GJGood

Former Akron center fielder Devan Ahart was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 16th round of the Major League Baseball draft. He has since decided to forego his season season and sign with the Dodgers. LA has assigned him to one of their rookie league minor league teams. Devan is making his professional debut tonight in the season opener for the Ogden Raptors. He is starting and batting leadoff. As I type this he is currently 1 for 3 with a single, a run scored, and two stolen bases. That's not too shabby of a start. Although I am disappointed that he is no longer a Zip, I wish Devan all the best and hopefully he will represent the Zips program in the majors someday.

I don't necessarily want to say the NCAA (outside of the four team playoff field being determined by a selection committee) is rigged in favor of the bigger name programs. I think it just allows the bigger name programs to rig it on their own. The biggest things to me have always been equal ability in scheduling and equal access in the postseason. I just want the non-power teams and conferences to be given a fair shake. Things like allowing games against FCS opponents to count toward bowl eligibilty and eliminating the 7+ wins for first at-large spots in bowls rule hurt the non-power schools. The BCS conferences playing FCS schools instead of MAC, Sun Belt, C-USA schools, etc... hurts in that it takes away opportunity and money. The 7 wins rule made teams with 7 or 8 wins in leagues like the MAC get taken over 6-6 teams from the SEC or Pac-12.

I understand that. That is why I threw out the Bahamas as an example. They may not want to spend the money to go to Birmingham even though I am sure that is a fine city but put our conference champ in a more extravagant locale like Nassau or Honolulu or even something like South Beach against a power conference team and we may really have something.

I agree the MAC needs a bowl or two matched up against power conference teams, even if they are top of the MAC versus barely bowl eligible power schools. I understand the MAC needs to take care of business in all the bowls but I still think it would be great if the MAC had a bowl they really put above all others. The champ may be slated for the GoDaddy but I don't think most programs or fanbases truly value that destination more than any of the other MAC bowl locations. I'd just like to see the conference has that special one that everybody guns for if the league gets shut out from anything higher. To me something like the Bahamas would be perfect for this.

Does the MAC need a single bowl that every team strives to reach? The Big Ten and PAC-12 have always had the Rose Bowl as a primary goal, the SEC the Sugar Bowl, etc... Obviously the ultimate goal for any program in the FBS is to make the four team playoff. I fear that realistically the new selection committee won't even look at a MAC school even if undefeated. The next goal would be being the top team from the "Group of Five" conference members and getting a berth in one of the biggest bowls outside of the playoff. Making it to that level is a realistic goal for the MAC but they obviously won't be there every season. I just think that the MAC should have a bowl that they always send their champion to in the event they don't qualify for one of the biggest name games. I also think this game should have a spectacular geographic destination (Bahamas/ Hawaii?) and/or be against a "power conference" school. What would you like to see the MAC bowl structure look like? What is an appropriate annual destination for the MAC champion?

So many seem to think 1-3 is a foregone conclusion. I think the Zips are very capable of winning any one of the three with Pitt, Penn State, and Marshall. I think Akron can trade punches with Pitt, it will be a serious trap game for PSU, and Marshall can be stopped if you can slow down their QB (easier said than done). I ceratinly wouldn't be betting that Akron will be 4-0 or even 3-1 heading into MAC play but I see 2-2 as very realistic even if 1-3 is what is expected.

For the NCAA tournament conference tourney champs get the auto bid, then there are also quite a few at-large bids like basketball. The format for the baseball big dance is a little different than basketball because of double elimination and it usually features more regional matchups to start things off. Of course when Akron won the MAC in 1996 they had to go to Lubbock, Texas to face the top ranked team in the nation in the USC Trojans in a game the Zips lost by a score of 20-10 then the Zips lost to regional host Texas Tech in the loser's bracket elimination game. It was extremely odd that Akron had to play the #1 team in the country and then also the host team in their only two games as usually the top seed in each region is also the host. As far as making the College World Series, to get to Omaha you have to be the survivor of your four team regional followed by being the winner of your best 2-of-3 format super-regional.

I don't usually complain much about referees or umpires because I feel that you can usually point to other things in the game that effected the result just as much, but in this game the umps have directly cost the Zips two to four runs and the score is now 3-2 instead of a three to five run lead in the biggest game the program has had in 18 years. It is quite frustrating.

I see what you are saying. I interpret it to mean that if both teams enter the finals with one loss there is one game to decide the title. If both teams enter the finals undefeated there is one game to determine the title. If the championship is between a team with one loss and a team that is undefeated then the one loss team must beat the undefeated team twice. The odd thing about that would be if both are undefeated scenario, the other scenarios would result in a two loss team and seem to make sense.

Is it one game for the finals for certain? Or does it depend on if one or both of the final two have a loss or not? If the finals ends up a best two out of three then I think this format would essentially be the same as the College World Series in Omaha, just with some odd game times along the way.

The format is standard but usually the winner's bracket keeps you in prime viewing time. Having a team that is 2-0 play at 9:30am in a format like this is quite odd.

Will the MAC tourney be streamed online? Will 1350 carry the Akron games?

True, I just hope the day comes when moving to a school like UH isn't seen as much of a move up over being at Akron.

Only three Jacksons away from the basketball version of the Jackson 5.

If they can push the streak to 9 straight wins this weekend then I'll feel pretty good about them finally getting back to the MAC tourney. I know a lot can happen still but you have to think they'd be able to stratch out a win here and there the rest of the way and still be playing in Avon if they sweep BG this weekend.

I prefer grass to turf but I am much more OK with turf in baseball as long as it is still outside. I just don't care for dome baseball. Its football where I really don't like turf but that bridge has already been crossed at the U of A.

I like taking chances on guys like this. I bet he would have had quite a few offers from FBS schools had he attended a better known or more tradition rich high school. There are diamonds in the rough out there. This guy passes the eye test and could be one of them. Getting better unheralded guys than the competition goes a long way toward things like bowl games and MAC championships.

If we can't land Robotham what other PGs are out there?

Hearing a lot surprised OU fans I know complaining about JC and how quick he left. I, for one, am not surprised and fully expected him to leave rather quickly. All you have to do is look at his track record, this isn't the first time he has done this. I do have to admit it caught me off guard that it is BC that he left for though considering he didn't really accomplish that much at OU given their talent level and especially didn't do much at TCU. We at Akron are extremely lucky that we have a head coach that really wants to be where he is and is not likely to go anywhere else. You never know what would happen if a school threw a ton of $$$ at him but I don't see that happening anytime real soon. Anybody think Geno Ford would be interested in returning to the MAC to coach at his alma mater all while trying to stick it to his former employer? OU hired a former coach of our arch rival last time, could it happen again? if so, he may be a guy that would stick around there for a while, although that is hard to say with any certainty.

http://buckeyextra.dispatch.com/content/stories/2014/04/03/sports-report-lede-0403-art-g43rr0tt-1.html

I certainly cannot argue those points. If we are looking to be unique, though, it should be mentioned that the 'A' logo also incorporates the kangaroo head. As far as I know only UMKC has a kangaroo as their mascot and they are certainly much lesser known than Akron. Also the 'A' logo incorporates two of the big three identifiers of a program (school name/initial, nickname, mascot) while the 'Z' only symbolizes one of the three. The 'A' just says Akron to me more than the 'Z'. For using the 'Z' though I do think the helmet design looks pretty good. I just don't want the jersey font or style to copy what WMU had last year.

I too would like to see us keep our font, make it gold (but at least readable) if need be, but the Akron font needs to stay.

I understand why they are doing this and it is not as bad as I feared it would be. The helmet design looks pretty cool. I am just not a fan of the 'Z' logo as more than a secondary logo. I prefer a logo that represents Akron and not just the nickname. Still, its better than when somebody like Michigan State wore those helmets with the big S on the side for State.

It may be somewhat of a vicious circle. The marketing would help recruiting which in turn would help provide results worthy of marketing, right? At some point the trend needs broken and with the items mentioned above by others, why not now?

One of, if not the, best things about a really good three point shooting team is that their inside guys have more room to work and get easy two pointers because the defense has to be more spread out.