Big Zip

This was sent to me from a friend...would love to see the Rowdies top this....Victoria, not VictoriousAt last Saturday's Cal men's hoops season finale versus USC, BearsBoosters pulled a prank that straddles the fuzzy gray line between "Crap-Yer-Pants Hilarious" and "Inexcusably Cruel."When USC guard Gabe Pruitt took his first trip to the free throw lineEarly in the game, the Cal student section hollered in unison: "VIC-TOR-IA, VIC-TOR-IA," and then yelled out a telephone number. Pruitt glanced back at the crowd in horror and bewilderment before clanking his free throws.It turns out that a couple of mischeivous little bastards from the Calstudent section had been IM'ing with Pruitt all week under the identity of "Victoria," a fictional UCLA hottie, and Pruitt was eagerly anticipating a date with this nubile co-ed back in Westwood after the game. In preparation for the date, Pruitt had handed over his digits, which the Cal student section recited back to him in unison.Pruitt, a 79% free throw shooter this season, missed both shots after the "VIC-TOR-IA" chants began, and hit only three out of 13 shots the whole game. Cal beat USC by 11 for the season sweep, in part due to the Cal fans' devious psy-ops.

When considering Akron's programs - people leave out the Law school. Jurist Magazine which actually uses identifiable facts about a school (unlike US News and World Report) rated it #1 two years ago and #2 last year. Using US News and World Report as your definitive source for education shows your ignorance Can't fan. US News and World Report is based on opinions. Opinions often of schools the people being polled often know nothing about. The real proof of this is in the pudding. Often on US News and World Report rankings schools as well as hospitals often receive many votes for programs they don't even have at their school. Truth be told I've never like Can't for anything. I visited and didn't care for any of it. I appreciate their enthusiasm for their school, but I happily compare Akron to any school in Ohio.

It's right at the point of East 9th Street, Huron and Prospect. If you are going North on East 9th street turn left on Prospect and it's right there.

It appears the only pregame available comes with a package on gozips.com Anyone got any idea for a nation gathering prior to the game or will everyone be attending the package put on by athletics? how about a nation gathering at the Lizard?

I don't see the Browns giving up on Northcut this year -- I believe they just paid him a roster bonus. But lets be honest he hasn't been worth the money they are spending on him. Hixon could actually be a good fit there -- he could be the fifth receiver who might get some reps while Edwards is out. It's still a shame he didn't get the invited to indy.

Mike has done a wonderful job as Assoc. Dir. of Athletics Marketing, but I honestly think Mike shined as bright as he did was because of the past. Let me explain, Mike followed Joe Dunn and although most of us like Joe I'm not sure if he was a professional marketer? He was a career UA guy who ended up doing marketing. He never worked for a school like Mike worked at to see how things were run at those Institutions. Enter Mike Waddel -- Mike came (I believe) fresh from Army and the new branding campaign at Army -- enter a new branding campaign at Akron shortly thereafter. Life is a series of life experiences and those life experiences are how we learn. Sometimes we are able to take what we've learned somewhere else and apply in our next role. Mike had the opportunity to see how things are run elsewhere and then was able to put his own twist on it here at Akron. The biggest example of this is the Fear the Roo campaign. We've all talked about how it was stolen from Maryland -- yeah Mike thought it would work here, but he didn't invent it. Please don't take this post the wrong way -- someone could have come in her and failed miserably were he has succeeded, but I believe strongly their are other Mike Waddel's out there waiting for their opportunity to make something happen. People with new and fresh ideas. Which brings me to Mack being hired -- Akron's has a lot of things working well for it right now and Mack will bring new ideas to the Akron post. There is a chance for the program to advance quicker under Mack right now -- new influx of fresh ideas. In the meantime Mike is moving on to gain more life experiences thus making him a stronger candidate the next time this job comes open and putting him in the drivers seat. I thought the half - empty mentality of this board was going away. These are opportunities to continue moving forward for everyone. Not to say it wouldn't have happened with the same people in place, but we're past that now -- we need to embrace the change and be comfortable with ambiguity.I had an opportunity to meet Mike when he first came to the U. His enthusiasm and excitement were contagious then and I'm sure they'll be at Cincy. I wish him the best of luck!

I've mentioned it before -- OSU fans, Steelers fans they got it easy... It's easy been a fan of a team that wins consistently and has titles. Rooting for the Zips or any team in NE Ohio you are a glutton for punishment...It's hard damn work getting up and smacked down so many times. Here's to hoping KD rallies the troops after this game and uses this loss as a lesson to motivate the boys for a a four game winning streak and a trip to the dance! I want the third seed and a Can't/Akron final at the Q.

My thinknig exactly Z Pouch, but then the humanitarian side of me said maybe it will do us all good to reach out to Gates. It is very nice a site is provided for him here to post his comments. Think about how it would be if the posters who put this board together didn't -- where we would post. Maybe we should think of Gates as that cat that lived in the neighborhood by your house in college -- you didn't let him in the house, but you felt bad for him and left food out. Gates can be our alley cat.

This could quite possibly be the best post I've ever seen on this board....wow Cap'n I want to know where you got this from because you are now my hero. Where can I meet you before the game Saturday to buy you a beer -- yes some fancy pants beer because we know you are a beer snob.

So I assume you are telling me you feel confident with Dru taking that shot....thanks for answering the question. I'll mark that down for one vote for Dru.I think mreleganza might be right and with a team like this it is a situational thing...who gets the ball depends on who we're playing, who's hot amid various other factors.

There has been talk about this team being a team and not individual players, but you often need someone to step up in crunch time. In the recent past we've seen Mark Alberts, Andrick, Bosley, Ball, Schindewolf, Rashon Brown, A Hip all be that go to guy -- who is it on this team? I can't think of anyone on this team I would feel confident about more than the list above or even as confident for that matter. You can call me any name under the sun, but this is what scares me about this team. Youngblood stepped up for Can't yesterday -- we saw Hayes do it earlier this year for Can't -- who does it at Akron. Believe it or not the way Preston has been playing -- he's the guy I get the ball to -- he's playing with confidence and moving well around the court.

Mwilly -- you are right I haven't been posting too much as of late, but it wasn't because I was off the bandwagon -- I had my first child this fall and I've been working on my MBA at Akron not CASE, BW, JCU, Can't or Cleveland State. Not to mentioned I moved (not terribly far mind you, but more than the short drive I was last year). I did post after the Army game too -- (man I think I have a stalker) -- I was pretty disappointed, but I was pissed at JD after the Ball State game for not QB sneaking in from the goal line -- not the Army game.

I couldn't agree with you more....watching Andrick and Hipsher square off on the sideline in the middle of a game said it all.

Okay -- 17 post mwilly calling me the bandwagon fan -- that is funny. I've been posting here since the site was first put up by the moderators -- I've been posting here since I'm guessing 1999 or 2000 before it was this real sweet site you see today. You I'm sure never saw that site. I have found it quite fascinating to see people like you find this page after the Zips football exploits. Where were you years ago?Call me what you want -- I'm proud of this team and how well they've played this year, but in the same right I've been surprised by the success. There is nobody on this team that really scares anyone yet they still win games week in and week out. I credit the coaching for a lot of their wins. I may get slammed for this, but a Dambrodt coached squad of Weinkein, Andrick, Phillips, Ball and Bosley would beat a Dambrodt coached squad of Futch, Travis, Leinhart, Dials and Joyce. The more I see of Dambrodt the more I get pissed about the wasted talent that came through here in the Hipsher years. By the way a 2-12 record (including 0-1 last year) at Miami since joining the MAC can't be denied -- there is something about playing there and Charlie Coles is a helluva coach.So go ahead and make your asshole post -- that is fine with me. I've been here through the tough times and I'm not leaving. I got blasted on this board for years for calling for Owens firing years before it happened -- I got blasted for calling for Hipshers' firing too. I got blasted because I've always wanted something better for this school's athletics program. I don't own any OSU garb because I hate the Buckeyes and can't figure out why people don't root for the school they attend. My family thinks I'm nuts because I was tailgating with the diehards before the Can't game this year and sat in the rain at Pitt a few years back. Thanks for fighting for our country in Vietnam and preserving my right to actually have an opinion that might differ from yours. But then again if I was old enough to fight with you in Vietnam you would have killed me. You’re a peach - hope your world continues to be rosy every day. God forbid this team tanks it at the end of the season - you may enter the gym and starting gunning people downHave a nice day!

I want my $11 back, I got ESPNU for a month for this crap! Wow how more pathetic can you look? Nevada is a very good team, but this is an outright embarassment. I've been cautiously optimistic about this team all year -- I thought they were winning with mirrors -- no true stud on the team just a team. I still didn't expect this...Question is how does this effect them the rest of the year? Four very loseable games to end the year. Miami we never play well at Oxford -- French and Dunn always blame it on the arena and the emptiness behind the hoops. Buffalo seems to be coming on they gave Can't all they could earlier this year. OU and Can't both took our best shot earlier this year and jammed it back down our throat with a loss. So does this team win four, three, two or one? I say they go two and two through the end of the year maybe worse -- this game stung!

Buchtel 1 yearSpicer 2 years (2 locations)Harvey Ct. 1 yearWheeler and Kathryn (yes I remember the Kathryn Place block parties -- quite fondly) 1 yearHow about the Townhouse, before Dr. Feelgoods and Plasma Alliance and whatever it is now. How about the Armidillo before BW3 -- for those of you here after the late 80s that buffalo on BW3 used to be an armidillo. Also, Splash and Cheers -- not to mention Lorenzo's pizza -- that was really good za.For sports the two names I became most familiar with because I was in class with them were Roy Coleman (man could he dunk on some bad teams) and Daren Alcorn (amazing he never made it further -- more accuracy and less leg he would have)

How funny is it Antonio thinks this is the MAC board. It's really quite funny when a Can't fan comes over here to gloat about a win because they don't have a board of their own.

My understanding is that Rhodes was willing to provde the money for a more spectacular basketball venue when the JAR was built and Guzzetta turned it down because he didn't think we needed it. The short sightetness of Guzzetta put us in this position as I understand it. It's also part of the reason Huggins left -- the lack of recognition for his progress with the team.Could you pull more students into the JAR if you took out one side of the blue chairs and put the students there or at least the section behind the visitors. Less empty blue seats this way. Most of the stadiums with good atmosphere including BGSU put students on the side. This commuting and working thing is tiresome -- aren't there like 2,500 students living on campus these days not to mention the near off campus housing. As for working....there have only been 12 home games so it's actually a pretty poor excuse. If the games were a party they'd be making sure they'd be there.It would be nice if Rasor could talk to Gaffney and get the e-mail excuses and write a rebuttal column pointing out the error of the people writing in. Parking -- there are 1,100 parking spaces in a deck that is about 1/8 of a mile away -- that's half way around the track at your local school. Rasor -- this would be an opportunity for the ABJ to be a part of the solution instead of the problem. This team is 19-5 and one MAC win from a bye to the "Q" -- the best Div. 1 record in the history of the school, down two players expected to contribut this year, local products starting, tied for first in the MAC. Rasor we need you to speak for the people who have not a voice in the Beacon -- you need to be our microphone our conduit to the world outside the Zipsnation.

Are you guys serious? Akron has no recent history in basketball and if you are more than a recent fan you know the whole thing changed when Akron was a 1 seed and was upset by Can't (last place) at home years ago. This guy is right. Akron has nothing on Can't in basketball and Can't beats us consistently. Look at this year for proof of what he states...Akron beating Can't soundly and then they choke and lose instead of understandng what it takes to win. Heck look at all there road games...they nearly choke every game after running to big leads. Akron needs worry less about what some writer thinks and more about what is going on -- on the basketball court.

Someone mentioned Steve needs a spotter in football. He has spotters -- maybe he needs new ones.

Does anyone remember a few years back when the pep band had a bunch of guys that really got into the game. funny thing was they only did it for a few games and then it was like they were told to stop. I remember everytime someone came to the foul line and they dribbled the band would count 1, 2, 3, 4 -- they were entertaining -- what happened to them?

JD throught 2007 at the very least is all I'm asking for....I want JD on the sideline in Columbus.

All things considered life experiences are what make people who they are and there aren't many Div. 1 coaches who went through what KD went through to get back to coaching. With that said I think KD appreciates working at Akron more than any coach in recent history not only because it's his alma mater, but because he realizes what can be taken from you in the blink of an eye. I think KD is one that thinks winning at Akron and turning the program into a perennial winner, while making a couple hundred grand might just be good enough. Why not have a great job in a place you love near the people who mean the most to you and take home a pretty nice pay day for it. I hate to bring up Charlie Coles because I don't think he's had the success I'm thinking about, but his obviously happy with his situation -- puts a more than competitive team on the floor each year. There are people like this left in the world and I tend to think KD might be one of them.

A few years ago Brett Fritz was inside Zippy and at the cheerleader championships he actually was voted best mascot by his peers. The talent inside the suit is what makes it. I think Zippy could use a bit of a make over...but still look like a fun Zippy. If you remember when Brett was in the costume Brett was into costumes for Zippy -- do you remember Batman, he also had an Indian Jones costume, a tux and others. If you remember the rain game in Pittsburgh where Zippy was out the entire game, but after about a quarter he was so water logged Brett had to put his tail in a laundry bin on wheels to move it around -- he was ingenioius. The makeover I'm referring to is new materials -- there has to be something he could be made out of that would be better than carpet. Hook the fashio design program up with the engineers and make it a self study for the team. As for Hoppy there is no reason Zippy can't have a mask of Hoppy he wears at important parts of the game when the band plays the darth vadar music -- heck he coudl have a darth vadar costume.

Thanks for the info CK...I was wondering if anyone else could confirm existing players were bolting the program for Louisville, which would seriously hurt this team next year.