Zips Win!

If the SEC isn't the best conference, which is? I would lean to the Big 12...you probably disagree. The Big 10 lost 2of3 against the PAC10 yesterday and was an extra point miss away from possibly losing 3of3. The Big 10 and the darling of the Big 10 and Kirk Herbstreit, tOSU, will be exposed for being frauds by the end of the season. I wouldn't put them at the top. I'm not a big 10 fan, but I would like to see an SEC school play tOSU in the shoe in the winter time. those guys never have to play in cold snowy weather and because of that have an advantage over schools who have to have game plans that involve cold non speed conducive weather. I would like the medium ten to stop scheduling so many MAC schools and Marshall. A middle of the pack SEC school like Tennessee (similiar budget) would dominate the medium ten. If only the Browns could play Tressel's schedules, they would dominate.

By that time we will probably be looking for a new AD as they roll over every 3 years. The whole athletic dept will change and we will be in transition for the next 6 months. This is why the AD should not be allowed to schedule more than two years out...2013 and beyond should be off limits for TW as far as scheduling goes...

The more things change with UA football, the more they stay the same… The good- Tailgating was fun….One should make the party the highlight of the day with a football game thrown in…I wouldn’t be able to make it through otherwise. Brian Wagner. What an athletic player!! He simply makes a ton of plays.. Three more years of this guy will be something to look forward to. An attacking defense. I was impressed with the overall pressure we placed on SU’s offense. I hope this too is something to look forward to. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough help in the secondary to finish the deal on many occasions. Several true freshman getting a chance.. The bad- Just about everything else…Where and when does it end? The dropped interception at the five started it off…Hit the DB in the wrong spot…his hands. As predicted, one play later SU throws a TD pass. Is SU’s defensive front that good or is the O-line that bad? Sorry, I’ve seen enough of Alex Allen and Nate Burney. I believe I saw Bowers in on special teams. He needs a chance to tote the ball, although I did see him leave the field.. Is he injured? I hope we have more receivers as well. Someone else needs a shot… I witnessed on Saturday exactly the same offensive execution or lack thereof that I saw at the spring game…Now I see why practices are closed to Zips fans… Formation penalties! Please… Wasting time-outs in the second half!! Please Botched special teams plays (FG) that give away points. The Ugly- Complaining about ticket prices!! Enough! $20 was a reasonable price to charge for a ticket vs. SU. Sorry. While disappointed with the attendance, there were more folks there than I expected. The day of free tickets needs to end. While I agree that $10 to park for GA parking is excessive, $20 bucks for a game is not. I am not in the camp to just let folks in with no monetary gain for UA down the road. While I hoped for more fans, I am not in the camp of getting in another 10K if they are free tickets. Should we market it better and have specials, like a buy one at full price-SU, get GW for ½ off, of course..but free has to end. Faust to Owens to Brookhart and now iCoach, error-plagued Zips football continues. I hope we shore up these mistakes or it will be another long year. At least we didn’t have a crippling personal foul call on a third down stop resulting in a SU score… Here’s hoping for a better result next Saturday.

Speaking of B-Hip....What moron bid $78 for an authentic B-Hip UA basketball jersey about six weeks ago? Please fess up?

Are you kidding? They should sell tickets and help out anyone who is actually showing interest in the program. Amen You can always look forward to the UA-tosu game next year! My hunch is there will be at least three buses full of Akron fans...err tosu fans dresses in blue and gold...That is, until the bus parks and everyone departs. They all will peel off their Zips gear and head onto campus decked out in silver and red. And speaking of Zips in non-UA gear....I'm looking forward to visiting with Shooting Joe tomorrow morning at the basketball golf outing decked out in his North Carolina gear.

So does GP1.

Thanks for the update Mike. The videos are ok and the Twitter issue is a waste. Who cares? Let the real fans go to practice and watch it live...not some Twitter update.

I feel everyone’s pain. Twenty six years ago, I went to the UA bookstore wanting a UA hat. All I could find was one that said AKRON with a line and the word University stitched underneath. I bought it, but never wore it. I waited 15 more years before I could find another UA hat that said the University of Akron. Twelve years ago I went to the UA bookstore and ordered a $200 UA watch. About a week later I received a call and they informed me that they were not going to place the order due to the fact that the manufacturer required a minimum of 8 watches per style. The bookstore informed me that they could not invest that much in watches with only one (my) order. I complained and several weeks later they agreed and placed my order. I think the lack of authentic football jersey’s fall in line here. Take soccer for example. My hunch is that the manufacturer would require somewhere in the neighborhood of 100-200 jersey’s (per number) before they would manufacture them. Let’s say they require 150 jersey’s per number that UA would sell at $100. Let’s also estimate that UA would have to pony up $80 per. Does anyone think that the bookstore or the athletic department or even the University would front $12,000 for 150 jersey’s of ONE soccer player in the hopes they sell them to make 3 grand? Football jersey’s are probably 50 to 75% more expensive. Do the math, it ain’t happening…. So it may be convenient to blame the bookstore, I think the problem begins with the manufacturer and then snowballs from there. I am all for unique, authentic UA gear. I just don’t see UA investing the capital needed to make it happen just so the fans can have expensive UA gear to wear. At this point, I would settle for UA taking care of the dedicated, hardcore fans with a proper parking space on gameday.

You guys crack me up!!! What made 2008-09 possible was the improbable inbounds save and miraculous 3-pointer from Humpty (gone). Not to mention his assist to end the game. The only trajectory that I remember is watching the ball as it left Humpty's hand heading for the rim. He saved EVERYONE's XXX.

What do you mean that your assignment is based on when you renewed your tickets? I renewed mine in April? What will this get me?

Since my last post earlier in the week, I received a call from UA asking me to purchase a parking pass for $50. My response was $50? It was $25 last year!!! Her reply was, well, we changed the parking rules from last year and I see you were in lot 9. Lot 9 is now a Z-fund lot. I said, yes I know. I am a Z-fund member with reserve seats in football and basketball. I want a pass from lot 9. I will gladly pay the $50. She said that because I did not have priority reserve seats that I could not get a pass from lot 9... So I responded with, you want me to pay $50 for a spot that I have no idea where it's located? Why would I do that? Complete silence on the other end..... After further discussion that I've been a supporter for 25 years and that I expect a pass for lot 9, she again said that she could not promise this... She proceeded to tell me the lot numbers that my contribution to UA athletics warranted... I responded that this was not acceptable and that I expect a pass from lot 9....And if this was not granted, any future donations to the Z-Fund and my reserve basketball tickets would not be renewed... Again, complete silence on the other end... At the end of the day, I will park where I am assigned. But if UA thinks that they are going to screw over the dedicated, hardcore fans who travel the country to support the Zips and not give them preferential parking for 6 events a year, then any donation from my end will cease..... P.S. Who decided that 4 priority reserve seats warrants a free parking pass? I hear the same story that we want to be like the big schools....Well, no school gives away free parking. When was the last time that buckeye fan parked next to the slipper for free? Furthermore, how are free parking passes generating additional revenue. As Frency would say, "you gotta be kidding me"... Late...

Actually, this is a big deal. And I received the same courtesy call from UA as well, which I was very grateful for... As I stated on the phone, the principle of the idea is sound. Reward the big-time supporters!!! I also mentioned that the word "support" needs to mean more than money, however. If attending 10 plus football games with reserve seats, 20 plus hoops games with reserve seats, soccer, baseball and all the womens sports while also contributing to the Z-Fund, Varsity-A, reverse raffles, auctions, golf outings, purchasing UA gear, while taking/paying for road trips for 4 all over the courtry to watch the Zips doesn't warrant me getting a parking pass, which I will gladly pay for, in LOT 9, then nothing will.... I also mentioned that I do indeed expect to be in Lot 9, so we shall see.... And if not, there goes my Z-fund donation and reserve hoops tix.....I can see just as well in GA...for alot less... Hope to see everyone in Lot 9.

Easy on my man, JT. Remember, we have to be ever grateful for Jim Tressel because he wrote the forward to our book..." Our Boys in Blue and Gold".

After sitting out of ZNO for the better part of several weeks due to the fear that ZNO tattle-tale is lurking, this thread is too intriguing to sit out any longer. While I completely agree with many of the ideas expressed here- The football team sacrifices it's coach's record by playing a lot of essentially unwinnable BCS-level road games to get cash for the Zips Athletic Department. Zips football program played in a total dump of a stadium for the past 25 years It ain’t football fault that the hoops team will draw, on-average, 3,000 fans. The schedule excited absolutely no one. Blame the lack of eye-catching wins over marquee teams (Florida State was long, long ago) Blame our lethargic approach to home games (remember when we NEVER lost at the JAR?) Blame the lack of a "star," must-see player. Blame the JAR team shop, who doesn't sell Zips Basketball replica jerseys (we wouldn't want little kids wearing such things to games, or around town, would we?) Blame the $3.00 hotdogs and understaffed concession lines (even with our weak crowds) We need to work together, not point fingers But this notion that the athletic department dies without football is untrue. Like Zip_ME87, I want all the teams to be successful and am classified a Zips fan-not just football or just basketball. Sure football can draw 30,000 and get paid $700K and have 3.5 hour commercials on ESPN in a bowl game while basketball can only draw 5500 and will not get this exposure unless they make a Sweet 16 run. But the football teams’ budget is also 6-8 times bigger. Where they even close to breaking even counting football only related revenue? I thought the ABJ posted an article on the amount of student fees that support the athletic department, especially football? Wasn’t something like 80% of the budget from fees? So even though they can earn $700K, they spend it and more. Yes, baiting KD to bash the football program was shameful, but this Zips football guy v. Zips basketball guy will always be there. Always! Why, because Akron football guy(s) doesn’t really exist. They are all in Columbus in the fall. My hunch is that there are many hoops-only fans in Akron because they don’t give a damn about football. I mean really give a damn about football. Therefore, these folks will always want UA to direct most of the funding to basketball (or soccer). Hence the football v. basketball mentality! The questions about football facilities vs. what basketball has will continue to persist. Furthermore, many also believe that it would be much easier and cost-effective to build a hoops “dynasty” at a place like Akron. Why? With nice facilities and 2 or 3 really good players, you can make a run at the Sweet 16. In football, you will need 10-15 really good players to make a run at the top 16 and again, these really good players are wearing red and silver… MAC- We all talk about getting out of the God-forsaken MAC Conference. Where the hell are we going? Has someone created this perfect conference where UA football and UA hoops can BOTH prosper? Sorry, it doesn’t exist. Even in a perfect world where we join a BCS level conference where we can get our grubby hands on some of the BCS tv revenue in football and go 7-5, what are our chances of making the big-dance in basketball, even if they expand to 165 teams? Slim to none and slim left town…. We are MAC, sorry. Until we get some of LBJ’s cash or find a way to get alumni to support it-with big time dollars, we are stuck. Let’s get the MAC conference to start acting like grown-ups and make schools accountable or kick them out… JAR- Yes the seating sucks. I pay a PSL for two seats- all so I can STAND. Otherwise I would miss half the action. Would it be nice to have a new arena, of course, but where is the dough? While we clearly need better locker rooms, offices, etc. , I still find it hard to believe that we can’t start over with NEW seats. Why can’t we essentially build 8 – 4 lower, 4 upper permanent sections of seating- With the proper sight lines. Even the furthest seat in Info is great. I would have a hard time finding even one seat in the JAR that is great. Cameron Indoor is a glorified gym. The seats are on top/close to the action and I don’t see them Dukies building a new arena any time soon. Marketing- I have no idea. Students- I would suggest hiring two permanent full-time employees—One female and one male that dedicates 100% of their time to meeting with and getting to know every student enrolled at UA and then getting them to games….We all know that if you don’t go to games as a student, you probably will not go when you graduate. Butler- Yes the butler did it. The run they had is similar to the run UC had in football. Butler getting to the finals in a basketball crazed state-with IU, PU and ND to compete with was pretty amazing. Ditto for UC in a football-crazed state like Ohio. So, yes, it can be done. Let’s stop pointing fingers and work together……

Taking into consideration letter winners only: 1st Team B. Hip B. Wood M. Seibert N. Myers Q. Milum 6th Man- Bubba

Great! We made the CBI. Congratulations. Any way you slice it, in the words of Charles Barkley, yesterday was a tur-a-ble day. Black Sunday will be followed by 3 weeks of March Sadness in the Zips Win! household. You buckeye honks and others who have alma maters IN the tournament continue to pump the "building process" at UA, yet you all get to go home and watch "your" school play. I get the CBI...Wonderful! Now I know what the great Captain Kangaroo was talking about when he spoke of getting tired of talking about the teams that are more athletic than the Zips. He must be on John Calipari's speed dial. I heard Cal on the radio this morning and he hit the nail on the head. Medlock, Cooper, Bassett and Kool all, may or may not be athletic. They are however, as Calipari would term them, shot-makers. All have the ability to create space and make shots. I will promise to refrain from wanting to be more athletic in the future and will begin to beg KD to get us some more SHOT-MAKERS. GZ- Please, calling KD Hip jr is insulting. You can always blame the coach, I know he can take it. And sure, I would like to have developed a point guard to slide McNees over. But Humpty was given ample chances to take the job and he didn't. I know we all have to be careful and not publicly criticise how a player performs or be called on the carpet for it. But once in a while the players have to take some responsibility for their development. Get me some shot-makers and we are not having this discussion.

I watched it on TV. Here were some calls I noticed that were bad. - The Roberts block on Van Kempen outside, he was definitely all ball and there was a late whistle. Play by play guys were surprised. - The Bassett driving layup that made it 61-57 and they called a foul on Conyers. He was backed away and they brushed jerseys, hardly enough contact for a foul. But because he fell to the ground, the refs bailed him out. - The loose ball foul on Chris McKnight where Van Kempen actually went over McKnight's back and brought him down. - The tangled up call with Cvetinovic and Van Kempen over a rebound, Van Kempen practically was pulling his right arm away. - The blocking foul on Conyers when he stepped out when Cooper was driving, should have been a no call based on the action in the game. I rewatched the last 5 min of regulation. I agree -numerous calls against us. We were fortunate that McNees got us to OT.

When have Zips fans ever really made any noise? A few years ago UA had a grad student at the JAR who would attempt to fire up the crowd. I thought he was really successful as he tried to get the Rowdies and the fans to make some noise. After a year or two, UA cut it out and now we have the same old crowd sitting on their hands. UA is just thankful for those that do show up at the JAR, getting them to stand up and make some noise would be asking way too much. Even this year, the band director tried numerous times to get those in the lower bowl to stand up during the fight song, with no success. If we have terrible crowd support at the JAR, exactly how are we just going to turn it on at the Q? I would love for fans to stand, chant Z-I-P-S, sing the fight song and learn some of the Rowdie cheers etc. Again, cannot just turn it on.... As for other ways to make "noise", I am not sure what you want. Heck, any verbal discussion about the team is frowned upon. God forbid anyone be standing and carry on a conversation about the the line-up for example. You would be questioning KD, and we know that's not allowed. Ditto for questioning aloud someone's shot selection, pass that was errant or general disgust with play. These comments would be considered offensive and you may be offending a player or parent. Again, very much frowned upon if heard by the wrong people, that is unless you are a KD cronie. On Thursday, I heard folks in the suite behind me calling out players by name for their shot selection as we were giving up our lead. I hope no one at UA heard these comments or look out... Personally, I would love for the arena to be loud and rocking with fans into the game. Unfortunately, at UA it's much safer to just show up and be a FAN without making any "noise" at all.

Actually I'm surprised they are still on the air. I'd give them a 1 out 10.Sure, there may be an opportunity to talk Zips sports, but these clowns are clueless when it comes to UA athletics.They would be hard pressed to name 5 guys on the team, let alone carry on a meaningful conversation.

That plus his strut....Everywhere I've seen him: at a Browns practice, at the Q, at the JAR and even last Wednesday at BW's after the UB game. Strutting around like he owned the place. The bar had a nice crowd and nobody even recognized him....

I would keep printing and selling tickets until I ran out of ink!

No, the amazing stat is that Gonzaga is still in the mid-major poll and that they are ranked third.So much for credibility of this poll..

My favourite call when D-rob was fouled shooting 3. The refs call 3 free throws. D-rob shoots the first 2 and then the refs decided to review the play on TV to find out if it was 2 or 3 Aren't you supposed to do that before the first 2 free throws???There were a lot of other examples from what I saw on TV.Refs lost track of how many fouls Akron had in the 2nd half. When we got to 10 they weren't sure if we had 10 or 9. BG player missed the first FT, BG got the rebound and dribbled around for a good 7 or 8 seconds before the refs decided to go over to the scorers table and spend 5 minutes figuring it out.The play where C.McKnight stole the ball at mid-court and drove coast to coast pretty obviously should have been an and one.In the 2nd half, I forget what Akron player got absolutely mugged on the way to the rim, no call. Other end, Nitro gets called for a cheap touch foul.At the end of the game there were some really questionable calls. First was the jump ball with Conyers where he was clearly just getting hacked by two BG players. The whistle for the jumpt came quickly and definitively. On another play Nik came down with the rebound off of a BG miss and the refs called a real quick travel.Again, I'm not one to generally complain about refs. Especially when we win, but yesterday was just embarassing. I really hope we can get some good refs for the Can't game. It would be a damn shame to put that kind of a crew on the floor in primetime on national TV.Nice summary on the bonehead officiating. How about when the official handed McNees the ball to inbounds under our hoop and then he had to grab it back from Steve as he noticed the kid was on the floor sweeping up the wet spots...What do these guys pay attention to? The poor calls made it nearly impossible to watch in person. We win that game going away with a fairly called game.

What a surprise?

Exactly my point. How or why would anyone know he went to Akron? All he talked about was tosu...Guys like CB need to get in front of the media and promote UA. It would go a long way to validating our program and then maybe he wouldn't be asked such a question...I think a lot of the problem also stems from our constantly changing Athletics Department staff.If you recall under Mike Thomas' administration we had a spring game where Frye, Blackburn, Taylor and a bunch of other former Zips attended. I guess they put a big effort into getting football alumni back into the UA "loop."I recall one administrator telling me - "I called Jason Taylor and asked if he'd like to make a donation. He said 'sure,' and then said...'no one's ever asked me before?"In the short time Thomas' group was here they did more than build the practice facility and get the stadium off the blocks. Look in the JAR. All those coaches murals in the corners were installed during that time. All the championship banners hanging from the rafters were raised during that time. Eric McLaughlin's jersey was retired during that time. Thomas' group did a great job of bringing former Zips back into the fold, and also promoting the history of Zips athletics that had been forgotten in some Memorial Hall closet for a couple decades.Then Thomas left, and it all stopped. UA needs to be in Blackburn's face. Give the guy t-shirts and caps. Invite him back for the golf outings and spring practices. Ditto Hixon. And Frye. And others. And if they can't make it in one season, you call them back in 6 months and try again. It's pretty simple.If you see Chase Blackburn wearing an OSU shirt underneath his jersey, I blame UA, not Chase.Who cares what he said? The guy grew up in the Columbus area. 99% of the time that person grows up rooting for OSU. Dont rag the guy for being honest. Is he suppose to avoid the question and say....I went to UA damn it, F OSU!!??? Hell no.I grew up a Browns fan. If I got drafted by the Steelers I would still be a Browns fan inside. You cant just get that out of you. You mistakenly assume his loyalties lie with OSU and not UA when that simply isnt true. I have said it before and I will say it again....the success of UA has NOTHING to do with OSU. If you believe that OSU make us a lesser program then you are sadly mistaken."OSU having nothing to do with Akron" you couldnt be more wrong the reason we cant sell out a beautiful new stadium on the second home game of the season is because more people were worried about going up to Cleveland to watch basically a scrimage between Toledo and OSU then cheering on the home town team. Students that go to this University would rather sit at home and watch a OSU game on tv then walk down the street and watch a game live in a beautiful new stadium.Oh yeah, and beat someone that people know. Pounding a freaking loser 1-AA does not make people excited to come out and watch us play a powerhouse like North Texas or Eastern Michigan.I forgot to mention, the Vest routinely plays schedules that are ranked #50 out of 120 and somehow he gets rewarded for it....