MDZip

GD IT!!!! 1:30 left and Cal scores and the camera operator was so far away you couldn't tell what happened.

SOG Cal. 3:00. Could this clock move any slower?

Zips doing an excellent job of playing keep-away. Ten minutes left.

Zips up 3-2! Couldn't tell who scored. 15 minutes left.

Caldwell puts the Zips up 2-1 shortly before halftime! Footing looks treacherous.

Gotta feel bad for NIU - good team against a team they were expected to beat and lost on a last second touchdown. Sounds really familiar somehow.

Champions - What the Zips will be in another week and a day.

If you look at the Championship website on NCAA.com, an autograph session is listed after semifinal #1. Speaking of autographs, here is latest addition to our Akron Zips nursery. A signed soccer ball from this years team. Jealous! Me too! Where did you get it?

Of course that is a little skewed by the 7-1 win over Michigan which I'm betting is what you intended.

Not that he deserved it, but Almondo Sewell made at least HM All-MAC his first three years and then nothing his senior year.

Geez, man, just how many colleges did you attend? I thought I had seen somewhere that we have a home and home with FIU starting next year? Terrific timing again for us, FIU has been a doormat like us for years. This year they won the Sun Belt.

And, the Zips are indeed off the list. In Schlabach's words: "Akron, which was No. 1 in the Bottom 10 rankings after entering its final game with a 0-11 record, defeated Buffalo 22-14 last week to earn a 10-month reprieve from the Bottom 10". I'm guessing you'll see us return next fall.

I believe the final four will be The Zips, UCLA, Maryland and SMU. Would have been a lot more impressive if I had made those picks two weeks ago. Go Zips!

HL is 10-4 vs. MAC Cleveland State over Can't State Youngstown State over Buffalo UIC over Toledo Butler over Ball State Loyola over Western Michigan Green Bay over Miami (Ohio) Akron over Youngstown State Ohio over Valparaiso Western Michigan over Milwaukee Cleveland State over Akron Youngstown State over Toledo Central Michigan over UIC Detroit over Bowling Green UIC over Toledo I was going to ding you for listing UIC over Toledo twice, but it appears they played a home and home. Kind of strange for an OOC opponent. I will, however, ding you for counting any wins over Toledo at all. The MAC doesn't.

According to this article we won't be seeing much of UMass as they will be heading to the Mid Atlantic Conference to face off with the likes of Temple and Miami(Ohio). Well there's your problem, right there. As soon as they find out the A in MAC doesn't mean Atlantic, they'll scurry right back where they came from. I think we should invite Villanova. Nice cross town rivalry with Temple.

If you look at the Championship website on NCAA.com, an autograph session is listed after semifinal #1. If we beat Cal and advance to the College Cup, would the Zips take part in the autograph session? Due to the fact that we're the 3 seed we will be playing in the later game. I don't know about you, but I'd rather have the team focused on the match than on signing autographs an hour before the game. The time is listed as TBA. I wonder if they'd have the teams playing in the later game sign after game #2. Either that or earlier in the day. Last year we were the late game and they did it after the game. Don't know if that applies to this year though.

Since it may not be available on-line anywhere, here is the best I can do with a newspaper scan. The first image was above the fold, the second, obviously, below it.

Last year after the semi-finals, they had an autograph tent and posters of the final four that the players signed. I have one with the entire team's signatures on it from then. I hope they do it again this year (of course also assuming that the Zips make it).

No problem, feel free.

As Paris Hilton would say, "Wow, that's hot." I love that there is a UA player on the face of one of the tickets. So much for not being recognized as a power program by the NCAA. Yep, Zips are prominent on the semifinal ticket. You can clearly see Akron on the front of Nagbe's jersey. Unfortunately its just Virginia raising the trophy on the Championship ticket. And for any of you clever college kids who can get out there and have an idea to print and use the ticket, I already erased the UPC and code number. Sorry.

Just got my tickets in the mail for the Final Four. C'mon Zips - beat Cal!

My son sent me a copy of a nearly full-page ad UA placed in the Wall Street Journal. The one I have is from November 10th. In it, Proenza writes about the new gold standard (I love the UA Au connection, maybe we should be Akron University). I know most people have heard the phrase but he makes a very good point with it and the biggest point of all tackles the UA open admissions policy head on. He states that current performance metrics for universities are based on how many students they exclude and how much money they spend. He argues that a university should be measured by how they help enable the success of their students. It is a well conceived and written ad and while I don't expect that thousands of students will come and beat down our doors because of it, I like the proactive approach that is being taken. I can't find a link to it, or I'd post it. Has anyone else seen these ads?

But perhaps not quite as "genious" as he thinks.

TCU is apparently joining the Big East. Doesn't say anything about how long they have to stay. I'm betting it is a temporary move and as soon as they can join the Big 12 or whatever BCS conference nearer to them, they're gone from the Big East.

Yep, IU's goalie made a lazy pass and hit it right back to Mattocks who put it right back in. Nanchoff scored the first goal.