Captain Kangaroo

The issue has been addressed. Sports talk can resume.

Regarding my knock on CSU's intensity...I've seen a lot of these games over the years, and they have often been absolute wars. CSU didn't bring that "get-in-their-grill" intensity that I'd seen in the past. Dambrot brought his team in ready for a war. I think CSU took what is a rivalry game a little lightly. All the credit goes to KD and the Zips. And Waters and CSU deserve some criticism.

Thoughts on the CSU game are as follows: 1.) CSU played lazy. I went into the game expecting a backyard brawl, and I just saw a bunch of lazy schleps in CSU uniforms. Very disappointed. 2.) Is Gary Waters turning into Rollie Massimino Jr., collecting a nice paycheck and slacking off on recruiting? I was as big a fan of Gary Waters as his own mom, up until last year. That lame season gave me some concern. Maybe they pick it up as this season progresses, but the eyeball test tells me they will be mediocre again in the Horizon. 3.) What a fantastic place to watch a basketball game. The seats were like a Lay-Z-Boy recliner. All seats angled to give you a great view of the court. Beer sales. I wish we'd get rid of the JAR and play our home games @ The Wolstein Center. Share it like the Jets/Giants. 4.) Ibitayo had a serviceable game. If his 3-point push shot can find the twine at a 35-or-so percent clip, he can actually help our team. If it is 18-percent, or whatever it was last season, he can't. Yeah he's long, yeah he plays good D, but so does Diggs, and Diggs can reliably score. 5.) Harney actually hit a 3? Harney and Ibitayo's shooting form seems better suited 1954 than today, but if they go in I guess that's all that counts. 6.) Tree looked rusty. The effort was there as always, but he forced a lot of stuff. 7.) Dambrot moves substantially ahead of Waters in the battle for NE Ohio D1 coaching supremacy. You could have made a case for Waters having the title last season, based upon his overall breadth of work, but not now. 8.) If CSU had pressed us the entire game, would we have scored 30 points? If I am an opposing coach, and I have any sort of depth, I press the Zips the entire game. 9.) Welcome to Akron, Nyles Evans. Nice to see him stroking the wide open 3's. Ball handling still is a big concern, but he took a big step forward in fitting-in with the Zips on Saturday. Hope he can now exhale a bit and start playing basketball. Old-timers - does he remind anyone else of Aaron Beidleman? 10.) I wish Betancourt were better. 11.) Could CSU rotate any slower in their zone? What game tape were they watching to give us so many wide-open 3's? 12.) I'll guess there were 800 - 1,000 Zips fans in attendance? Pretty good showing for the Zips faithful. Bethune-Cookman should be a nice warm up for decent competition against Oral Roberts (won @ Tulsa) and Detroit (wins vs. James Madison, S Fla and Rhode Island).

Being an oldtimer here, I may be dating myself with this comment, but does anyone remember that "Back the Zips" campaign? It was a coon's age ago, but I still remember it. I thought it was pretty clever. I wish we'd do something like it again.

While people grouse about our point guard situation, I don't think they have turned the ball over in roughly 3 weeks? I'm sure we have the fewest turnovers in D-1 basketball over that span.

How would the bitter member of the venomous minority feel about such a statement?

Go Bucknell!

We've had some defensive talent in the past. But whatever we had was poorly utilized. Chase Blackburn's career at UA would be completely different had he played under Amato. Dwayne LeFall probably would have flourished too. Overall, this is the most talented defense we've had since Hilk/Motten/Clark were at LB. That was a great defense. Undersized starters of yore like Ricky Jackson, Mackey, Detweiler, Stokes...I don't know that they'd have seen the field much had they played in 2013.

I am confident T-Buck will seal the deal.

He just got the USC football gig, right? Good for Steve.

Anything but the 3-3-5.

My experience was the polar opposite. The first time I met Ianello, he was a first class jackass. He never did anything but reinforce that behavior over the next 2 years. After Ianello finished being a dickhead, I spoke to John Latina, who couldn't have been a nicer guy. Love the Bowden era too. I have met most of the present staff, and they are all very approachable.

How many other teams have played only three D-1 games through this point in the season? Heck...Malone's already played two D-1's.

Strong, accurate words.

Strong, inaccurate words.

How cool would it be to magically make all the OSU gear worn by UA grads turn into UA gear? What a presence-statement that would make. When I walk into an Akron bar after a game wearing a nice Akron golf shirt, on many occasions the bartender will ask "Are you a coach?" It's unfathomable to many that an everyday alum might be walking around campus in Akron gear. If you are in Akron gear they expect you to be either a player or a coach. And I don't look much like a player anymore.

Realistically, Keith Dambrot has zero chance to win an NCAA championship. Sure, there's a tournament. But realistically (different than statistically) Dambrot's best hope in a given year is to win a conference championship, and maybe a game in the NCAA tourney. No different than Bowden winning a MAC championship and a bowl game. Should we drop to a lower basketball division too?

Wait until Howard brings their band next season. They will administer a severe acoustical beat-down of Ohio's Pride. But we'll win the game 65-0.

Leon Videos He certainly dwarfed anyone he opposed.

Yep. Lord only knows how impossible it is to get an additional 30 lbs on a 17 year old, 6' 5", 265lb kid by the time he's 19. Tank would have his work cut out for him.

Thank you for the nice words Dig. Interpretation of a written piece's quality is in the eye of the reader. If you like classical music, you probably have never been to a Black Flag concert. If you loved Walter Cronkite, you probably don't like Bill Maher. But Black Flag has sold millions of albums, and Bill Maher is a millionaire, so sometimes what you like is not necessarily bad. It just doesn't suit your personal taste. This site is like a newspaper. We have or Comic section writers, where nothing is ever serious. We have our Religion section, where things are always great and everything should be forever cumbaya. We have our Political Satirists, who pick extreme points of view simply to get a rise out of those typically religious in nature. Our Fashion section always has commentary on the latest uniform trends. Our Entertainment section critiques the Marching Band, and anything Marketing-related. Our Letters to the Editor section is loaded with crackpot clowns who have nothing better to do that use ZN.o to rant 24/7. Our Classified section offers game tickets. Our Travel section offers recommended placed to stay and eat during road trips. And obviously our Sports section boasts more "reporters" following the Zips than there are vapid stay-at-home moms following Kim Kardashian's Twitter account. When the Religion section dominates, it is flat-out boring. When the angry crackpots dominate, it is embarrassing. And for all the quality posts on ZN.o, it seems the few stupid, ignorant guys are the ones that are held up as the poster-child for all at ZN.o. I hate that. When all sections of our "paper" are in synch, this site can be pretty good. I wish it happened more often. I like Bud Shaw's columns in the PD. I like Norm Chad. I like sports writers that are informed, and clever. I like the writers who paint a canvas with their words and give a visual image to the emotional ebb-and-flow of the event to go along with the numbers. I like writers with insightful opinions. Some people see this style as exaggeration. But many seem to enjoy it. @everyone: Happy Thanksgiving to all. Thank you for your contributions. And I will see you in Lot 9 Friday!

This has to be the most retarded men's basketball schedule since James Naismith was hitting the kegger circuit @ McGill U. I can't believe we haven't played a game since November 16th, and won't play another real game until December 7th. There's nothing to discuss...except if Jonas Stalyga is still on the team. C'mon George...get on that story!

Good question. "Completely Overwhelmed?" I give CSU credit for going toe-to-to with K.entucky for 32 minutes. And they did it without their best player too. But they wilted like 3-week old plastic bag lettuce those last 7 minutes.

Chokers don't choke at the end of the first half. That's when they look like all-stars. Chokers choke @ the end of the game. They panic. They find a way to lose. They look like CSU last night.

Kentucky finished the game with a 24-7 run. It was riveting to watch CSU unravel, the player's vacant stares, Waters scowls and futile time-outs. For the final 7:41 CSU as much "in the game" as Marvis Frazier vs. Mike Tyson. Reginald Denny vs. a lead pipe. Perhaps even worse. You can certainly make a pure numeric case that CSU was "in the game." But the box score only tells a small part of a much, much more complex story. @Zipmeister might agree.