Any tradition as old as the Crosstown Shootout is bound to go through some different permutations. As hard as it is to believe now, there was a time in history in which this was actually UC's game to lose (ask your grandparents if you don't believe me). There was a stretch during which Xavier was the mid-major. Things ebb and flow; that's the nature of life.
For the past decade or so, the game was underlain by two local kids made good coaching their respective programs in a rivalry where they knew what it meant, even if they occasionally downplayed it.