Captain Kangaroo

His flight arrived last evening and he's checking out UA today. If anything major develops, I'll do my best to let everyone know.

I wonder what the YSU AD would do if Slippery Rock petitioned YSU for a 2-1 series?

I'm glad my 2007 pre-season post was memorable to you. I do know mine was more accurate than Phil Steele (3-9 K.e.n.t. to win it all), and he's a paid "expert." BTW - My season predictions are part fun and part educated guess. Nothing more. Last summer, who knew that Vince Hill would bolt...that CJ7 and CJ11 would be terrible, etc.?Like I have for about 10 years, with varying degrees of accuracy, I'll do it again this year. Most people seem to like it, and I have fun putting it together.

So in summation: The Zips are a Division 1 football program that has no business playing Wisconsin, and should schedule 1-AA Youngstown State.Makes sense to me.

How is the above-listed offense to be confused with over-darkened window tint? Did the police just fabricate the entire scenario? If so, Chev should sue and become a millionaire.

Two of the three teams we sent to bowls last season got humiliated. We don't need more bowls until we get better as a conference. The MAC as a whole is a better football conference than 8 years ago. But the upper-level programs aren't nearly as good.

Can Jarvis Givens and Kyle Rodenberry be far behind?

UA cannot match what Penn State or OSU can offer. And, both those games are a bus trip for YSU. Penn State and OSU are a bus trip for YSU. Travel costs are irrelevant. They would stay in a hotel in Columbus, Happy Valley or Akron, so lodging is irrelevant too. How can you say YSU longs to "play up a Division?" In the past 20 years upwards of 25 schools have made the jump to 1-A. YSU is content to sit at 1-AA. They long to be no where but 1-AA, playing the likes of Lock Haven, Edinboro, Slippery Rock and Gannon for their OOC games. Plus a money game vs. a BCS school. I'd rather fund the athletic department of an out-of-state D-1 team than give $250,000 to a competitor 50 miles down the road. It doesn't seem that way. Then why Lock Haven, Edinboro, Slippery Rock, Gannon, etc? We'd still be rivals if YSU had the stones to go 1-A, but they don't. Thus the rivalry is dead. So why bring in a 2nd tier opponent? We just got a boob job, Botox and a tummy tuck and you want to still date a chubby junior high sweetheart? Unless YSU moves up in Division, or drops their laughable "home and home" demand, we'll never meet on the football field again. That's their choice. And I applaud it.

I'd love to hook up with you, but I think I'm going to Wisconsin and also Army. I gotta draw the line somewhere, and I think Syracuse is gets the short straw for me this season.Thanks for the invite. If things change, I will look you up. Tailgating is about my favorite thing in the world, so I will be happy to host in 2010..whatever "hosting" entails.Details are sketchy on where parking & tailgating will be available at the new stadium. Stay tuned for details.

Click to Access Complete Audio of the ConcertNot a 'Dead fan, but it it neat to listen for a few minutes.

$650,000 to play Penn State, or $200,000 and a trophy to play Akron...even a penguin could make that decision.

Since Tressel got them going, YSU has generally traveled very well when playing UA or Can't St. so you would think this would be some incentive as well for them. I agree that we'll just have to wait and see. Attitudes may change.Seems pretty clear to me --

Source

I hope the Zips can have a nightmare season like that one!?!I was at the game. Carl Pickens went nuts. A true freshman, he scored a TD receiving, and via an interception. Chuck Webb ran for well over 200, and he only played because Reggie Cobb got busted for drugs shortly beforehand.Derrick Alston had a great game for the Zips and ran for 100+. In general, between the 30's the Zips offense moved the ball fine. But that was it.Great time was had by all. One of my favorite roadies!

All that listed above is Rubber Bowl Era history. It is inescapably "us," but it should no longer define us. Infocision should be the dawn of an era where we can compete with an upper-echelon BCS school once per season. Like Miami has...like Toledo has...like NIU has...like Marshall has...like UCF has..etc. Beyond that, the $700,000 pay check remains crucial to our athletic budget.Should we play 1-AA schools? The games DO now count towards bowl eligibility. And as GP1 stated, everyone else is doing it. But I don't like it. Maybe I still have a bad taste in my mouth from the Howard & Liberty shams from the early 2000's. Those games sucked. I'm also tired of the Penguin fans chirping that they should play the Zips while they sit at the 1-AA level. Marshall stepped up. UCF stepped up. Middle Tennessee stepped up. Western Kentucky stepped up. Penguin Fan needs to shut his yap until he decides to get Gannon, Clarion and Slippery Rock off his schedule.

We now have the capability to do so. In the Rubber Bowl Era you couldn't afford to bring in a decent OOC foe. With the backing of 8,000 "paying" fans...at an average of about $5.00/ticket...you don't have much scheduling flexibility. You bring in what you can afford.Filling 30,000 seats at $20.00 per ticket...NOW your wallet can entice someone decent to make the flight into CAK.

That perception seems to be a really tough thing to overcome. Even the staunchest UA supporters seem to be stuck in 1989...referencing games played 20 years ago...asking for 1-AA teams on our 2009 football schedule. Does that happen at Miami? Toledo? No. It happens at places like EMU, K.e.n.t and unfortunately Akron.We are getting a 60+ million dollar football palace. The place WILL be full. The teams WILL win. The opponents SHOULD be exclusively quality, 1-A OOC and MAC opponents. If the stadium is NOT filled to capacity -- heads should roll. You don't spend 60+ million dollars and use the same techniques to garner crowds that were used in the Rubber Bowl era. The bar has been raised, both on the field and in the stands. 5,000 person crowds and 4-8 teams can no longer be accepted.The "low hanging fruit"..."the easy way out" is:* Schedule 1-AA cupcakes to inflate the team's record (this is known as the "Lee Owens Technique")* Schedule "Band Night" and get a few thousand HS bands to pad attendance* Schedule YSUThis is 2008, not 1988. The Low Hanging Fruit Days are over. It is time to expect a quality Division 1 NCAA Football experience in Akron.Personally -- I think that dawn has arrived. But to many, only seeing is believing. So we'll need to wait until September 2009 for people to forget about Jim Dennison's firing, Murray State, YSU and HS Band Nights. I can't wait.

Read #9 response from a guy that claims he was thereI agree that I would like to see CJ take more snaps under center. As much as I dislike the 3-3-5, I might start to dislike this "spread" offense more.I sure hope that we don't line up and then look at the sidelines to get the play. Has that EVER given us an advantage? Doesn't seem like it to me.August 21st, 1972

Is that like when MC decided to only go by "Hammer?"

Word on the street is he's visiting UA this Friday. It looks to be between us and Memphis.

I believe it is a MAC rule that MAC teams will not play 1-AA teams at the 1-AA's stadium. I also believe that YSU can play at OSU or Penn State every year for around $700,000 per game. UA could only offer about 1/3 of that. Thus YSU would be stupid for ever playing the Zips. It would be a half-a-million dollar hit to their budget.Beyond that -- The Zips aren't 1-AA anymore. They don't need to be playing 1-AA teams. YSU is a 1-AA team that refuses to elevate to 1-A. Once they move to 1-A, we can schedule them.FURTHER Beyond that -- We will have a brand new stadium in 2009. We no longer need "gimmicks" to draw fans. Getting 10,000 Penguin fans to drive up to Akron for a game is now officially worthless. There will be 10,000 Zips fans that will be occupying those seats. Go Penguins. Beat Northwest Central Missouri State!

Can you intersperse blatant name-dropping within your confirmation post? I'd think you were pretty important, and supremely knowledgeable, if you did so.

I've had "Roo Brew" in the Rubber Bowl lot for about 7 years now. I hope the guy that's ripping me off goes bankrupt. Here's a label from 2003:This years batch will be the best ever. Guaranteed. The new label is already taking shape.

Tough to be "The Gonzaga of the East" when you haven't had an NCAA appearance in 22 years.GOTE is a nice, longer term goal. But it is flat-out silly to put that label on us at this time. Look at the names ZIP posted...and he didn't even mention John Stockton. We have...Dru and Travis...on a summer league team.We need to step up to be GOTE, and it will take some time. Are we on the right track? Sure. But a lot of work lies ahead.

Word on the street is he is a really special player...very highly thought of. We'll know if he's in the fold or not soon...maybe as early as next Friday.