Captain Kangaroo

I shop at Kohls when I get a 30% discount coupon in the mail. In an emergency, I'll shop there with a 15% or 20% discount. When I shop at a 30% discount, I buy a lot of stuff. As a wise old man once told me -- You don't make money off people who don't enter your store.

What happened to Hartwick? They tied the Zips a couple years ago in a very competitive match.

I agree. But I also like Zach Campbell's punting.

Akron isn't the Yankees. We're the Pirates. It was the football version of Pirates/Indians 2010. And, the Indians discount such games pretty heavily via different packages. K.e.n.t. packed the house for a 1-3 team vs. a 0-5 team. That has to show up on someone's radar. Note: $5 vs. $15 makes a big difference for a family of 4. $20 gets you off the couch. $60 keeps you on it.

Interesting article on the K.e.n.t. game attendance If $5 tix fill the house, and your team is essentially worth $5...should you do what is best for the team and create an exciting environment? Pack the house? Or, charge $15 (triple the price)...get 1/3rd the house filled...and net the same amount of money? K.e.n.t. State math note: K.e.n.t. had 24,200 tickets sold...and $88,000 in ticket revenue. That equals $3.66/ticket. K.e.n.t. concession note: The lines at the concession stands were easily a 30 minute wait for ANYTHING. They sold every soda, popcorn, water, candy that was in that place. Divide the crowd by 3, and you get a fraction of the concession sales. I'll guess an extra 5,000 cars (vs. an 8k crowd) at $5 per parking space = $25,000. Do you adjust your ticket prices to reflect the crappy product on the field? Did Proenza notice the K.e.n.t. crowd size, in comparison to what's coming through the turnstiles at InfoCision?

Way too much profanity on the board lately. Things ain't so good with the football team, but please find another way to express your discontent. Thanks

I don't see any lack of effort on any player's part. I see lack of depth, ability, scheme, results etc. But no lack of effort. Everyone is playing like they want to win.

If we sit our seniors we'll get absolutely killed (Yes, it can get worse than it already is). The seniors have earned the right to play. Sitting AA, or Ward, or Thomas or whomever would leave a huge vacuum in leadership and ability.

Was "Full" spelled appropriately? How is "Regarding the positives taken from last Saturday's loss:" the #2 question asked? If Ohio State lost to a 1-3 Michigan team, would the #2 question be: "Regarding the positives taken from last Saturday's loss:" What a fantasy job Ianello has... go out and get your a$$ kicked by a "rival" that ranks somewhere between #112 and #116 nationally... and not have to deal with anything but big fat softballs from the press. No accountability for the loss what-so-ever. Hey Coach - There are no positives to be taken from getting your a$$ waxed by a bad K.e.n.t. team. You will score a lot more points with the public and the fans if you are honest rather than oblivious. Your press conference reminds me of one I watched a few years ago -- Can't wait for "Bagdad Rob's" OU press conference.

I think there has to be some mega-athletic HS QB that BCS schools are slotting to be a safety or WR...but who really wants to be a college QB. These kinds of kids have a great chance to be successful in the MAC. If we choose a JUCO, so be it. But I would also not rule out an "athlete" at the position. It could make the Zips competitive just as quickly, and not just for 1 or 2 seasons. If Ianello can't get a couple impact WR's for 2011, we will need a QB that can make plays on his own. Obviously, Nicely has a lot better chance for success if we get some real WR's too. WR's gotta be the primary focus for recruiting right now.

The day they have a ceremony to honor the 7-3-1 Faust team, I'll believe you.

I would like to thank the Zips for contributing to what just might have been the worst football game I've witnessed in my 44 years on this planet. What an absolute atrocity... In the Zips 1st series you got a glimpse of the ineptitude that would rule the day, as K.e.n.t. jumped off-side, giving the Zips a 1st-and-5 at the Akron 32. Our offense worked it's magic as follows -- Alex Allen for -4 yards Alex Allen for -2 yards Time out Nicely sack for -12 yards 4th and 23, after a 1st and 5. WTF?! Two possessions later, we're treated to the following -- Alex Allen - no gain Alex Allen - Loss of 1 False Start Anderson False Start Kasparek INT returned for a touchdown WTF?! How about this gem from the end of the 1st half -- Zips have the ball 1st and 10 at the K.e.n.t. 22 yard line. 31 seconds remaining. 1 TOL. Down 21-7. INSIDE HANDOFF to Alex Allen (clock runs) Nicely sacked - Time out Ianello summed up the decision as follows: "When you get in your two-minute offense before the half, you try to get a field goal for sure. When you get close enough to be greedy, you go for the touchdown. I wanted to at least get ourselves in position to get a field goal." Down 14 points on the road...on the opponents 22...1st and 10...31 seconds left...and the guy is positioning himself for the field goal. What a freaking dream come true for the K.e.n.t. defense to have the opponent simply lay down at such a key juncture. The second half saw Zips fans witness 3rd and 27... then a 4th and 16...then a 3rd and 18...then a first down....where we immediately fumbled...followed immediately by a 4th and 20...followed immediately by a fumble in the endzone...I'm not making this up, really....followed immediately by an INT....followed immediately by another INT....followed by Rob Ianello's bold post game commentary where he said "We'll win more than we lose against K.e.n.t. when it is all said and done." Really, Rob? Let me clue you in on a little something, my man....you just lost to one of the worst teams in college football. You lost to them by double digits. You just lost to a team that committed 13 penalties for 125 yards! HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? If you couldn't beat this sorry clown posse, you ain't beating no one. I stand absolutely astounded at our offensive ineptitude. Nicely was atrocious. In his short career, my biggest problem with him has been his penchant for dropping the ball. He'd done an OK job at avoiding that through 5 games, but it really bit him today. PN7 had a chance to make his place in UA Football History with a come back win against a really, really horrible K.e.n.t. State football team... and he played QB like Garo Yepremian. He was the opposite of "clutch," when the Zips really needed a clutch performance. If you want to defend PN7, I'd go with the "Where were the quick slants?" or "Where was the lob over the blitzing LB's?" routes. It was obvious PN7 was not going to hit any deep balls, but we kept running long-developing routes. Down 21-17, with the ball on the 5, and under 4 minutes to go, the handoff to Allen up the middle was a horrible play call. It cost us 40 seconds when we needed to go 95 yards for a TD. I think that contributed a bit to the mayhem that ensued on the following play (endzone fumble). Nice job by the defense. They played well enough to get a win. But our offense was absolutely putrid. And now Rob Ianello, with all of 1/2 season under his belt, owns two of the all-time worst defeats in the combined last 2 decades of Zips football. Hopefully the "win" netted Doug Martin a big contract extension. That's about the only silver lining to this black day. And I saw in another post where BZ called for the 1350 guys to be more critical. Obviously, they can't be. But it is almost uncomfortable listening to them avoid the 800lb gorilla in the room. Joe Dunn's post game interview with LCoach lasted for 1 minute and 20 seconds. That was the post game interview...way to go guys. After the game Andy Alleman said something like "I could make some comments on the game, but I'll just let it go." I would have LOVED for Alleman to expound on his game thoughts. But obviously he felt pressure to keep quiet. Lunch is over. And my blood pressure is way too high. Time to stop. The Gorilla is now up to 975 lbs, if anyone is keeping track.

Thanks. I will double your pay for this week!

The basketball Zips need to sack-up and beat K.e.n.t. this season. We were not remotely competitive with them last season, and are riding a 3-game losing streak to Gino Ford.

During the radio broadcast, Steve French made sure to highlight that play was clearly accidental. Did he simply have a bad angle? Or was he trying to placate the Ohio State fans that might be listening? I wonder if a Penn State player had done the same thing...would he have had the same response? Just a conspiracy theory...

Why didn't Doug Martin listen to me? I told you so, Doug. You big dummy. The next time you see Eugene's mom, I suggest you use a disguise...he's one that's pretty common in the K.e.n.t. area...you'll blend right in with the crowd at Dix.

Major motivation for NM State Hmmmmm... "Once you score a win, then you can get in" Man, that is a classic.

We've won 5 of the last 6, and 8 of the last 10, so I can't agree with this statement in the least. Can you give the Zips some credit where it's deserved?

I saw Nirvana on Halloween back in 93 at the JAR. I saw Ozzy @ the JAR back in 1990.

JUCO at QB? I don't know... What I do know about QB is you can surround yourself with absolute garbage, and instantly win 4-5 games in the MAC, if you have a great scrambling/playmaker quarterback. Cribbs and Edelmann are two prime examples. Frye, to a lesser extent. Nate Davis leaves Ball State and they go from Top 15 to Bottom 10. We need a GREAT do-it-all QB, if we are to turn things around quickly. Can such a guy be successful in the pro set? Hmmm... JUCO WR? Absolutely. Mandatory. A couple. JUCO RB? Probably. But a great HS RB would be acceptable. JUCO OL? IMO - That never works out. OL's are best when they grow up together. It's rare to see an impact JUCO OL, at least in the MAC. But if there any out there, sure. It's a need. JUCO secondary? Sure, but hopefully we can get some bigger HS guys to play corner too.

Call me crazy, but I think we'll see a couple in the next recruiting class. And "yes" I realize I put one on a tee for Zipmeister.

Cap'n - that was Temple. Rats - I got my International Bowl and Silicon Bowl mixed up. Regardless - they are a team who's Redshirt Freshman thru Seniors, have bowl experience. Heck -- their Soph-thru-Seniors have been to two bowls. They played like a team with bowl experience, and we played like one that isn't confident they can win one game, let-alone 6 or 7.

I was going to skip this week, but due to popular demand I'll take an look at This Week in Zips Football... While GP1 opines on the sorry state of the MAC, and the lack of quality teams, that is a very broad brush to paint the entire conference. There are teams at the middle/bottom of the conference who would be lucky to be 0.500 with an all-1-AA schedule. But at the top are a couple legit D-1 programs. NIU is one of them. They play like a veteran, well-coached team. One that played South Florida in a bowl last season, and also played in a bowl the previous year. NIU picked us apart unmercifully Saturday night. 50 points in three quarters is about as many points as you can score in the time allotted. Our DB's are woefully undersized against real WR's, and NIU had a couple of them. It is amazing how simple it is for an opposing offense to move the ball against the Zips...and how difficult it is for the Zips to even get consecutive 1st downs. I said a while ago that it is a blessing to be a younger fan and have hope that things are going to turn around. Kibitzing in the tailgate lot, and on the board with some of the long-time fans... the old guys are flat-out getting beat down. It's really tough to remain optimistic when you've been through this before with Faust...then Owens...then Brookhart...and now Ianello. <Insert Coach Here> arrives...terrible year #1...better year #2...mediocre year #3...gets a contract extension...then, mediocre-to-bad for the next several seasons until there's 1 year remaining on the contract and we can afford to buy it out. Then it starts again.... Through 5 games this season, everyone here has done their best to exercise patience in allowing the new staff and new systems to be implemented. The problem is -- we aren't even competitive. We've sunk so low that we're losing at home to bad 1-AA teams. We're a 17 point underdog to K.e.n.t. Freaking State. How is it possible to be so bad? How? Looking back into the summer...two other things stand out as contributors to the ire of older fans (I'll consider "older" being graduated, and paying for your tickets). Getting the boot from Lot 9, for the purposes of making way for $5k football donors, set a bad tone. It really showed me that someone has no idea what the hell they are doing. The cancellation of the golf outing ruined the chance for the staff to bond with fans. Fans are apt to be much more forgiving if they feel the have a personal relationship with the staff. No one has such a relationship. Both summer instances make fans feel that they are not valued. Both instances would have been forgotten, if the parking lots were packed, and the team was competitive. But the lots are empty, and the team is 0-5. Now, ticket prices have dropped. Too bad for you suckers that bought season ducats. Look for 2011 tickets to be a VERY hard sell. That all said - Is everything Ianello's fault? No. I see all the clamor to fire the guy...which is absurd since we can't eat 3 years of anyone's contract. And we shouldn't. They guy deserves his obligatory 4 years to see what he can do with his own players. And with his system installed for 3-4 years. Whether or not that contributes to continuation of the above-mentioned "cycle" or not is irrelevant.. it's reality. It is tough to have such a sweet stadium, yet get blown out by 36 @ homecoming. It's tough to get you're kids pumped to attend a game...to get their faces painted and all that stuff... and have them see the Zips rack up loss after loss after loss. Ianello has one big, fat chance to turn the tide on this sea(son) of negativity. And that chance is to show up Saturday and beat a K.e.n.t. State football team that has no clue how to win. He beats 1 - 3 K.e.n.t., and the boo-birds will begin to quiet as he heads into what should be a very competitive stretch of games: Can't - no 1-A wins. Terrible. OU - decent, but not great WMU - terrible (lost to Idaho by 20 @ home, and still doesn't have a 1-A win) Temple - Just a replay of the NIU game. Ball State - horrid Miami - 1 TD better than K.e.n.t. Buffalo - Horrid Turn it around, Zips. Give us some hope. Please. A final note - I've seen the sidelines in past seasons, during blow outs, and a lot of players appeared to care less. I was at field level at game's end last week. There was no one yukking it up. To a man, everyone was sullen. So if the questions is "Has Ianello "'lost the team,"' the answer looks to be "no." Gotta get back to work...lunch is over.

So no ZN questions were asked? One that I forgot: Coach I watch team after team that run a pro style offense use the TE to move the chains, do we have TE's that catch the ball, do we send them out in routes, does PN7 have enough check downs if coverage is tight down field? I'll hang up and listen to your answer.... The one about Carter was asked. I missed some of the show so maybe I also missed a few other ZN questions. IIRC, the host identified a period of the show as one in which "e-mail" or "internet" (not sure about these terms) questions would be asked (no specific mention on ZN by name, although he may have said message board). Here is a note for Fox 1350 Guy - If you use our message board as supporting material for your show, you give our message board due credit on the show. I can't believe the guy would enter a specific request via a post, asking for help from our members, then not mention "ZipsNation.Org" as a source on the show. It can't be true. No one lacks that sort of ethics.

Is that Milikin's home court?