g-mann17

Look at the swag these guys get from getting to tournaments from the NCAA, look at all the stuff the NCAA actually does to help athletes. I don't mean glance, I mean actually look. 10.8 Billion goes really fast when you have the number of championships and tournaments that you do across all divisions. They know what makes money and they use it to make the most they can get and then spread it across all sports. NCAA is bigger than football and basketball and if it wasn't for all the other sports opportunities, this stuff would not exist.

^^^

Wont know until they play the games, but I would hope to see the Zips competitive against Can't, Temple, EMU, FIU, VMI, CMU and Buffalo. Just to name 7. How many WILL they win? Maybe none. Maybe 7. Who knows. Give 'em a chance. There are a lot of newcomers that might just prove they can play. Maybe not. But as for me and my house, we are supporting the Zips. Well good for you. Nobody said anybody wasn't 'supporting the Zips'. 'Competetive'? Thats pretty minimal. One would hope they could be 'competetive' in ALL the MAC games and against VMI. And we have all been giving them a chance for a long time now. What defines 'progress'at the end of this season? I don't know, there was progress at the end of last season. Except for a fumble we would have beaten eventual MAC Champs Miami, except for an interception we would have beaten Ball State. And then there was GW. So to me progress is winning those 3 game situations (Closing out a team instead of getting closed out) plus the current 1 win we had, and ideally finding another win. That would be 4 games of "progress" and 5-7. I think as much as we all want to win them, we have to throw out OSU and Cinci as highly probable losses. So that means 5-5 through the rest of the season. Though for me I would much rather see a winning record in the MAC considering we are playing a series of 1st year coaches (Temple, Miami, Can't) and are level with Buffalo and EMU. So progress is 5-7, a turn around is 7-5.

I think overall this design is a lot better. Never been a big "mobile version" fan because I have a phone that can do most all of what a regular browser does.

Future Planning Underway UA is preparing their capital improvement plans for the next 20-30 years. Of note, the College of Education and Law School are on hold until after the new plan is completed. Also Ted Curtis invisions the JAR as a practice gymnasium and a new arena being constructed. He does state that funding is major factor as "partners" are tight with capital budgeting because of the economy. Don't let the last sentence scare you. The key to a project like this is naming rights and outside investment. But that too will be tough unless it is already pledged.

I miss winters on campus and walking to Bierce and smelling the bread baking. But you know, Progress and all that jazz.

Of course it is never enough (it is never enough) and the schools shouldn't have to pay it. The players should be allowed to go out and earn money on their own. Which scenario preserves the integrity of the game better: 1. Player selling memorabilia under the table to a tat shop owner who is under investigation by the Feds for drug dealing. 2. Player getting paid by local car dealership in a signed legal contract at the end of which, player receives a 1099 for services, for signing autographs for four hours in September before school starts. The problem with the way things are right now, of these two options, option 1 is the only one that can exist. How is that good for college athletics? How does that contribute to the integrity of the game? Of course Newton woudl and should get more money. Would you rather have a guy who looks like him signing autographs at your car dealership, or would you rather bring in a blubbery offensive lineman stinking of french fries to sign autographs all day? Your point two is interesting. But is that player making money off himself, or because of the school he plays for? Chances are it is because of the school he plays for. And even with that, how do you control it. Certain workers, that say they are working to pay for college but we all know they haven't been in a college classroom in their life, get a 1099 or W-2 that says one thing, and the truth of what they make is something totally different. When we talk about integrity, we mean the allowable level of corruption and manipulation. The bottom line is, as soon as you let a player make money off "himself" you open it up to even more corruption and player manipulation than what already exists. Why would a player choose Alabama over say a Rutgers where they would get more exposure and could make more money because they are near NYC? Wouldn't that become a recruiting tool? And the ability to work already exists for athletes. If anything they should open up what the players can earn while working. Also nobody in college makes money of what they accomplish for the University. You think the grad assistant that actually discovered the vaccine for polio got any credit? You know it wasn't Salk doing every hour of that research.

Want to preserve the integrity of the game? Let them make money so it can all be out in the sunlight as we know who is making the money and where it is coming from. Preserve the integrity of the game by making it so they don't owe anyone anything and you put them in a position where the players don't have to expose themselves to the jocksniffers and low lives. Is the integrity of the game damaged in professional athletics because the players take money? Of course not. Want to preserve the integrity of the game? Stop allowing tosu to play the likes of ysu. Those games are frauds. Want to preserve the integrity of the game? Make it so guys like Tressel can never coach again in college. He'll be the next Rick Pitino. I could go on all night. The point is, it is laughable to look at what goes on in college athletics/ncaa and apply the word integrity to much of it. And how much money do they have to make to stop a Pryor incident from happening? The problem with money is that it is never enough. You know it to be true, that is why there are plenty of corruptable professionals and they make millions. The most you could even offer these kids (and you would have to offer to every college athlete the same amount of money) is $20,000 a year and that is $1 Billion or more a year to pay just D-1 athletes. Does that money exist, yes. Will it stop any of this nonsense? Emphatically no. You are a free market guy, do you really think a Cam Newton is going to be happy making the same money that some 6th string receiver gets? The majority of athletes are plenty happy with what they get, and they can make it work just fine.

If you taint yourself like Pryor did you don't get endorsement deals. Bush had all sorts of stuff out of college and as soon as all the allegations were confirmed that went away. Not to mention Pryor is an "easy way" athlete, that's proven by these actions. NFL teams are going to be aware of that and he is going to have a very short leash. If amounts to more than Clarett did in the NFL I will be greatly surprised. So what does he get out of it? Forty grand and not much else.

Who is harmed by Pryor breaking ncaa rules? I would say that almost nobody is harmed by him breaking ncaa rules. Why?....Well, when everyone is already breaking the most moronic rules in the world, nobody can be harmed by the actions. It hurts the integrity of the game. Once Pryor is taking gifts and money, he owes someone. If you are a college QB and you owe someone, point shaving becomes a real threat. And that is a crime an not a "rule". So great point Cap.

There is a difference between breaking NCAA rules and breaking the law. Laws make actions illegal because OTHERS are harmed by the actions of the criminal. NCAA rules are made in order to enforce an fantasy many have created for themselves about the nature and purpose of college athletics. Who is harmed by Pryor breaking ncaa rules? I would say that almost nobody is harmed by him breaking ncaa rules. Why?....Well, when everyone is already breaking the most moronic rules in the world, nobody can be harmed by the actions. "But GP1, schools like Akron are hurt by Pryor breaking the rules. It gives them an unfair advantage." This line of thinking is nonsense. We are our own worst enemy and the harm we do to ourselves is far worse than anything tosu or the other bcs schools could do to us. How about the athletes and students at OSU are hurt by his actions? People wanting to attend OSU are hurt because of scholarship reduction, Tressel and that whole coaching staff will be hurt. The NCAA will sanction them, and the NCAA rules are laws for purpose of college athletics. I mean that whole concept you gave is the weakest argument you have ever given. Who is hurt by murder? The family and the person murdered, so maybe 100 people tops, who was hurt by all the illegal shenanigans that Fair Finance or any of the other ponzi bank schemes? Thousands were, yet the laws say murderer gets the chair, and white collar thief gets 12 months at the country club. Hell laws are moronic, the company you work for has moronic rules. But its ok to break them because every one else does. All of the sports have rules, it doesn't hurt anybody if I cheat the game, hell everyone does anyway. Finally figured out GP1's problem. He's a sociopath. Lets not forget that Roosevelt said "police yourselves or we will". Everyone hates the NCAA but it is what deregulated college athletics looks like. The alternative would have been the Federal Bureau of College Athletics, and all of this stuff would be real crime. And also understand something. There are maybe 50 violations a year tops most of them are very minor, and the majority of schools and athletes abide by the rules because what is set up is more than fair. But then you get media outlets that pick up on the 3 or 4 marquee violations and make it into a "we need to change a broken system" that's the "fantasy" the fantasy is that football players and mens basketball players are somehow more important. People don't show up to see Pryor, they don't show up to see Sullinger. They show up to see the Buckeyes. None of these players at any of these of schools are anything, and that is why they choose the big schools so that they can attach that tradition and that excellence to their name. But in the grand scheme of things of the 10,000 some footballers across D-1 less than .02% of them will be a pro and they know that going in. And only a fraction of that think they are better than the system or deserve more than what they are getting.

Stadium Update

Actually, some of those athletes have shown they're pretty darn good at creating manure.

That is 10.8 over close to 10 years, and the majority of that money is pumped back into other athletic programs (women's field hockey for example). Yes AD's and Coaches are over paid, but in many instances that money is raised by alumni and donors. I believer their are several programs that now have an endowed coaches position. That means there is a lump of money set aside to pay the best possible salary for the best possible coach. Also that 10.8 is for basketball and split across some 300 schools. And if its so horrible to make money of these guys, if its really so bad, why are ESPN, Fox, CBS, NBC making these deals, you know they are making money of the broadcasts, you spend $10.8 billion on something for the heck of it. They are expecting at least a 3:1 return on that investment. I don't see any of those broadcasting companies offering up grants or scholarships to cover the hardship expenses. Give me a break on this whole thing already. Athletes get a lot, there are rules in place, and for some what they get isn't enough because they want everything "now". All of these violations are really entitlement issues. They think they deserve something more than they get. Even at the almighty OSU, the biggest athletic budget in the land, athletics make up a paultry 3% of the university's 4 Billion dollar + operating budget. The people in the agriculture department end up making more for the school from creating better manure than what any of those athletes generate.

Murray commits to getting benefits. When Bin Laden was killed...do you think it had any effect on Al Qaeda's recruiting? Definitely, I mean not only was the leader guy gone but so was one of the most posh hideouts.

Luis Proenza is helping to lead the change, so I am pretty sure our administration is very prepared. There's a lot of talk on tuition and college costs, but what people fail to realize is that when you account for the actual contributions that states made to schools 30-40 years ago on a per student basis, the cost of attending school hasn't increased, its been moved to the student. Tuition has increased exponentially outside of inflation while budgets have stayed in the same general area. If we really cared about growing the economy we would go back to actually funding education and not funding test taking.

I know exactly who Lebed is. He is a scam artist, and the NIA has been promoting his pump and dump schemes for a while now. That said, much of their rhetoric(this video included) is very realistic. Furthermore, your claim that gold and silver will "burst in the next 4-5 years" is..well...odd. I think you're confusing Lebed's money making schemes with the overall precious metals market. Lebed's "pump and dump" schemes will take much less than 4-5 years to "burst". Meanwhile, the precious metals market will probably keep rising(with some hiccups) as long as central banks keep devaluing currencies. But thanks for pointing out to people that the NIA is NOT a group that people should be considering. The message this video sends, however, is very real. Then return your degree if you think it has no value. No one ever promised a job to a degree holder, they promised potential, and most people take "easy money" majors or majors that have no bearing on the real world, English? Really! As for precious metals, I sure hope you aren't in finance. At some point interest rates will have to rise.

Maybe next time research a little bit before posting tripe like this. NIA is founded by Jonathan Lebed who in the early part the last decade used internet chat rooms to promote and sell penny stocks that he owned to artificially raise their price. He was and currently is being investigated by the SEC for market tampering. The video itself is to sell "secure gold and silver" as means of saving money. Something that is bound to burst in the next 4-5 years. Why? Because he owns a lot of it and wants to sell at the highest prices possible.

I would say they have been ironing that out since the Quaker Square deal. They toured Toledo's arena (UA and the City, and rep's from First Energy and some other undisclosed individuals) over a year ago now. I don't think the stadiums push anything back. Donors and Cub Cadet paid for the soccer stadium improvements. The Info was a capital project and they still are getting donors to cover some of that. But that would be the same as saying "how much does all the new buildings push the stadium back". It really didn't. This whole thing started when the Info was built. As for improvements to the JAR, new court, chairback seats for the lower sections, score board, locker rooms. They have put probably $2 million in it to get it to where it is now. Probably as much or more renovation as the Rubber Bowl saw.

I think you miss the point. We all agree that the JAR doesn't meet the needs of the team, or the fans. Memorial Hall was built in 1954 it was determined in 1977 that it no longer fit the needs of the school. It was to be replaced by a 10,000 seat coliseum style arena. In 1983 the JAR was built. The JAR is now older than Memorial hall was when it was replaced. It never met fan needs, it barely met athletic department needs. Also the JAR and Memorial Hall existed linked together for years. You have more momentum now then in the past because women's b-ball is doing well and the men have a chance at the tournament every year. I'm just saying that if the school was bent on renovating, the RFP would have been for bids to improve the arena and not a feasibility study on the costs of replacing it. This is step one in a 4 year ordeal to replace a bad outcome from 30 years ago.

Well I would say the key to that is the use of "may". Its not "solutions are reno and expand or demo and construct" it may include any or all of that. Renovate and construct are included in that. They could say that expansion isn't impossible but you have to demo the current athletic offices and all class rooms so that a concourse can be built around it. There are lot of possibilities created by the use of "may". They just created the start and end of the spectrum. Its up to the bidders to come up with the best solution. It really depends on what the University and Athletic Departments needs are. A new arena downtown means they need practice facilities on campus, a new arena on campus means they could build a new office facility in it.

Cities, states, and universities do feasibility studies to do "due dilligence". That way when they make the decision to build something new, they can say "We looked into it, and it would cost too much". You can't do a concourse in the JAR. You can't add luxury seating without significantly reducing the seating that currently exists. You can't expand it (not that we need it bigger, but to add loge/president suites it would need to be bigger to maintain current size). All I'm saying is, we did a feasibility study on the Rubber Bowl, we have Infocision, we did one for the Law School, and we are going to build a new Law School, we did it for Gallucci Hall and the Grant Street High Rise, and all of that is going to be replaced. This a "due dilligence" study. You need luxury suites for program investment, you need new sightlines so that TV coverage looks better. This will result in saying that the JAR isn't up to par for basketball and can't be renovated to meet fan expectations.

Everything that is great about football and soccer rolled into one. 50,000+ showed up for the final 4 and national championship game. And historically good soccer schools do fairly well in the sport, if you catch my drift.

I long for Akron Lacrosse. No new venues are needed, just some added lines to Infocision or the practice field and a pressbox and 2000 bleacher seats is a great start.

So then what you're saying is we will get a baseball coach from Wisconsin or Minnesota?