How I learned to hate Niagara

Any long time readers here know I am not a very long follower of college sports. I did not really evolve past "Tee Shirt Notre Dame Fan" until 2006 when Buffalo hired Turner Gill. That led to me following Buffalo football and then to UBFan.com.

UBFan led me to following Buffalo Basketball. The Rodney Peirce teams in 2008 was when I really tuned in. That season Buffalo lost to Niagara and I saw a collective groan from my newly adopted family of Buffalo fans.

UB has since won the next four and is eight of ten over the last decade.

Still the Perps (or Purps as they prefer to be called) can not stop themselves from chirping about the "superiority" of NU hoops to the Buffalo hoops program.

PU (They prefer NU) maintains their collective delusion by using head to head history and their number of appearances in the dance.

Niagara has historically been a strong program than UB, but you have to go back 15 years or so for that history to matter.

Once Buffalo Joined the MAC the roles reversed and UB has clearly been the better program.

What about the trips to the dance you say?

There are probably three or four UB teams since 2004 that could have won the MAAC. While Niagara's league is usually better at the Bottom than the Mid American conference at the top UB has faced a far greater challenge in Akron and Ohio.

Last season Reggie Witherspoon was fired from UB. Spoon was a beloved coach who helped the Bulls do a lot of things, among them was to beat the Purple Beagles (they prefer Eagles) like a drum. Still spoon was fired for not being up to Buffalo's standards while Joe Mihalich, Niagara's coach was hired away.

So what NCAA power was able to lure Mihalich away from Niagara University?

Was is Syracuse or someone else from the Big East? Was an ACC squad rebuilding?

No, it was Hofstra!

But as I looked back in UB history Niagara has been overconfident and undeservedly prideful for more than a century.

After pounding Cry-agara (They Prefer Niagara) on the grid iron in 1902 the teams had a home and home in 1903. The Niagara Gazette went on about how there was no way UB could beat Niagara.

This will be a hard struggle for Buffalo's big team and many predict, despite U. of B.'s great collection of good players, that Niagara University's heavyweight team cannot be beaten on their own grounds. It is a long-established fact that Niagara University is unbeatable on Its own gridiron. -- Niagara Gazette 10/13/1903

Buffalo not only beat the "heavyweights" on the road but took the second game later that season. so for 110 years Niagara has been way too full of themselves.

Could Niagara beat UB this Wednesday? Sure... Will it make them the better program? Not by a long shot.