Leaderboard

Obviously.

I don;t think that I have posted this article so many...articles featuring JLew https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2018/07/14/lewis-patience-pays-another-successful-supersub-shift-nycfc

...Louisville and Virginia had offered full-ride scholarships, but Akron’s could only cover a portion of his tuition. But the Zips were coming off a National Championship, and had just had seven players selected in the first round of Major League Soccer’s annual college draft. “Obviously if you wanted to be a professional, Akron was the school to go to at the time,” Yedlin said. “So I'm happy I made that decision.” ...

Recently heard from a Zips fan who is coming to the game and asked about local info, so I thought I would share it here. 1. Ames hotels will have game-day price-gouging. However, hotels within an hour (Ankeny, Des Moines, Story City, Boone, Newton, etc.) will be more normal in price. If you want Ames hotels, the Radisson and Best Western are walkable south of the stadium. GrandStay Suites is on 16th near Duff and is walkable, but longer. Most of the other hotels in Ames are on the southeast corner (near the I-35/US-30 interchange), northeast (on 13th Street near the I-35 interchange), or southwest (Hilton Garden Inn), but none of these are within walking distance of the stadium. 2. If you want a college town experience, stay in Ames and take Uber around town. If you want a more "urban" experience (at least as much as you can get in Iowa), stay downtown Des Moines (not West Des Moines which is suburban). If you just want a not-so-far hotel, stay in the Des Moines metro (Ankeny, West Des Moines, Altoona). 3. On Gameday, if you intend to tailgate on your own, there is plenty of public parking (free on city streets, $20 in lots near the stadium) which will be fine unless it rains and they close grass lots. I would recommend the paved and grass lots around Hilton Coliseum (our basketball arena) or the G-4 and G-5 grass lots southeast of campus. Avoid G-2 and G-3 unless you want to tailgate with drunk undergraduates. Tailgating is a big, big deal for us. A few years ago, we were quantified as the most loyal fan base (attendance over 3 years divided by wins) and it was largely because of the tailgating. We start on Friday morning when the RV lots open. Gameday lots open 6 hours before kickoff (and there will be a line) or 7am if you have a parking pass from a season ticket holder. 4. I would recommend that you park near Hilton and walk to our tailgate. We will probably be serving 150+ anyway. Some of you saw what we did in Lot 4 in Akron. It is that and much more in Ames. My hope is to be an Akron-safe-zone (as my wife is from Akron) with lots of you joining us. I'll give more info to anyone who wants to know the specifics of our location. 5. The campus is really nice. The athletic facilities are southeast of campus. I would encourage you to walk through Central Campus if you like that sort of thing. Lots of cool history too, such as George Washington Carver was a student and faculty. Let me know if you have any questions or need anymore local info.

I didn't mean to turn this into an Illini conversation, but since it's slow maybe everyone won't mind taking a break from the Lady Zips and their new basketball coach.