#BIAHRoadTrip The Diary Part V: Leaving Lexington, eating chili and Troy making friends with Cincinnati fans

3:00 pm Day 6
Hampton Inn
Cincinnati, OH
Total Miles: 956

Road Trip Part-I
Road Trip Part-II
Road Trip Part-III
Road Trip Part-IV

This post is sponsored by the Hampton Inn & Suites Cincinnati Uptown/University.

We haven't put up a Diary since Sunday, and for that we apologize.

But we also haven't had anything to talk about since Sunday since we've done, for the most part, nothing. If you read our Diary from a day in Nashville, than you probably understand why Sunday was dedicated to a) recovering, b) catching up on work that we didn't get finished because we enjoyed Lexington to the fullest and c) recovering. (Damn you, Drew Franklin.)



Anyway, after enjoying the Tim Tebow show with the rest of the universe on Sunday afternoon, I headed out to Billie's BBQ with the one and only @FakeGimel to enjoy some of Lexington's best country cookin'. And it was totally worth it. I didn't have the guts to order the mutton, but my Lexington tour guide gave me a taste and, well, I made a massive mistake. Do forgive me. There cheesy garlic grits were out of this world as well.

On Monday morning, we woke up and hopped in the car making the 80 mile drive up to Cincinnati, where we saw I-75 previewing the big game of the night:

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Once we arrived in the Queen City, we settled in at the Hampton Inn & Suites Cincinnati Uptown/University -- which has probably the nicest bathrooms I've ever seen in a hotel, something that understandably has gotten plenty of use as a result of the cuisine we've been enjoying -- and got ready for our night out at Martinos on Vine.

But before we could make that trip, we had to check out some of Cincy's world famous chili. We went to Skyline where we both order a couple of cheese coneys and a 3 way, and believe me, it was worth the trip:

We followed that up with a trip to Graeter's ice cream. When you go, get the black raspberry chip. I promise. Just do it.

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At Martinos, we were taking part in a tweet-up, which, for those illiterate in social media, is simply where we tweet out where we are going to watch a game and drink and hope that some fans will show up. They did, and seeing as we were watching the Bearcats take on Troy's Georgetown Hoyas, we were understandably concerned heading in.

Troy, too his credit, got along with the locals for about an hour before he made one too many snide remarks about Bob Huggins:

The night was a blast. We hung out with Paul Dehner, who has a column on GoBearcats.com, and Jeremy Martin, who works in the athletics department at UC, and watched some good hoops with some good folks.

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On Tuesday morning, I finished up my story on the history of the Battle of the Boulevard -- please go read it, I put a lot of effort into that and there are some really good little anecdotes in there -- and got ready to go meet up with Paul to record a podcast on our little adventure.

The podcast wasn't the highlight, however. The ribs were. You see, Paul had the genius idea of recording our chat over lunch, and while the podcast was probably not all that memorable, the food at the Montgomery Inn was. The ribs were, literally, to die for. Some of the best I have ever had. I also got the mac and cheese, which I dumped a bunch of BBQ sauce and, in turn, discovered one of the appetizers that will be on the menu when and if I ever open up a bar:

(Troy's Interjection)

This really was one of the coolest "media-related" things I've ever been a part of. It was more than just the ribs, and believe me, they were out of this world. The podcast exemplified what sports is all about (at least to us former-bench-warmers): Sitting around a table of heartburn-educing food, debating and discussing sports. It's about telling anecdotes, raising your voice when you need to, and just having fun.

If there is a job that requires me to do this on a daily basis, could one of you please let me know. I'd be the perfect hire.

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After lunch, we headed over to Xavier to pick up our credentials and parking pass for tomorrow night's game. In the process, we showed ourself around the Cintas Center, which is one of the cooler venues I've ever been in:

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Right now, we are currently stretching in preparation for a pick-up hoops game we were invited to on the Cincinnati campus. Both Troy and I are incredibly out of shape, which means that the video we take from this game should be quite entertaining. You better believe every time I touch the ball, a shot is going up.

#JIMMERED!!!!!!!!!!