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Finally got a chance to see my favorite MLS team, the Montreal Impact, play at home in Stade Saputo last night. It didn't hurt to have Evan Bush maintain the lead late with a fingertip save with a few minutes to go and the Impact down to 10. He was put in some difficult spots by numerous giveaways. The goal from Drogba was a beauty though - a straight down header at the end of a long cross from Reo-Coker. Still hanging onto the last playoff spot in the East. Allez, allez. Allez, allez, allez. Montreal, Montreal, Montreal, allez, allez!

If this advice were followed by all forum members on all topics, the volume of traffic on ZipsNation would fall pretty dramatically. But there's no danger of that happening because this advice has often been selectively given by some who have no problem rambling on about their pet topics. Everyone should feel free to discuss what interests them and ignore what doesn't.

That is part of the reason Jackson (and his family who is supposedly moving to Columbia) are taking a pretty big leap of faith in Kim Anderson. I'm fairly intune with what is going on with that program because my buddy who I talk hoops with quite a bit is a big time Mizzou supporter. Both the recruiting and support has slipped since Anderson was essentially rushed in to coach after Frank Haith bolted to Tulsa. Anderson's first two classes have been mediocre, but to be fair, the first one was on short notice, but he did keep Jakeenan Gant committed (a top 100 Haith recruit). Jackson is a very good prospect (probably under ranked) and should help Anderson. Problem is, he is a 2016 kid. If Mizzou has another 8-10 win season and attendance (which has always been good) slips further, Anderson will be gone before Jackson ever gets there. His hire was controversial to begin with. Most hated it, but he had the support of some of the old money boosters, since he Anderson was a Mizzou guy and a Norm Stewart disciple. If he loses that support, he is toast. For Jackson's sake, I hope he fell in love with the school and that is the reason he committed. If not, like I alluded to before, he may have a new home sooner than later if the new coach that comes in wants to clean house and bring his guys in. Whether or not Jackson ever ends up at Akron is hardly set in stone, but I have a feeling this thread will get bumped sometime in the next couple of years since KD isn't going anywhere and Jackson has some sort of relationship with the Akron program, and Akron may have finished No. 2 in the race to land him... Saw on Twitter his top three were Mizzou, Akron and BC (Jim Christian factor, and history shows Christian is hardly a lock to be at BC for the long haul). With all that said, I actually hope I'm wrong and Anderson turns it around and Jackson has a nice career there and winds up in the NBA. I've found myself rooting for Mizzou due to my buddy (who I've also converted into a Zips fan). While he was happy Mizzou landed him, he was very tempered by the commitment due to the uncertainty within the program.

Zips fans care about attendance 10X more than they do their team's performance. I can't imagine the time spent trying to dissect the Zips actual attendance vs. butts-in-seats, or trying to disclose the alleged cover up of unsold tickets by their own University's employees is remotely approached by any other fan base, at ANY division of collegiate football. Now, the butt fetish has extended to dissecting opponent's attendance? F*ck attendance. Go Tommy Woodson! Beat Louisiana!

A better question might be - if high school football games draw really well at Infocision, is there a marketing opportunity in the future to get a double-header with a Zips game and a HS football game? If a big HS game was played at 1, and the same ticket got you into the Zips game that starts at 3:30 (or so) could that improve our attendance? I'm not sure if this would send the wrong message about Zips football, or if it would be a nice way to get the local community interested? You can even have Zips halftime giveaways where you sell raffle tickets during the HS game and announce winners during the Zips game?

I posted this in the Jackson thread, but 2015 3-star wing Kipper Nichols (St. Edward) is looking for a new school. He committed to Tulane (over some high majors, including Maryland) due to Anthony Wilkins, a Glenville graduate who is an assistant at Tulane. A family situation has came up and he is not enrolling at Tulane, and Tulane released him from his scholarship. That makes me think he is looking to play closer to home due to the circumstance. I haven't seen anything that points to where he will end up. But he is pretty active on Twitter. While he hasn't said anything, there are some potential clues. For one, he seems pretty tight with Jibiri Blount (SVSM) who is at Cleveland State (hometown team). But he follows Rick McFadden, who appears to be the only local college coach he follows. He follows some other Cleveland based assistants at out of area schools. He also follows former assistant Matt Futch, and Romeo Travis. And this doesn't mean much but also follows Akron football player Anthony Young (but both are Eds guys and he follows a lot of his other Eds classmates). It should be something to monitor as Akron was after Willie Jackson, and Nichols plays the same position, and they are very comparable as players. Ive always liked Jackson's upside more, but Nichols obviously is a very good player in his own right. FWIW, Nichols congratulated Jackson on his commitment on what was a very well thought out tweet (for 140 characters). That tweet was before he announced, but to the effect of its great to see kids getting a free education. Both he and Jackson appear to be great guys, from what I've heard and read.

Dave In Green, Soccer and Basketball were the two sports I played consistently, well into adulthood, in organized leagues. I love both, and I miss playing both. Soccer is more physically taxing than Basketball. Soccer is rougher, and the substituting is much less frequent, because of the rules. There are repeated, maybe too many, stoppages in hoops. Just the nature of the two sports. I do not place any particular value on this observation. I reference no scientific data whatsover outside my own experience, but I would hazard a guess that Soccer requires 30% - 40% more recovery time than does Basketball. Both are great sports, the two best sports, IMO. I have always considered the training for each complimentary, one to the other.

Ok 3 games in 9 days. If we played UCSB in a multi-game trip to Cali, ok, but it's stupid to travel to UCSB for 1 game especially when the panzies won't come to Akron. There are teams much closer to us that would be of more value on our schedule. I'll always have a special place in my heart for UCSB since we won our National Championship there, but that doesn't keep me wanting to go there for a 1 game trip during the regular season.

Thanks for the kind words! I second what Cajunjeb is preaching, if you find yourself in Lafayette for game day you will have an amazing experience! Just walk around in your Zips gear and you will be taken care of. One last thing, if possible, please try to refer to us as Louisiana or UL. Yes, academically we are the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, but athletically we prefer to be called Louisiana/UL. It has been difficult to get this through to the ESPN mother ship, along with some instate backlash, it has been a challenging fight. Anyway, I wish the Zips the best of luck and hope for safe travels for all!

My, my, how quickly you've forgotten about 2010 when UCSB fans largely got behind the Zips. Oh, and who exactly are the USCB Gauchos, anyway? Ask yourself this... who's getting the better deal... Akron visiting Santa Barbara or Santa Barbara visiting Akron? Seriously, we're looking forward to Akron's visit. There will be a large crowd in attendance. There should be over 8,000 people there since this is our first match with the students back, and we're coming off a win versus UCLA. I'll be rooting for you guys tonight versus Wake. UCSB is #12 in the RPI while Akron currently sits at #13. http://rpiupdatemenssoccer.blogspot.com/search/label/RPI%20Rank