Dave in Green

This topic began with the premise "If the USA wins today". The original topic died a few minutes after it was started without any help from any of the non-soccer fans who nonetheless tried to watch the game and discuss it here.

The legend grows. But you're way low. I was actually born in 1545, bitten by a vampire as a young man, and continue to live on after 565 years with the minor inconvenience of having to raid a blood bank every now and then.

Seems to me that you're missing the point that most people COULDN'T CARE LESS about changing anyone else's opinion. I'll let others speak for themselves, but I know that I'm just expressing my own opinions here and not trying to convince others that their opinions are wrong for them. Actually, soccer fans should be pleased that non-soccer fans would take the time to make constructive suggestions about changes to the sport that would make it more interesting to them. This is a positive, not a negative.

Well I can see a school of thought that the American obsession with high-scoring offenses is somehow related to the American obsession with overconsumption, and that the scarcity of goals in soccer is more representative of a lean, green world, and obviously the way of the future. But it's also fair to point out that the American-invented sport of basketball is growing in popularity around the rest of the world perhaps even faster than soccer is growing in America, judging by all the professional basketball leagues in Europe, Asia and even the Middle East. I guess it all goes to show that spectator sports are in a constant state of evolution around the world, and it's hard to predict all the twists and turns that evolution will take.

No surprise here. If basketball teams scored once or twice a game, the basketball fans in the bar would have erupted that it happened while they were at the bar rather than in the bathroom. Then again, there wouldn't be nearly as many basketball fans if basketball teams scored at the same rate as soccer teams. Understand that I'm in no way trying to put down the sport of soccer. It's just that there's a difference between pure sports and sports entertainment. I can appreciate the athletic skills required to compete at the highest levels of soccer. I just don't find the game that entertaining. Most Americans agree with me. Maybe things will change and Americans will get excited rather than laughing when they hear: GGGGGOOOOOAAAAALLLLL!!!!! GGGGGOOOOOAAAAALLLLL!!!!! GGGGGOOOOOAAAAALLLLL!!!!! GGGGGOOOOOAAAAALLLLL!!!!! I'm old enough to think this won't happen in my liftetime.

If you only have one downtown hotel, the best place to be is generally right square in the middle of everything rather than toward one of the edges. While it may not be the perfect location, it may in turn lead to more development in that area, which would in turn expand the area of downtown that's attractive to visitors. Ideally you'd hope a continuing growth would lead to the need for a second downtown hotel. It's funny that a block north of Market St. is not considered "downtown," but "Northside." Compared to other cities, it would be considered part of "downtown," and that's what I consider it to be no matter what it's named -- especially the way UA is gobbling up the Eastside of what would be considered "downtown" in other cities. Expansion of an attractive downtown area sure beats contraction.

Everyone could preface every opinion they state on a sports forum with "That's just me." It's funny that when someone actually does state the obvious that they get called out for putting it in the middle of the post instead of the front. I actually do recall following NBA games as a kid before the shot clock was introduced in 1955. My interest went way up at that point, and I watched every NBA game I could catch on TV -- all in glorious low-definition black and white, of course. My dad, who was a semi-pro player and coach back in the '20s and '30s, tried to get me interested in college basketball, as well. After the NBA adopted the shot clock, though, I found college ball must less attractive. It wasn't until the NCAA adopted the shot clock in the '80s that I began to enjoy college basketball as much as the NBA. In fact, basketball history books generally credit the shot clock for "saving" professional basketball, which was not all that popular a spectator sport at the time. Even Boston Celtics great Bob Cousy, who was the master of dribbling around in circles and running out the clock, admitted that the shot clock was the best thing that ever happened to the NBA. So, in fact, it's not "just me" thinking that scoring offense has great entertainment value. I'm sure my interest in fast-paced basketball was also influenced by my dad. Although he played and coached in an era when 22-19 final scores were common, he was always an up-tempo guy. He once scored 50 points in a game, which was unheard of in his era. He picked up the nickname "Skeet" because they said watching him shoot baskets was like watching a champion skeet shooter blasting multiple clay disks one right after the other. Unfortunately, I only inherited my dad's passion for basketball and not his shooting skills. I still find the concept of consistently tossing a 9.5-inch-diameter ball through an 18-inch-diameter hoop from more than 20 feet away with a hostile defender in your face to be one of the most amazing skills to watch in all of sports.

Lots of different thoughts developing in this thread. First, I'm confining my remarks to spectating at team ball sports. Second, to me they are all forms of entertainment, and it doesn't much matter to me if others want to consider one or more of them to be reflective of something greater than sports/entertainment. Third, I do not think of soccer as football. Soccer is soccer and football is football. Any sport can be changed dramatically by simply changing the rules and how they are enforced. Basketball could be made as boring to me as soccer by eliminating the shot clock and rewarding teams that hold the ball from the opening tipoff to the final seconds, scoring a single basket and winning 2-0. Soccer could be made more entertaining to me with as simple a rule as greatly increasing the size of the goal to the point that the goalkeeper would be capable of blocking a much smaller percentage of shots. The larger the goal, the more points scored. For me, basketball has just the right balance of offense and defense. There's constant action both on the court and on the scoreboard. Teams average hitting a little less than half of their shots from the field. Defense can make the difference, but even the best defense doesn't result in zero scoring offense. For me, shutouts are statistical footnotes, not great entertainment. That's just me. Those who enjoy watching epic defensive struggles with minimum scording will see it differently. No problem. Classic case of different strokes for different folks. Now, on the more important subject of food, Green is not loaded with restaurants. I'm not familiar with any Mexican restaurants on Canton Road. The Bistro (formerly Bobby's Bistro) is still the best restaurant in the immediate Green area. But there are many good restaurants within 15 miles of Green, and short drives are no problem for me.

Well, Dave, in football, or if you will, "soccer", you get three points for a win, and one for a draw. My favorite "sports" (and I've always considered football much more than that), are football and hockey (preferably ice). I may be repeating myself, but if basketball wants to improve, they need to change the rules to add the posiition that hockey and football have -- a goalkeeper. I've always considered football as just another "sport," and second to basketball in terms of entertainment. If you don't think football fits in a category with other "sports," I'm intrigued to learn under what category you think it does fit? As far a having a goalkeeper in basketball, that would do a great job of driving down final scores and losing my interest. This wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, as I would end up spending less time on sports and earn massive bonus points with my wife.

I don't watch soccer very often, so I'm far from an expert. But the U.S. team looked listless and passive toward the end while their opponents seemed to have more spark and aggressiveness. I sensed that the U.S. was in trouble. It would have been great if the U.S. had won. But it wouldn't have had much affect on my appreciation for the sport of soccer. The more points scored the more entertained I am, which explains why the order of my favorite team sports totally corresponds to the average total number of points scored per game: 1) Basketball 2) Football 3) Baseball 4) Hockey 5) Soccer

Congratulations to Larry Sanders on being the 15th player selected in the NBA draft. I hope to see Zeke Marshall do as well in a few years, if he decides that playing in the NBA takes priority over a career in the computer industry.

As a multi-decade internet forum participant, going back to the era when ASCII text and painfully slow phone modems ruled, I can tell you that I was amazed to see the rise of trolls along with easier and faster nternet forum access. In the early days, most people were mostly friendly, and the haters were universally disliked and ostracized. I honestly cannot get my mind around the concept of perpetually hanging out on forums and spewing poisonous venom at anything that moves. But some people apparently think it's the cool thing to do, and they're very good at it in the same way that pigs are very good at rolling around in the mud and enjoying feelings of ecstasy. Don't ever make the mistake of telling a pig that they're misguided to enjoy rooting around in the mud. People are people and pigs are pigs, and never the twain shall meet.

When the incident took place, I wasn't thinking that clearly. I can identify with that.

Aside from professional acrobats, the preferred method is to use a few sheets of TP to hygienically lift the seat.

My perspective is that there are too many victims of repeat offenders in the world, and that those who have damaged their credibility with a criminal history of betraying people's trust must work long and hard to prove they have truly reformed before earning back my trust.

The NBA according to Donaghy. Yet another slimeball cashes in on his infamy. That's the message for today, kiddies: First, violate the law. Then take advantage of your notoriety to command public attention and make money. No one can go so low as to lose credibility any more. Reminds me of the recent story about Bernie Madoff. He's a hero to all the small-time con men incarcerated along with him in the Butner Correctional Institution in North Carolina. They are all in awe of his abilities to con billions out of suckers when they were only working with thousands of dollars at best. The guy who really got screwed was Jeffrey Dahmer. Before he could get paroled and make millions with a TV reality show on how to cook human flesh, he was beaten to death by a fellow inmate at the Columbia Correctional Institution. So sad that he wasn't able to cash in.

UA has produced so much outstanding NFL talent over the years that it's easy to diss a QB like Frye who didn't become a full-time NFL starter, multiple Super Bowl winner and perennial Pro Bowler. As far as mere part-time NFL starters and backups, we grind 'em up and spit 'em out right here on ZN.O, home of the Zips most loyal sports fans.

It's really interesting when you consider the possibilities for a school like Akron in soccer, basketball and football. Of course, UA already proved that a school with its athletic budget and priorities can play in and almost win the NCAA D1 soccer championship game. Ironically, in the very same season, Butler proved that a school similar to UA could do the same in NCAA D1 basketball. It's football that would take a true miracle for this to happen for a school like UA. In other words, it's realistic to dream of a school like UA winning the national soccer or even basketball championship. Football? Not so much.

I have to believe that refers to any BCS game. If he meant the BCS championship game, why wouldn't he also specify the NCAA basketball championship game, as well, instead of just the final four? Either of those achievements would represent a huge step forward, whereas UA winning the soccer championship is literally the only improvement left after having come so close to winning the championship game this past season.

Rasor has an interesting poll up on the ABJ website that appears to show more interest in Zips basketball than football. It's not scientific, and maybe it's just a case of more Zips basketball fans following Rasor than football fans. But here is where the poll stands as of the time this thread is being started: What would you rather see happen? Zips basketball plays in Final Four (29%, 84 Votes) Zips football plays in BCS game (25%, 72 Votes) Zips soccer wins NCAA Championship (23%, 66 Votes) LeBron James stays in Cleveland (23%, 65 Votes) Total Voters: 287 Link to Rasor Poll

The fact that the problem appeared across multiple browsers and operating systems suggests that it originated on the ZN.O server, and was not a problem related to a specific browser or operating system. Since it was short-lived and apparently went away without anyone's intervention, it was most likely caused by a temporary, self-correcting glitch with a corrupted file on the ZN.O server/software. It's also possible, but far less likely, that some hacker may have been messing around with ZN.O. The key point to me is that my MSE was consistently flagging a file from ZN.O in my browser cache called index.htm every time it was downloaded. The problem went away when index.htm was no longer downloaded from ZN.O to my browser cache, and only index.php appeared. If the problem should reappear, I'll make a copy of the index.htm file before having MSE delete it from my browser cache. Studying the offending index.htm file might give clues as to what's going on. In any case, it's always good for someone to bring up problems like that so that many forum members can offer input, which can lead to a quick resolution.

Diggs has been a guard his entire career. While UA lists him as a forward, all of his experience is at wing guard, so he'll easily be able to switch positions if needed. There's not a huge difference between wing forward and wing guard in the Zips style of play.

If I'm interpreting the choices correctly, it amounts to asking what's more important, a nicer facility or a better team? That's a purely hypothetical question, because the two are not directly related, other than the fact that a nicer facility is at least slightly more likely to attract better players than a poor facility, all other things being equal. The only way I can see someone preferring the nicer facility to the better team is if they are fair weather fans who are more interested in their own comfort than in winning. They likely wouldn't show up if it was raining, snowing, or too cold, either.

I lied about having all the latest updates. I have my Java set to manual rather than automatic update, and hadn't updated in awhile. I just finished manually updating to the latest version of Java, returned to ZN.O, and did not get a Microsoft Security Essentials warning. So I used Windows Explorer to check my browser cache, and found that there is no longer a copy of index.htm placed in the cache when I visit ZN.O. Instead, there is only an index.php file. So maybe the latest version of Java handles things differently in the browser. Anyone still having a problem may want to try manually updating to the latest version of Java.

I'm using Windows XP SP3 with all the latest updates and Internet Explorer 8. The file that's getting flagged by Microsoft Security Essenstials in my browser cache is: index[1].htm When I have MSE clean my computer, it deletes that file from my browser cache and says my computer is clean. But if I refresh the page and ZN.O is reloaded, the MSE alert box pops right back up and identifies that the file is back again and flags it as a virus. Since this has only just started in the last 24 hours, it appears there may have been a modification to the index.htm file on ZN.O.