clarkwgriswold

Haaaah! The 1.7 percent that don't come unfurled! I like the adult diaper idea. Huggies as a corporate sponsor.

The dunk contest on the Little Tykes hoop was awful. The Pizza Fire contest is an abominable failure as I don't think they've given away a single pizza in two years. The t-shirt cannon shoots duds 99.7% of the time. The whole promos thing is going great! Kudos to last night's halftime show. That was really worthwhile. I'd have preferred that the dance team not perform at the start of halftime to give those kids another couple of minutes on the floor.

So, I wasn't that far off on the raffle idea!

I think last night is a microcosm for the season ahead. Lots of ups and downs, but a few more ups than downs.

Poke was good around the basket and showed his offense has improved some. He range has increased from point blank range dunks to 3 feet. His free throw shooting has improved. I like how Groce jumps a kid but then takes a minute to give direction. He'll also yank a kid, give him hell, then get him back in. I like the short memory. His assistants are also well engaged in the process. Still not sure how that Smith kid ended up on the floor. He's not in the yearbook or on the online roster. I think maybe he won a student raffle.

We missed 16 damn free throws. So much for my early season enthusiasm about the free throw shooting. Awful perimeter defense tonight too. League play will be painful if that keeps up. Nice night for Poke. Good to see him get some reward for all his hard work. I think his career points doubled tonight.

Zips don't seem to want to put this one away.

Poke doubling his career points tonight.

Sayles with a dunk and a technical for hanging on. Ugh.

Thin yet colorful crowd.

Got my shirt! They only had regular portlies by the time I got here. Nobody is wearing white.

Have them save an Extra Portly for old Clarky.

Sarcasm Skip. On a 30 degree windy Wednesday night against an unfamiliar opponent, they may have some of those 500 white t-shirts left over.

White out tonight, with first 500 in the door getting a t-shirt. Excitement is building.

I can see the anticipation for this game is building. Just so we know what we're dealing with here-

Maybe I am a little cynical, but I suspect they would not be making such a statement if they were travelling to Boise for the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

Generally, if a team's specialty is shutting down one dimensional offenses, the defense is not very good. I gave up on Brad Detwiler's analysis when he tried to explain to me during the Penn State game that the real difference between the top teams like PSU and teams like Akron was in depth, not in the quality of the starters. At the time, the Zips starters were down 42-0 to the PSU starters.

And wrestled a bear at a county fair!

Wait...it's on a TUESDAY NIGHT? The MAC are the masters of Tuesday night football! Take the Zips plus the points!!!!!!

Big Dog's granddaddy-

Could be a mean DL like his granddaddy Walter Johnson of Browns' fame.

I wasn't there, but I can't believe there are many 6-11, 300+ pound men that look like Big Dog wondering around in the world, let alone in the JAR!

I think a bowl "cheapens" itself when it invites the hometown team. From Akron's perspective, I think it is a tough draw competitively, but good otherwise. I think more alums are likely to go to Boca than Mobile and I think a game involving Kiffin is always likely to draw more interest nationally. Also, as some have mentioned, with Florida as a recruiting base, this helps the Zips visibility down there. I heard Skip and Keener are in charge of the bus trip!

Most importantly, Mastodons is a fantastic team name. We can only hope they're big and slow. The Mastodons come to the JAR at 5-3, with wins over UIC, Delaware State, Defiance, Detrot Mercy and UI Kokomo and losses to Oakland, East Tennessee State and Kentucky. 6-1 senior guard, Purdue transfer, Bryson Scott leads the Mastodons at 22.1 ppg. 6-5 junior guard John Konchar averages 14 ppg and 9.8 rebounds.

This game concerned me all week. Marshall is an experienced relatively talented squad while the Zips are still building. Mama said there'd be days like this...