Captain Kangaroo

Since things are slow, I think it is time to begin looking forward to the 2012-13 basketball season.

Good to see he's finally moved on from picking K.e.n.t. 1st in the MAC. It took him 15 years, but he did it.

Wow...that's terrible. He was a familiar face around UA athletics for many years, and always fun to talk to. I'm shocked and saddened.

I'm not inferring it would be our new conference's choice. I hypothesize it would be UA's choice remain MAC in football, but upgrade its programs that could be competitive in a better conference.

Hypothetically - what if we could go into a bigger conference in all sports except football. Keep football in the MAC. Would you do it?

This process has been proven effective. Temple did not have the talent to compete in the Big East. After getting the boot, Temple entered the MAC Wellness Program and turned their life around. Temple became a viable candidate for a better conference, and subsequently moved on. Zips football needs to pretend it was in the Big East, and got kicked to the curb. Pretend it is starting from zero in the MAC, with a goal to get healthy over the next 4-6 years and become a viable candidate for whatever conference upgrade might present itself.

The A-10 picks up two recent Final Four teams?! That leapfrog's them into an elite-level conference. Their commissioner is a keeper.

The John Clay Era comes to an end. Eerily similar to the Ryan Bain Era. I found page 29 of that thread to be outstanding. Page 13 was also good, but too similar to pages 7 and 31 to merit top billing. Honorable mention goes to page 17, which would have been #1 had it mentioned LeBron James or Akron U.

Bostick - Not any good Fox - Beats me, but if true it certainly would be a disappointment to see him go Clay - Never heard of him

Since Winters explained everything on the UA Football Facebook site, I think everyone here knows exactly how it went down. And the scenario you were told is a complete fabrication.

Magnum ZI...p?

But not LeBron gear...which doesn't mean much to you or I, but does to 17 year old kids. To quote Will Smith - "I asked them for Adidas, and they bought me Zips."

I was always under the assumption that the Zips didn't pay for their gear...that they had an equipment sponsor. And I thought their shoe sponsor was Nike, due to the LeBron connection? You say that isn't true. I'd be curious if anyone else had info on the topic. If "he tweets about OSU just as much as Akron" that makes him a bigger Zips fan that 99.9999% of the people in the United States. I think it is cool that the NBA, multi-time MVP tweets about the Zips as much as he does Ohio State.

Several years ago, Florida-based BG football recruit Omar Jacobs was swayed to attend BG over bigger and "warmer" programs because the BG coach sold him that playing in all types of weather would benefit his chances of success in the NFL. Obviously it didn't help Omar in the NFL. But it is still a good selling point for a northern school recruiting a warm-weather kid.

If, say 8 years ago, Kobe Bryant decided to take a liking to the Zips...adopted them as "his" team (since he didn't attend college)...and Kobe attended some Zips games...tweeted about the Zips...held summer camps @ UA for national, elite HS players...talked up KD in national publications...bought the kids his insanely popular (with youth) gear etc. Would that be considered a plus for the program?

Is there an Akron microdistillery with barrel space to produce some Dadgum Rum?

Doesn't seem like a smart idea to have commercial beers named after active college coaches.

It's tough being a visionary, but someone has to do it.

And the champagne flows at Gary Waters' house...

If Dambrot calls the University Akron U, why can't James?

“It has been a huge coup for Dambrot.” “Dambrot has received unprecedented advertising for his program.” "There's no question that this allows us to get with better players now that we're one of his main people [in gear] and that he plays open gym here and put his camp here and the AAU event here," Dambrot said. “We've found that the LeBron connection helps us.” “James said he recognizes that by putting the tournaments in Akron, he has given the city and the school a place on the college basketball recruiting map.” "LeBron didn't make me see it, but when I did get here, I did realize that LeBron was an asset for the school," Marshall said.

Andy Katz saved me some typing

Zips players are familiar with LeBron. They've played basketball with him. They have a relationship with him. Facilitating a relationship with the greatest basketball player on the planet is a nice perk, and benefits Zips recruiting. Everyone wishes LeBron would do more visible for UA...like toss-in a few mil for an arena...but it doesn't seem like he's in a hurry to do it. But having a relationship with the guy helps Dambrot contact recruits that otherwise wouldn't consider UA. Maybe it isn't their 1st or even 2nd reason for considering UA (if a kid chooses his college solely because he got a phone call from LeBron, he has issues), but it's an edge that no other mid-major has.

While the LeBron connection is nice, and I'm sure it has opened doors for KD, winning in the NCAA Tournament would net bigger basketball publicity.

Where did you get the flyer? The "events" link contains no link to a sign up sheet? "Trivia night" has a Download link, but the Golf Outing says "Check back for more information". When...June 12th? If someone can link to a real .pdf that I can download, fill out and send in, your first outing beer is on me.