UA Fan

UAZips, if you live in Alaska, wouldn't a team shop in Summit Mall on the west side be a little closer for you? That would shave a few minutes off your 4,000 mile drive

If there's an award for best use of emoticons, I nominate Quickzips

Here's the picture from gozips.com. The unis don't even look retro, especially with the long baggy shorts. They used to wear short shorts 30+ years ago (now that would look strange if they brought those back)

Wow, I remember watching Shannon play, back in the good(?) old Faust days. I didn't know he had also served as the Zips team doctor. It's good to see an alum & former player doing well.

Yeah, my dome bubble is pretty much bursted. But I was only half-kidding about having heated seats in an open-air stadium.

It makes no sense. You mean to tell me a roof + HVAC system costs $60M, as much as the whole rest of the stadium including site prep, foundation, steel skeleton, walls/windows/doors, painting/signage/decor, steel and/or concrete risers, 30K seats, furnished press box & loges, plumbing & electrical, inside & outside lighting, restrooms & fixtures, concession stands, playing field & turf, PA system, scoreboards, etc.?I am not in the contruction biz...someone will have to explain it to me. Any chance they'll at least run some heating coils through the seats for the blizzard games?

Another option is the "deep hole in the ground" approach, like in Ann Arbor. I don't know what it costs to excavate the hole but it certainly would save on building/structure costs. Which is not totally unlike the Rubber Bowl where the visitor side is below ground level along Wash. Blvd. What I wouldn't like about that though is you wouldn't have a highly-visible & (hopefully) aesthetically-pleasing 4-story stadium which would add a lot of character to the campus. Not to mention a nice view of Akron from the press box and top rows of seating.As for a combined basketball arena...I once toured the Alamodome and what they do there for basketball is basically curtain off one end, say at the 40 yard line and then set up the court and some movable seating stands across the width of the field. That way everyone is closer to the court and it's not like watching those NCAA tourney games in the middle of a football field from a mile away. We could do that for 10 years or so while saving money for a new dedicated hoops arena and turn the JAR into a permanent Zips hall of fame / museum / trophy showcase / indoor tailgating area

Got his 2nd NFL win, passing for 200 yards, give or take 3 feet. He will average 300 ypg with B. Edwards back and an improved OL, noodle-arm notwithstanding.

Opened in 1940, The University of Akron's Rubber Bowl ties for largest football stadium in the Mid-American Conference, and is the second largest collegiate stadium in the state of Ohio. With current capacity at 31,000, The Bowl is runner-up to Ohio State's Ohio Stadium which packs in 101,568 along the banks of the Olentangy.As far as MAC stadiums go, the Rubber Bowl is tied with University at Buffalo Stadium as the largest in terms of seating capacity.The Zips' horseshoe-shaped home has been a gathering spot for Northeast Ohio football fans and event goers for 64 years. In 1999, UA football fan No. 3,000,000 passed through the Rubber Bowl turnstiles, marking six decades of Zips gridiron action at The Bowl.The site of 300 UA football contests, 19 preseason Cleveland Browns' games, a regular-season NFL game in 1952, over 1,500 high school games (including dozens of OHSAA playoff games), as well as many soccer matches and scores of concerts and shows, the Rubber Bowl has stood the test of time.In 1940, the UA football team abandoned well-worn Buchtel Field to play at the municipally owned Rubber Bowl.The Bowl began to develop under the plans of B.E. "Shorty" Fulton in 1933. With the help of the Civil Works Authority, Fulton had 180,000 cubic yards of dirt carved out of the side of the hill neighboring Akron Municipal Airport. Fulton, the airport manager, turned the site into a recreation area.Then in 1939, civic-minded citizens, headed by C.W. Seiberling and James Schlemmer, sports editor of the Akron Beacon Journal, raised $30,000 to help construct the stadium on the site. The amount was raised by subscribing $1 from 30,000 Akronites. A federal grant of $516,000 was obtained and construction began. The stadium was dedicated before 37,000 people on August 10, 1940.Akron opened its playing history in the Rubber Bowl on Oct. 5, 1940, against Western Reserve, before 17,472 spectators. Although the Zips lost 6-0, the Rubber Bowl has since been an excellent home field, as evidenced by UA's overall mark of 181-114-10 ties (61.0 percent).In June 1971, the University accepted the title to the Rubber Bowl from the City of Akron and began a program of refurbishing the stadium. University trustees authorized $175,000 for improvements. First priority went to a lighting system which increased illumination of the field by more than five times.The most striking improvement took place in the summer of 1973. Spearheaded by a gift of $200,000 from Elza E. Hopkins and Clarkins Stores, and a community wide fund-raising drive directed by the Touchdown Club that provided more than $160,000, the University was able to install an all-weather artificial surface. Installation of AstroTurf got UA and area high school football teams "out of the mud."That same year, the Cleveland Browns' played their 19th (and last) preseason football game at The Bowl. The New York Giants defeated the Browns, 21-10, in front of 30,751 spectators. The Cleveland franchise had a 14-5 mark at The Bowl and attracted more than one-half million fans.In 1983, after 10 years, a new carpet was installed at a cost of more than $500,000. The funds to pay for the repairs and installation came from a UA bond issue.In 1991, more than $100,000 was contributed by the Coca Cola Bottling Company of Ohio, Summa Health Systems, National City Bank of Ohio and the Varsity "A" Association to purchase a new scoreboard.Prior to the start of the '94 season, the University Board of Trustees authorized funds of about $750,000 to fix the facilities' drainage system and apply new artificial turf to the floor of the Zips' football home. The stadium also got a complete paint job and the seats were refurbished.A new AstroPlay surface was installed prior to the 2003 season.

Make it a poor-man's retractable dome...it doesn't have to be as fancy and expensive as Toronto's. The cost of some tracks and a motor would be offset by increased attendance and renting it out for other events. It doesn't even have to be kept toasty warm when closed, just keep out the snow. wind and (optionally) rain. I don't care if it's a joint venture with the city as long as it's on or very near campus and we get first dibs for football and University Events scheduling.I don't really get the advantage of glomming on a dorm at one end...you basically save the cost of one shared wall. You can't stuff a bunch of dormrooms under the seating area because you need the space for concession stands, restrooms, walkways, maintenance equipment, etc.Thanks for the input, powerofx...don't be a stranger.

I second the motion ! :macc:

I voted for multi-purpose. Call me crazy but I think it could be built with a removable sectioned roof which could be off during the nice Sep.-Oct. weather games and then put on by a small crew of guys at the first sign of very cold and/or very snowy weather in Nov.-Dec. and then leave it on for the winter. Play the garbage preseason basketball games in the JAR, then after football is done lay down the hoops court in the stadium, hang the scoreboard and play the rest of the season in there. Also have your Winter and Spring commencements there, rent it out for H.S. football and hoops playoffs, maybe a May Day concert for the students, etc. It would be flexible, cheaper than 2 new facilities and save campus space for ever increasing academic building needs. I'll even donate the first $100 !

I saw in the latest UA Alumni magazine that our engineers also spanked RH (engineering-only school, right?) in the General Motors Challenge X auto engineering competition. UA finished #2 (behind Waterloo) and RH was #14. For more info, see: http://challengex.uakron.edu/photos/bin/vi...y.JPG&bg=c4d1db Good job Zips Rifle & Challenge X teams

Our top priority now is hiring the best possible AD. If you're a mid-major program, you want your coaches to move up...it means you're hiring good coaches. And you need a good AD to find the next good coach. Getting the stadium built will also depend heavily on the efforts of the new AD. Keep the momentum going

Purdue finished with a losing record so they will not play in the MCB or any other. They have to rank right up there with Tennessee and T.A.M. for most disappointing season. Remember how high they were on their outlook at the beginning? We'll probably be 14 point underdogs again in the MCB whoever we play but we will hold our own. Minnesota has been capable of losing to other MAC teams in the past, on their home turf even. They don't have a monopoly on speed and physical players.

I think he's already started with UC but I wonder if he'll be able to hang around to enjoy some of the football & soccer fun he's helped create? Interim AD UAM is gonna be running on lots of adrenaline for a while, I think. LO will get some credit for this MACC since most of the upperclassmen were his recruits, but would his staff have coached this team to the title? BTW, congrats to LO on a 9-2 season at Ashland.

We may get a few "most righteous" verbal commitments any time now too

Zippy was a hit, the students were mosh-pit-surfing him around. The Fear the Roo logo was also featured. When they showed our fan section from a low camera angle it looked like a big crowd. Great job by the admin to send all those students for free...they definitely will have a great memory of their student days at UA (one I wish more of us could have had ) Can you imagine how rowdy those bus rides home probably are, if they're not too spent from the game itself

I'd say this was a great debut for JD on the national stage. I wouldn't be surprised if he starts getting "courtesy interviews" for other openings any time now. I don't think he'll jump until something really good comes along though. I really like the play calling. Great fakes, screens, misdirections, a gadget or two. Really keeps a defense guessing.

You da man !! Has anyone heard if he's on the NFL draft radar at all ?

Wow. To watch him play, you wouldn't think he would have as many yards & completions as he gets. Having Biggs as a threat really kept them from pinning their ears back and going after LG. The OL looked good too. We're going to have a lot of confidence going into the MCB and we'll have a great opportunity for our first Big 10 win.

Played great and Herbstreit loved him. Great job Kris !

For Spicer Village revitalization project(s) http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/13264805.htm

Rah, rah, ree, kick em in the knee, Rah, rah, rass, kick em in the (you thought I was gonna say "other knee", didn't you? ) Good luck Zips...we got 2 Huskies teams to beat !! Rah, rah, Ruts...... Zips UConn Go Zips !

http://gozips.collegesports.com/sports/m-f.../112605aag.html There we go ! Thanks to UAM, Marathon and Team Akron for making this possible. We will have enough fans and AK-Rowdies there to make some SERIOUS NOISE !