Sports Talk, 700-WLW, 8 p.m.
Monday, Aug. 17, the Jim Scott show, 9:50 a.m.
(10:11 a.m.): So, here’s a cool game. You have to put on your history thinking caps in order to do it, but it’s worth pondering if you’re a UC fan.
The set-up is this: as introduced by Sports Illustrated/KC Star columnist Joe Posnanski on his blog (he also generously wrote a back-of-the-book blurb for Bearcats Rising) is to name the top athletes at each school by sport. One for basketball, one for baseball, one for football and one Wild Card – which according to Pos “which could be any sport, anything semi-involving sport or if it’s good enough a cool alumni who has nothing at all to do with sports.”
Read the rest here.
