Zip Watcher

Please add MGD for week 2. Had a stray can or two of that in the mix, just remembered.

Serb was back when classes started.Go Zips!

I think that was '93, wasn't it? I remember being a student at UConn then, and seeing Akron in the "Others" section of the AP poll.

Next week, I think we're going to need to push it up a notch, so pencil these in for me:PowersTullamoreFeckinVO (for the wife). Go Zips!

The taps did still work during the play stoppage.

I just hope those same people who disrespect us will take the time to watch us play in the NCAA Basketball Tournament next March. A week before that, they can watch us win the MAC Championship on ESPN. B) B) +10

I've got the Litigation Lager covered, unless they change the selections this year. Oh, and there WILL be High Life in Lot 10.

Johnny Utah,Can you please provide a source link for this article, and credit the originator? Unless you wrote this yourself, it needs to be cited to be quoted here.Thanks for playing fair.ZW

This blows.Don't forget about Oklahoma St a few years back.

Playing togetherin a game situation is always helpful, isn't it?

+1 on that. +10. Thank you.

Lazy? Yes, I think his hiring of Coach I was a lazy decision. I didn't say he was a lazy guy, just this decision was lazy. Try not jumping to conclusions next time. I know how close you like to get to people within the Athletic Department, so please don't let your relationships with them impede your reading ability. Have I ever met Tom? No. So what? Save me the nice guy and hard working stuff. People are supposed to be nice and hard working. Everything good about Akron sports today was in place before TW too over. KD was the basketball coach and the program was rolling. The soccer program was established. Other programs are good as well. We didn't need direction in those programs. We needed direction in football. The AD was responsible for providing that direction and he has failed badly. Soccer has maxed out. Basketball has shown it will attract the same 2,800 people a game on average and that is about it. Remember the Motor City Bowl and how many people were there? That could be every week, and more, at The Big Dialer. It's not like there is no proof it can be done. The MCB is the proof. You were on the committee that made the FB hire then, and know first hand that it was predetermined and hard work wasn't done to make the best decision they could at the time with the resources and information that was available to them? You have no data to back that up. Assertions by Zach don't count in this discussion. Look, I like people who work hard to give UA student athletes a good college experience. Not everything they try works, or works immediately. I like the Mike's a lot, I thought Mack did plenty to further the vision .. and Tom isn't any different in his goals or dreams for UA. I don't need to defend any of the 3 of these guys .. they can stand tall on their own merits. Take a look at the futbol funding level and facilities now, and 3 years ago. They're pretty different. Not all attributable to one guy .. but these things took real effort, fund raising and making clear commitments to staff and athletes, and then following through on those commitments. Mack was in Houston before much of any of that got done. I'll never cease to be amazed at the level at which highly educated, normally coherent Zips fans will hate on the current AD (whoever that happens to be) because "they're not Mike Thomas .. they're not Mike Waddell .. or they're not Hunter Yuracheck." While some of those guys were here .. people beat on them just as much. I figure no UA AD or Asst. AD will ever be viewed favorably until there's another guy in the chair who does things differently. There's more to UA Athletics than FB, as hard as that might be for a football alumn to believe. And there's more to measuring of the department than attendance at one sport. Go Zips!

I don't know if I would use the word coward. I would use the word "lazy". I worry about what happens if we have a terrible next couple of years. This downturn couldn't have happened at a worse time. It raises so many possibilities and none of them are good. Things could be bad in a way that they were after Faust's final season. Lazy? Really? Have you ever met Tom? Can anyone take a deep breath, back away from your angst about the FB team, and really take an objective look at UA Athletics today? You're better than this. B) B) Go Zips!

Zach, is that you? You have two logins now? Can't believe I'm about to do this ... but ok. You point out that Zach hasn't been to many campuses .. and then you try to smudge things in your favor more, thus illustrating that you perhaps haven't been to some of the places you're such an expert about. Squint a little, and your post could have been written by the king of endzone gnomes himself. While West Lafayette isn't a big city .. the local area in which it sits can't really be considered rural. Greater Lafayette is much more than a support structure for a university, albeit a very large university. Over 150,000 people reside in that area, and there are several huge employers that dwarf the size of the university staff, such as Caterpillar, Isuzu, Wabash National .. maybe Alcoa if it's still operating there. This isn't a rural area grown up around a university like Oxford or Athens. Also, and I'll get around to adding this to the forum dictionary whenever we create one: several = 3. UA and UT share many, many similarities. I for one expect that the Zips and Rockets will ultimately become long time bitter rivals no matter what shakes out with conference rosters and changes. Go Zips! B)

+1000 I'm with this guy. Go get 'em Rob! Go Zips! B) B)

That's the current state of the program, and why there's sustainability year over year .. KD isn't scouring the barrel for roster spots for next season. Here we sit in August, 2011 .. and the roster is generally set through the next 2 years. B)

Or what will Akronzips71 post about now?

Pete was the best. As a kid I used to take my transistor AM radio to bed, with my ear phone plugged in my ear (so my parents couldn't hear it) and listen to Pete until he went off the air. Many times I'd wake up for school with the earphone still in...and the WWWE morning news playing. The callers were the best. A bunch of entertaining wing nuts. Pete had a great balance of real sports substance, coupled with entertainment. If callers were uninteresting, he hung up on them. If they were idiots, he hung up on them. Kids? Hang up. He had a great knack for what was really interesting, and what was worthless. You can do that when you're confident, have a great show, and aren't begging for listeners. No one hangs up on idiots anymore. That's why I don't listen to radio sports talk today. It's time has passed. This guy is a close to a listenable, knowledgeable, interesting sports talk host as I've found in the post-Pete era. Too bad he's no longer on the air locally. +1 on Pete Franklin I'll never forget the bits he would run about the Cavs .. something like "Follow the bouncing Ball" ?? Called Stepien "Uncle Teddy" .. hilarious stuff.

+1 on that. And also "Tall Tales" .. they were great books because he was able to set the stage to the story, and let the characters (interviewees) tell the story directly. Both are must reads for basketball fans. I'm not a pro ball fan anymore, but those are good books back into the history of the game.

If you haven't read Mark Titus' blog, I think you're missing out. He's a younger Bill Simmons with the experience of being inside a BCS athletic program. Usually a good read. Titus weighs in on Miami @ Club Trillion

Interesting point about this maybe making the hill from mediocrity to respectability tougher ... at least as it relates to becoming a good tournament team in the way the Zips have. It'll be a little harder to progress later in the weekend and build that experience if you have a .500 or below regular season.

I actually like it mostly. 3 road games in the first swing through the East. That means 3 of the last 5 are at home before the Zips Invitational at the Q. B) B) Go Zips!

Now, what POSSIBLE reason could there be for Can't State to get the home game vs. UA at the end of the regular season 2 years in a row?

I've been to pretty much every MAC tournament game since it moved to the Q in 2000. It's a great time .. and a corporate holiday. That aspect of my reservations doesn't really relate to how many games the Zips are in .. I'm there regardless. For the price, you can't beat it if you're a hoops fan. Go Zips!