Big Zip

I can't believe they drew that play up in the TO -- that had to be a busted play.

Mayor Don was a regular at the JAR in the late 90s early 2000s. I can't say how often he has been there recently though. I will say if he is at the game it can't be a bad thing. He loves sports and I'm sure would love to build an arena to compliment Canal Park. If you think about it from an economic perspective it would certainly help the continued revitalization of DT Akron. Restaurants and bars seem to have a hard time surviving down there -- Canal Park can only bring so much business. An arena could have minor league hockey, arena football, concerts etc. Anything to take away from Cleveland is helpful. As for the JAR around 2000 there was talk about taking the roof off the arena blowing out a wall and refinishing the arena -- rounding out the top and removing the track. I don't believe the idea was to create a huge arena, but something like 7,500 with luxury amentities. 25 years old or not the arena is not a place of interest for locals, it has horribly site lines, and is generally a terrible place to actually watch a basketball game. This adds up to less opportunity to make money with the JAR. There is no premium seating, no boxes, etc. So regardless of how good the product is on the field it will still be difficulty to get the night in night out attendance and revenue generation needed to continue advancing the program. Finally, don't forget we saw this happen before with Huggins -- lots of money poured into the lesser of two athletic programs drove him away. I hope it doesn't do the same with KD.

Can't is working on trying to achieve their 10th consecutive 20 win season and they played Cleveland State. I'm guessing those two factors are worth the extra 500 fans.

I thought the Capital One Bowl Game was in Florida on 1/1/2008. They aren't going to have the mascot there for the announcement?To make matters worse -- the Buckeyes are playing in New Orleans on 1/7/2008. God help me you aren't going to be at that game because if you are please don't ever don the Zippy costume again.

As an alum of Akron I can tell you it does feel like I was slighted by a person I've pointed to as an athletic success story to come out of Akron when he named his high school.I don't know that slack is warranted as suggested above. As the Cap'n suggested you just don't see that type of behavior out of most NFL players. I say most because some guys think there cool and have done this before. If he is simply being a follower to be cool like the other guys who have done it before I kind of feel sorry for him. If he was the first to do it -- it might have a different ring. Unfortunately this was a copy cat act that wreaked of an inferiority complex in my mind -- oh those guys are doing it I should do it too. It will make me look cool. He seems to be a in a cycle of stupid mistakes and this was just another. It makes you wonder if he's been hit in the head a few too many times. Stupid mistakes in mind -- I often wonder about athletes, actors etc. -- Do they sit around and think up ways they can fuck this up. Do they actually go hmmm I've got millions in the bank, I play a game for a living, nice house, able to take care of my brothers -- how can I fuck this up -- pull a gun on somone in public, smoke weed in my car, have sex in a public place and get caught -- where does it stop for this guy? Maybe there is no such thing as bad publicity though -- lord knows nobody mentions Josh Cribbs selling weed and gets suspended for a year at Can't anymore.All in all -- I've never seen Jason Taylor do the same thing and I've seen him talk about Akron plenty of times on TV, yet some people will point to him not referencing Akron on his Cribbs show MTV. So who knows what the right answer is for any of this.

Same billboard is on 77N heading into Cleveland just over the 480 bridge in Cuyahoga Heights. Anyone care to guess how many eyes see that board on a daily commute.Even if they did something bad - we'd at least see them doing something. The really problem is I just don't seem them doing anything -- something poor is better than nothing at all.

The reason to schedule games against the big Div. 1 schools is because this is basketball. Basketball, unlike football, produces far more upsets regularly. The talent distribution is less extreme and there are infinitely more opportunities to play these teams on a neutral court. I'm not suggesting KD play all his OOC games on the road. I'm saying there are a lot of schools that find there way into these real preseason tournament against far better competition we lost to. Additionally, there is always the opportunity to schedule one or two of these games at their place. You can fill the rest of your schedule with mid majors and also-rans, but why not have some games that test you beyond your limitations. If you win some of those games you get the bonus points that go along with them -- they only call it a fluke if you then lose to schools like Portland State or a sub par Miaim team like we did last year -- there is still an expectation for you to take care of business when you are supposed to. If you lose those games people at least won't say -- well they didn't play anyone. Finally, there is more interest in Cleveland State than there has ever been in the past -- why you ask? Because they beat Florida State -- a nobody in basketball, but a big name. On top of that Gary Waters was able to get OSU to play them at the Q. This is the same team that beat John Carroll by 10 points, but there is interest where it hasn't been in the past because Waters has creatively scheduled. We talk about attendance -- buzz generates attendance and we don't get buzz from losing to Portland State and Winthrop. If we play OSU tight or if we play them at all it generates buzz.

People on this board were upset with the Zips because they blew a 10 point lead late in the game, then lost by 10 points. A 20 point swing. Additinoally, this was not losing UNC or Duke this was Winthrop -- a team we should be able to play with and beat. Your post makes no sense. All we are asking for is to schedule about three real tough tests in the OOC. Here is where it really makes the most sense -- if (as some suggest) the days of the MAC getting two teams in the tournament are gone these games don't matter. On the othere hand if you win a few of these big name games and you don't win the MAC tournament you've got a far better chance for consideratino than if you played the teams South Carolina Central State Beauty School. They need to show they can win against a decent team on the road today. Meanwhile OU is playing Kansas and Central Michigan's got Michigan.

OU knocked off Maryland last night, they play Kansas next and then St. John -- all on the road. Someone has the balls to schedule a tough schedule. I'm guessing this team is going to be tough this year.

FirstEnergy has always been run by a host of Akron grads -- Tony Alexander has multiple degrees and Pete Burg before him -- Pete even played basketball for Akron in the early 70s I believe. When Kanfer was on the board I think the U may have partnered more with GoJo. It seems the higher up we have Akron grads the better chance we have of having a partnership.

Thirsty Dog doesn't have a restaurant any longer -- they only have a brewery in Akron. Last I read they were going to open a tasting room. I believe the brewery is in the old Akron Brewery just off 76 on Broadway or something. This is not a Thirsty Dog beer. Thirsty Dog is brewing the beer. Thirsty dog had been brewing their beer on the East Coast for a few years, but the brewery was bought by Budweiser or somthing. Thus prompting them to buy the Akron Brewery and brew their own beer again.

That is the job of the marketing department and athletics marketing department -- you can't just sit around and wait for people to call you -- you've got to go out and work the networks.

Why isn't Zippy making the rounds and appearing on every station? Who is asleep at the switch on this one?

Colorado State gets there manSpeaking of coaches -- are we going to see any coaching changes with this staff? Are we really going to go to battle next year with the same coaches?

I'll be interested in seeing how the Rogers scenario plays out. If he was the most talented QB on the team this year and JD decided to sit him out anyhow it means he didn't have any faith in this team. Why isn't the goal putting the 11 most talented kids on the field. At this point last year this board was full of people telling me about Carlton Jackson and how amazing it was going to be to have the next Mike Vick on our team. Well we learned he wasn't a QB this year. As for the CJ11 bashers on this board -- I'm still going with coaching on offense being our bigger problem than QB. A QB with talent doesn't go from leading a team to 40+ points against OU to being shut out the next week. Am I the only one who finds this odd -- I know people keeping saying we need a new offense, but in the same breath they blast the QB.

Two years ago Marcus Johnson left St. V to go to Dayton -- shunning Akron. Is there any wonder why he did this now? Akron won't even schedule Louisville or Pittsburgh and they play in a pretty nice arena -- far superior to our gym.

Stoyanoff looks pretty tough, but understand Mentor's defense is pretty porous even though they are in the state championship game they've given up more than 50 points twice this year. One of them to a Massilon team that I don't believe finished .500.

Actually 108 according to Foxsports -- man that's impressive 108 out of 119. Only Northern Illinois and Can't State are listed below us. Highest ranked MAC team was Ball State at 83.

A few things I think...Teams that go 7-5 and 7-5 back-to-back and fire there coach are teams that have seen higher ground and better records -- not teams look for their first great season. That being said I don't believe record alone can be used to decide if JD should stay or go -- not that our opinion matters.The first thing we need to look at is JD himself - is he getting better at the coaching thing, is he recruiting well, how does he interact with alumni who make a difference financially (does Gary Taylor like him?). The last point might be the most valid. If you have seen the piece on Boone Pickens on HBO Real Sports at Oklahoma State Univ. they don't make a move without him knowing -- much like this regime shouldn't be doing with our Gary's blessing. I know the dollar figures aren't similar, but until someone steps up to surpass Taylor's contribution he's the man.I've always asked where our great coach is -- I look at other MAC coaches that have taken their programs to new heights and then bolted for greener pastures. I offer two coaches as examples of how it can happen -- one is an example of how I hope JD works out the other he simply isn't. Urban Meyer and Gary Pinkel. Meyer as we all know coached BGSU for two seasons bolted for Utah for two seasons and then won a National Championship at Florida. The two years he was at BGSU he was 8-3 and 9-3 respectively finished 2nd and 3rd and then went to no bowl game. A model of how we can all hope JD to turn out is Gary Pinkel. One win against Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship and his team is playing for the National Championship -- who would have ever thought Missouri would be in this position. I thought he'd have to coach there be successful and go somewhere else for a chance. At Toledo he was 5-5-1 (3rd), 8-3 (3rd), 4-7 (7th), 6-4-1 (6th) and then 11-0-1 with a trip to the Las Vegas Bowl. I don't think this team can go 11-0 next year, but can they in '09. Is this train on track just one year later than Pinkel's progression plan?As many have said there were some close games that could have went the other way this year -- will some coordinator changes or their education from this year be the onus for flipping some of those losses to wins next year in hopes of getting it all straightened out in '09 for a big season. I don't want my alma mater to settle for mediocrity and I'm not close enough to the situation (help me those with insider knowledge) of how JD is going to make that jump next year or if he can make that jump. Has his staff learned a lot this year? I haven't found much to like about Mack during his reign. This could be the decision his legacy is built on -- I wish him luck with the decision and hope he gets it right. I just think there are more questions than answers right now -- I know I was summarily disappointed this year, but I'm not sure if it was because of Cap'n's rosy outlook he painted or something else. I know I wasn't expecting much this year -- I was only expecting one more win -- it is just that the wins were against the teams we lost to and the losses were to teams we beat. That is my frustration.

We witnessed CJ11 throw for a ton of yards one week and then lead a team that got shut out the next. I'm not putting this on the players as much as the offensive coordinator. It was mentioned earlier that this team was simple to defend. If this team was willing to run the QB (one that could pass) this team would have been that much more difficult to defend. A hand-off to the running back, a pass or the quarterback running would have been great. I've seen CJ11 play in HS and he ran for over 700 yards. I'm not saying HS is college -- I'm saying the kid can run. I think the coaches told him he would be benched if he ran and never ran an intentional run with him. Look at the last play of yesterday's game as my case in point for what the coaches did to this kid -- he had 10 yards easy and the sideline, but he he threw into quadruple coverage. He is scared to death of running. And those of you still telling me they should have put in CJ7 yesterday - he is a terrible QB, but a pretty elusive runner. Look around college football and see how other coaches find ways to get their playmakers the ball and on the field -- CJ7 only played when he was QB. Darren McFadden a Heisman candidate took half the snaps at QB yesterday. Good coaches find ways to get the ball in the hands of their playmakers and these guys didn't. IF JD stays (I think he will) Moorehead has to go he was horrible. The defensive coordinator needs to follow him on the door too. If having Jim Fleming on your staff can't land his son -- then there is absolutely no point of having him on your team. He surely can't coach defense.

pretty sure it was andre jones -- he has one and reggie corner has one.

CJ11 ran a real spread offense at Mentor when he was there. Which meant (interestingly enough) he ran the ball from time to time as a designed play. If JD and crew decide CJ11 isn't the answer at QB he played a WR and did it real well his junior year. Maybe CJ11 can transition to WR if QB isn't his gig. Can someone explain the difference between the run and shoot and the spread offense? Also, is there a difference between the 3-3-5 and the nickel.

There are two great quarterbacks playing in the Div. 1 Semi-finals Saturday -- Brunswick at Mentor. Neither QB is getting any play with Div. 1 coaches because they aren't 6'4. The Brunswick QB is 6'0 and the Mentor QB is 6'2. I've been to three Mentor games this year and watched another on TV they run a real fun spread offense which seems to me would translate well to our style of play. The Brunswick QB I've heard is just as good and runs a similar offense. Both QBs can run and throw. It seems to me we've had success in the past with undersized QBs (Butchie Washington) and would love to see the Mentor kid end up at Akron. Both teams have receivers who aren't really flushy, but catch most everything thrown to them -- which is more than I can say for our guys. I agree with finding a way to get Jackson, Allen and Williams on the field at the same time. If Alphonso Owen can turn it up a notch the receiving could get right quicker than we think. Jackson's skills need to be on the field -- we've see a few other schools play former WR at other positions and succeed this year -- hope we can do the same next year. Looking forward to some defensive adjustments too - not sure if the personnel is talented enough, but I agree with GP1 when I say the strategy sucks.

I just don't know the QB is the problem as much as the it is the offensive coordinator. How do you explain a game like last week against OU where we move the ball at will and score like crazy. Then the same QB plays this week and nothing. You are going to blame that on the QB? In the second half Miami's defense adjusted and started coming hard at our offense -- we didn't adjust after that. The offensive coordinator and perhaps the offense are the problem.

Hard to find fault with Jabari, but that last pass was there and he slowed down instead of running and then leaping into the defenders for the ball.