Captain Kangaroo

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.

It is equally as hard for Akron and K.e.n.t. to watch the rampant success the Penguins have experienced since Tressel's departure. The comment is more directed towards the YSU contingent that annually grouses that the Zips will not play the Penguins. If YSU would move up to 1-A, like UMass, like App State, like Middle Tennessee...then we would play them annually. But since they choose to languish in 1-AA, they should shut up.

They were not. They crapped down their leg with 5 minutes to go and sat shivering in the corner and the Wildcats did whatever they pleased, whenever they pleased. Dr. Heimlich should be the team trainer for these choke-bags. Why should they be intimidated by the Zips? Sans one recent Zips victory in a down CSU season, Gary Waters has owed Akron. CSU actually has a guard that can bring the ball to the front court against pressure from a Top 10 D-1 team. I'm jealous. If the Zips don't bring their A+ game to the Wolstein Center, it will be "St. Mary's Part II."

I had no idea they were moving to D-1A? Yet another 1-AA program that has more balls then YSU.

Way too soon to tell. He needs to get his grades for this semester, and next semester, before anything is official. I am sure he is being set up for success by UA (manageable class load, tutors, etc.). If he doesn't make grades it will be his own fault.

I hope he can keep his staff together for a few more years too. Tank, Woodford, Buckley, Amato...all those guys have done an awesome job over the past 2 seasons. You saw in year #1 that we can move the ball and score if we've got the right people in the system. We regressed offensively in year #2. QB, RB and WR need to pick it up next season. We need some horses. Then we'll be pretty dangerous.

While your sentiment is correct, your examples are a bit off. We've beaten Creighton and MTSU. Relatively recently. The win vs. Creighton was in a really down year for the Blue Jays. Much like beating Penn State last season...we whipped them by 20...they're a Big 10 team...but Penn State would have struggled competing in the MAC West last year. They sucked. Nevada, VCU (0 for 5?), Dayton, etc. I think are better examples of the Zips opportunities to ascend OOC, but faltering. While I loved the Bracket Buster event, over the last decade it really exposed the Zips as being a notch below the true upper-mid-majors.

I remember him...

Actually, I was referring to the Mississippi State win from 2005-6. I figured since LOZ was referencing the Florida State NIT win in the same post, he/she was referring to the Mississippi State win of that era. Regardless of the landmark Mississippi State win, LOZ's point remains valid - if Tree would simply realize the Zips should not expect to win, much less care about winning such games, and wait until the MAC season to really be concerned about W's and L's, he'd be much better off.

I agree 100%. I think this was the best defense the Zips have fielded in two decades. There really were no weak links in the secondary. All the DB's have improved since last season. We play WR's honest, without the 10-yard cushions we've all grown accustomed to since the Lee Owens years (apologies to the anomalies that were Dwight Smith and Reggie Corner). LB's were awesome. We lost CJ Mizell for the better part of the season, and it was "Next man up." Jatavis Brown is great. Evans is great. March is great. DL had quality and depth. Pretty much 8 interchangeable guys. All solid contributors. We ALWAYS over-pursued in the past. Now we have discipline. This was a bowl-worthy defense. But our offense was not. No rhythm, no consistency, just herky-jerky all season. I look forward to a real QB competition this spring. Pohl needs pushed. He needs to make a big leap forward next year if we are to be a bowl-worthy team. If he plays like 2013, or his successor plays like "Pohl 2013" it will be a shame. Home run-hitter WR and return man need to emerge too. Our KO and Punt return guys have shown little in the way of escapability since Andre Jones. We start our possessions around the 20 yard line way too often.