Big Zip

Just got my invitation in the mail yesteray for Alumni Day 2008. For those grads and undergrads unaware of the program it honors Alumni who have gone onto successful endeavors both public, private and philanthropic. Jim Tressel class of '77 will be honored this year. For all the OSU hatred on this board (which I'm happy to take the blame for some) I am interested in hearing what Tressel says about his experience at the University and learning from Coach Denison. Love OSU or hate them Tressel is one of us with his degree from UA.It is always an excellent event and a great opportunity to meet other UA Alumni, network and generally have an evening of pride in your University. It never ceases to amaze me the caliber of people who have spent time on our campus. Other recipients this year include -- Glynis Wheeler Redwine (’77), vice president, human resources and general counsel, Alcon Laboratories Inc.; Ohio Sen. Tom Sawyer (’68 ’70); and Dr. Gary Williams (’68), surgeon, Gary B. Williams M.D. Inc.To top it all off the University will be bestowing an honorary degree on the University's change agent Dr. Proenza and his wife Theresa.Who will be in attendance this year?

If you are going to make the journalism should be a top major at Akron you need to look at our history. My understanding was -- years ago -- a decision was made similar to the one Fingerhut is looking to make now about specialty at Universities. Can't was given journalism and Akron was given a law school -- the state of Ohio will not let Can't have a Law School. On the other hand Akron does have PR programs and mass media, but no journalism degree.

I'm guessing the coach is either ignorant or an ostrich with her head in the sand if this the real reason they are being kicked off the team. NEWS flush coach -- kids drink in college -- holy shit! If there is nothing more to this story than that and the girls are getting kicked off the team permanently -- I say I'd be just fine with the coach leaving her resignation paper on Rhodes desk. LAME!

Lets be honest -- for the majority of the folks on this board CJ can throw for 300 yards and 4 TDs and you'll all come on here and talk about his incompletions. One of his interceptions was a result of 6 guys in the back field before the ball got to him and Kennedy not reacting quick enough and the annother bounced off the receivers hands. Matt Rogers looked about as good as I thought he would, but he looked smaller than I thought. Not sure if I'm the only one who noticed, but I don't recall pressure being but on Rogers the whole game. I don't think anyone has mentioned it yet, but I fairly impressed with three receivers -- A Owens, Jeremy Bruce and Flannerty.Only problem with the format is you don't get to see the first team against the first team. Nice to see Chevin Pace at the game with his big honking MAC Championship ring on!!! I think he could be a nice special teams player at the next level if given the chance. He hits hard and doesn't seem to shy away from cracking helmets. Heck Kenny (I can't outrun the cops) Wright only made six tackles on special teams for the Browns -- I'll bet Pace could match that. Overall great day!

I was kind of wondering why they are on here at all. They just clog up the site. If I want news from gozips.com I'll go there -- if there is something interestingon a web page someone can link to it and comment. That seems to have worked fine for years -- not sure why the change.

Are either of you high ACT grads available to spell check the rowdies signs next year?

What does it say about the MAC that a basketball coach from Can't moves to TCU (a Mountain West school) and nearly doubles his salary $250,000 to an expected $600,000. Does the MAC ever have the opportunity to move to that level or will we continue to be a feeder league for non-elite conferences. I think the fact that Christian moved to TCU says a lot about the MAC. When Heath left he went to Arkansas and when Waters left he went to Rutgers -- have we now moved down a rung on the conference hierarchy? Is the conference getting worse? How do we get out of the conference if that is the case?

Is this the first time you've noticed him as the center of the commercials? He has been the focus of the commercials since he got her in 2001. My guess is his ego is just that big. On the flip side it is hard to argue with the results. Attendance continues to go up so maybe they are doing something right. Maybe these commercials appeal to parents who are the people who usually foot the bill. I've got two neighbors who have both decided to go to Akron and it was based off of their visit to the campus. We live 25 minutes from campus and they visited most every college in Ohio and found Akron the most comfortable -- their parents were amazed at what they saw they had no idea until they went.

What is with you guys and hoping this is the end of Can't's success? There is nothing better than a strong rival to play every year. Not to mention are you that new to think this success is Christian's success and it wasn't started under Gary Waters. Gary Waters actually started this run with a win over the Zips in the first round of the MAC tournament in a year we beat them both times during the season. If Geno Ford gets the nod he'll be a solid coach at Can't -- he was a long rang bomber at OU and from what I remember was a fun to watch gutsy performer when he played.

There has been a lot of talk about how deep we are at running back, but if Kennedy is starting that means the depth is gone. He was horrible last year -- you guys on here blast Jacq, but Kennedy was even worse. He looks like he's running in mud every time he gets the ball. I have a hard time believing OSU wanted him to gray shirt.

Its been said before he about Can't faltering if Christian leave -- it didn't happen when Heath and Waters left -- don't count on it happening with Christian either.

If memory serves me correct the seniors on this team were the last crew that was recruited under Hipsher 100%. Next year's seniors were also recruited during the Hipsher regime, but started under KD. I'm excited to see next year's team and the talent that is on the team. The graduating seniors from this year essentially started from day one because of the lack of talent and had to learn on the job. Going forward you're going to have more and more guys who played because they could and not because they were needed. The 2009-2010 is where I expect the Zips to begin to dominate annually -- I still think next year's team will compete and be plenty fun to watch. Because KD elected to recruit HS kids and build the team that way has been even more impressive.

The law of averages assume we would have won the game tonight too -- three in a row is difficult. Unfortunately they actually play the games on the court not in your calculator.

They should have won the MAC Tournament last year and didn't. This year they choked tonight with a combination of missed layups and horrid foul shooting that is called underperforming again and the definition of continues to underperform. They could have played a closer game that was solid and wouldn't have underperformed tonight, but they didn't. This followed an era of underperforming with Hipsher. I'm sick of losing when it counts -- if you're not that's your gig.

Trimmy c'mon man quit being an apologist for a program that continues to underperform. The Can't program made it to the elite 8, when Gary Waters moved on people said the program would go south, it didn't, they said the program would go south when Stan Heath left it didn't and it won't when Jim Christian leaves either. Give credit where it is due man.KD was out coached tonight -- he needed to find a different line-up tonight. I love J Wood, but if I was Can't I would have fouled him every time he touched the ball tonight. I will tell you what I do see -- an Akron program that is going to be decent next year, but more middle of the pack. I see a starting lineup of Stewart, Roberts, Linhart, and the McKnight brothers and I assume Linhart is the leader in that group. I'm not sure I see a return to the championship game -- Can't might just be there again.The referees weren't the reason we lost tonight, but when we got the diff to 10 Roberts was called for the intentional. Funny thing was when Wood was going to the hoop and a Can't player grabbed his jersey to stop him the same call wasn't made. The intentional on Roberts made it a 14 point game and the chance we had was over.

Thanks for the info -- my thoughts and prayers with Tim and his family.

Haven't seen it on here so I wanted to check and see if anyone else her Kenny Rhoda's interview with KD yesterday? He said they had to cut practice short because they thought one of their walk-on players was having a heart attack? Anyone know anything about this?

So you're saying that momentum has no impact on a basketball game. You're telling me the first three minutes did nothing to set the tone for the game? C'mon man you can't be serious calling out my basketball intelligence saying the three beginning of the game didn't have an impact on the mometum. Riddle me this batman -- when Al Fisher hit that last shot at the end of the game would you have liked to have three more minutes? UNC played their final home game and they started all of their seniors, but they played Florida State. If they were playing Duke like the did the following game would Surry have started -- hell NO -- he didn't even play. Do you want to win or make people feel good? I want to win -- if you want to play -- play better!

In Gary Waters second year at Cleveland State he takes them to the dance by beating the No. 10 team in the country for the second time this year. I didn't agree with Keith's decision to play Goddard and Milum and believe the momentum loss lead to the one-sided affair, but if not this team this year or last year's team last year -- then when does Akron go? I can't imagine next year being another big year for the Zips -- 20 wins next year will be a great feat. Is is possible we're just snake bitten?

Basketball is about momentum. When you give momentum away from the get go starting Quade and Goddard of all people you might as well have just spotted them 10 points. DUMB, DUMB move.

Pretty sure Duke and UNC didn't start there seniors last night just for fun -- thanks Keith

scratch that these guys can't hit the broad side of a barn - can you say outcoached -- starting the senior is a real nice feel good thing if you're playing ball state -- not when you need the momentum in the beginning of the game -- STUPID!!!!!

For as bad as this game is going -- it would be really sweet to see a great come back.

Maybe it is real clear on TV and not in person, but if you aren't going to work inside out the other team is just going to cover you outside.

We actually beat Austin Peay -- Winthrop dropped us.The funny thing about all of this is if we beat Winthrop and if VCU and Portland State get tickets to the dance we'll have four teams in the tournament on our schedule. The bad news is we are 1-3 against them.