GoZips

Jim Tressel's biggest sin is his loyalty.

This is great tee shirt material. For some of us slightly younger fellas, what's the story w/ Helsel again? He was hired after Mike Bobinski & only stayed @ UA for less than a year, right? Helsel was a clutz.

Taking the HC job at Akron is punishment enough. NCAA would give JT a waiver.

Compared to these two rascals, Jim Tressel is squeaky clean.

Jim Tressel is my choice. Here is why: Solid history of winning at all levels. Former Akron assistant coach. Local ties thick as a 100 year old oak tree. Close to retirement age (meaning he is already well heeled). Stays in the Ohio retirement system (Akron, YSU, Ohio State). Has instant credibility with recruiting. Can help move Akron up and out of the Mid-American Conference. Can bring in assistant coaches that would normally be out of Akron's sphere. Well liked by Zips fans despite coaching at theeOSwho. Would be a HUGE coup for Tom Wistrcill.

Leach is still involved in litigation with TTech because of his alleged treatment of the son of 1/2 of the Pony Express at SMU. He has got a good radio gig going on satellite. They let him do the show from his house in the Keys. He just broke a book. The higher profile programs won't touch him right now apparently because of the legal stuff. Mike Leach is toxic; forget him.

+1 May God rest her soul.

This is great tee shirt material.

You base your opinion on what?

Most of the opponent's goals seem to come in the last few minutes of the second half. This is entirely too frequent. Would it help to sub in another defender late in the game if we are up by a goal or more? I think we already play four back. One other thing that galls me is Meyes punting the ball making it a 50/50 ball when he should be outlet to a defender on the wing making it a nearly 100% ball in Akron's possession. Punting the ball is the stupidest play in soccer. Never given your opponent an opportunity to counter.

If we are making a list of potential new head coaches I would like to add the name of... LUKE FICKLE. A man who has weathered a rough storm only to be thrown to the curb by monied power brokers. So far I see Paul Winters and Jim Fleming as well as Luke. All good choices. All football men driven by the desire to win.

This is called "greasing the skids". I am all for it.

What is the update on the bus trip?

Six reasons the game will be played in Charlotte: 1) Charlotte was higher "unseeded" than Akron 2) Akron has better attendance and does not mean squat in terms of revenue to the NCAA who rakes in millions off of American football. 3) Akron soccer fans travel better than Charlotte fans. 4) Caleb Porter has brought far too much attention to a sport the NCAA wants to go away. 5) The NCAA really does NOT like Akron. We all too often upset their "apple cart". 6) The weather in Charlotte is nicer meaning that the NCAA officials who have to travel to the game have a better chance of getting in a round of golf. Actually, on sunday Akron is suppose to be 54 with a 40% chance of T-Showers. Charlotte is suppose to be 59 with 40% of T-Showers. So the weather would have been the same at either location. Please read the second part of the statement. better golf weather for the NCAA officials. They don't give a rat's pitootey about game weather; they want great golf weather. Let us be totally honest. The NCAA has put every stumbling block in Akron's path more than once. Remember the not so home field advantage of 2008 when the Zips traveled to play in Evanston, IL? That was on a field in far worse shape than Akron's pitch. How about seeding Akron 9th in 2007 when the Zip's RPI was like #4 forcing Akron to play at both UCONN and Maryland? Two games ago we witnessed the most blatant and disgusting officiating by a referee determined to give the game to Northwestern. And at SMU reports coming back of much the same kind of treatment. That is why it was so easy to predict that Akron's next game will be played in Charlotte. We can fully expect the same blatant one sided officiating as the NCAA will hinder the Zips at every step. All this said: We are Akron; just get it done. Go Zips ... !!!!!

Six reasons the game will be played in Charlotte: 1) Charlotte was higher "unseeded" than Akron 2) Akron has better attendance and does not mean squat in terms of revenue to the NCAA who rakes in millions off of American football. 3) Akron soccer fans travel better than Charlotte fans. 4) Caleb Porter has brought far too much attention to a sport the NCAA wants to go away. 5) The NCAA really does NOT like Akron. We all too often upset their "apple cart". 6) The weather in Charlotte is nicer meaning that the NCAA officials who have to travel to the game have a better chance of getting in a round of golf.

Don't count yer chikins fer day hatch. Nex subday der gonna be six inches of snow and ice on cub Cadet filed 'ccording to NCAA weather reports. Neber mind dat weader channel sez' 50 and dry. Youse guys gotz remember how much da NCAA lubs us, not. You see da take down in da box by Northworsten? Da ref puts ball outside da box even doe der be a divot da size of milwaukee two feets inside da box. Den, remember dat PK Nordwosrten gets on da phantom hand ball dat hit a Zip in da back? No PK for ball hitting player in his back. Den, SMU gets PK for a player taken down outside da box, but ruled he was in da box. And chew tink dey lub us? wadda you? nutz?

Scoreboard shows 3-2 with zero time ... ZIPS WIN ... !!!!

In defense of the ref on that play, I don't think he felt that that foul deserved a PK. It usually takes a pretty hard foul for a ref to award a PK. You'll often see when a soft foul occurs near the edge of the box, the ref will call it, but pull the ball outside the box. They'd never admit to it, but it's somewhat common. That said, to then give up a ticky-tack PK the next half was complete BS. I was right behind the goal and saw absolutely nothing there. Obviously you did not not see the foul. Those of us who did have reported the circumstances. I had a clear look at the foul. Mattocks was taken down from behind with a hard shove to his back. A divot resulted the size of a dinner plate. The linesman had a clear look at the foul and did nothing. This was a foul that deserved a PK. The PK that Northwestern took was awarded for what? There was no foul. No player from either team went to the turf. No punches were thrown. It was a common melee of pushing and shoving. The only fair way to award a PK in that situation would be to award both sides a PK. I am always amazed that bad officiating is usually justified by some one.

I'd rather not talk about the post Zeke era Fear not. The coaching staff is diligently recruiting a pair of big men. Hmm, interesting. Recruiting "a pair" of bigs with the hope of signing one, or both? Blue & Gold, actually I am not sure. The rapid increase in Demetrius Treadwell's skills is altering the thinking of the coaches. TREE has moved from the tenth man in the rotation to the seventh man. This was not expected. But, a wonderful help to the program. It only he was six-ten; he is six-eight.

Need a Zips sports fix? Come watch the Lady Zips Friday and Saturday nights. The Ladies are hosting a second round WNIT bracket. Detroit vs. Drexel at 5 PM. Lady Zips vs. Howard at 7:30 PM. Proof that the Ladies will be good this season: The infamous {Zip in Paradise) aka Z.I.P., posted that if the Ladies lost by 30 points or less against number two ranked Notre Dame, they will be the best team in the MAC. Well, the Ladies did lose to Notre Dame (81-61) by twenty. Notre Dame has more recently dispatched Indiana State 99-34 and Hartford 98-43. Point spreads of 65 and 55. Get the point? Our Lady Zips deserve our support. Hopefully a large contingent of AK-Rowdies make their presence known tonight.

I'd rather not talk about the post Zeke era Fear not. The coaching staff is diligently recruiting a pair of big men.

Amen

Punts usually result in 50/50 balls. If you take note of the results of punts you will quickly discover that about 2/3 of them come right back to the punting goalie in the form of an attack. This holds true for all high level soccer matches, pros and college. Watch and you will see. The best way to insure near 100% retention of a ball put back in play by a goalie is for him to outlet the ball to one of his defenders and have them take the ball up the pitch. Concerning Meyes, he has a "weak" leg and most of his punts come down near the midfield line. With last night's wind he had no business punting the ball. Most of his punts came down short of midfield resulting in easy attacks for Northwestern. I am by no means a soccer expert. I can discern poor play (most of the time). Personally, I would much prefer a different goalie between the posts. GoZips88 and I go round and round about this. He loves Meves. Me, not so much.

I am amazed and pleased by your approach to the head referee. I was close the the rowdies on the north side of the goal when they exited accompanied by security guards. Odd, thinks me, not since the Cal game last year did I see any need for security for officials. Those three cretins definitely needed an escort. Tom Wistrcill, do you part and force the NCAA to review the calls. Such blatant favoritism has no place in collegiate sports.

First off, I am glad my prediction was wrong. This was the most biased officiating I have witnessed. The referee literally tried to give the game to Northwestern. NU was awarded free kick after free kick; some at point blank range. I had a clear view of the take down in the box. It happen right in front of me as I was just behind the chain link barrier and directly looking at the foul. Other than the players I probably had the best look at the foul and where it occurred. It was absolutely in the box. The referee who was 25 yards off pointed to just outside the box. The AR/linesman was nearly as close to the foul in the box as I was. He could have and should have over ruled the referee. But, it was apparent from the start that the officials were determined to award the game to Northwestern. In the sequence of events leading up to the PK a corner kick was awarded to NU. This kick came from the north east corner and resulted in a second corner kick from the south east corner. This second corner kick was headed out of bounds by #20 of Northwestern. The AR had a clear look at it and awarded NU a third corner kick. This corner kick was headed and bounced a couple of times in the melee in the middle. A PK was awarded to NU for God knows what reason as no one in the area saw any sort of a foul. All this happening right in front of me. Tom Wistrcill has the duty to submit the video tape of this game to the NCAA. And, request a written explanation for the obvious bias the officials displayed throughout the game.