Captain Kangaroo

I can't wait until they begin installing the giant field-level lighting poles. They did keep that innovative design from the old Rubber Bowl, right?

I was told last night that his availability for Wisconsin "is still up in the air." Ditto Bowser.As much as I want to give Wisconsin our best shot, if there's any chance either of these two could aggravate their injuries in Madison, JD can't play them.

So if Ryan Bain is injured...the cornerstone of our 3-man front, you can't say anything because it is an "excuse." Lively is out...that's now 2/3rds of our starting DL out...but JD is supposed to ignore it? Gheez...Bowser being out is also a killer because he's one of our top 2 WR's. But that's no big deal...sour grapes if he mentions it.If everyone were healthy and JD were really grousing about Kennedy's injury, then I'd say it's a big joke...Kennedy hasn't been a factor for 2 years. But losing Bain, Bowser and Lively sucks. Bain by himself is worth two extra wins this year, IF he's healthy. DL's like him come through the MAC only a few times a decade.If you want to throw out hyperbole, then say JD has brought the program down to the level of Faust's last season. Or if you choose, you can pine for the mediocrity of Owens. The simple fact is Faust and Owens had 9 years. JD has had FOUR. I'll reserve my coach evaluation for the seasons end. It's really tempting to cry for the guys head after 3 weeks of summer camp and a few excerpts from and ABJ column...but call me a shill...I'm going to hold off until I see what we've got on the field this season. August 21st is a bit too soon to call for the coach's head.Our QB situation is as bad as I can remember. But what if Frye was hurt in his Junior or senior year? How would Owens' Zips have fared with Micah Fahler or Jonathan Gill leading the team for multiple games? It would have been a freaking train wreck. Matt Cherry would have been #15 on the Zips all-time WR list instead of #2.How would Owens have fared if Dwight Smith blew out his ACL in his senior season? I'll tell you...we'd have been lucky to win 2 games. But it would just be making excuses if Owens mentioned such injuries in an interview. Injuries to key players suck. And they inpact a team tremendously. Especially a MAC team, where depth is much thinner than a BCS program. Discussing major injuries with the ABJ beat writer isn't making excuses, it is stating facts.Unlike ITZ, I think this team is WAY better than the later Faust era squads. Like ITZ, I agree that the MAC East is pretty pathetic, and 5 years into any coach's tenure, if he's any good, he gets things rolling. Sub .500 would be unacceptable. Even .500 may be unacceptable depending upon the losses, and the trend at year's end.Time for bed.

How do you get excuses out of his comments? How much more straightforward can he be? Man, if the guy blew anymore smoke up our butts it would be coming out our ears!

As a Vikings fan...I'd take Frye in a heartbeat.

Thanks, Kim.

Look for Stephon Fuqua to stretch the field in 2008!

Cover the teams and I'll be interested. Don't cover the teams and I could care less. Hope you like their wire report on the Wisconsin game.BTW - I'm heading up to Wisconsin. I'll write about it. And I won't ask the ABJ for a dime.

Say you are a battered wife. For 10 years you are beaten with regularity. Your husband won't acknowledge there is an issue. He won't attend counseling. He just beats on you for 10 consecutive years.You decide enough is enough. You terminate the relationship.Two weeks later the husband says "Honey...I've changed. Trust me. Please come back. Look at these chocolates I bought you."Sorry -- One shitty box of chocolates doesn't make up for 10 years of being a jerkwad. See ya.I'll make a deal with the ABJ -- The Zips have a game against a Big 10 opponent to open the 2008 season. BIG TIME game vs a Top 15 opponent. Direct flights into Madison can be had for less then $250 round trip. Hotels are less then $100.00. If the ABJ is serious about their coverage of Zips athletics, they'll send a writer to the game. Not rent some freelance clown...not a blogger...they'll spend the $450.00 it takes to send a reporter like Gaffney (Zips Beat Writer) to Madison to give an eyewitness report of the game. If they do that, I'll ease up, and admit things may be changing at the ABJ. If they don't send a writer to the Zips opener against a Top15 team, then they still suck.

If this has to happen,this is actually a good time to happen. He will have all season to get healthy and be 100% for next fall.Hey...if you're looking for silver linings, it drops the chances of a de-commit (to a bigger school) too.

Whatever happened to "Ratfink?"

The Beacon said "Screw the Zips" several years ago. In just about those same words. I wish I still had Larry Pantages original email. Class 1, Grade A jerkwad. 10 years of ignoring the hometown Zips. Now they're "back," and writing Zips stories. Forgive me if I don't re-subscribe.

F the Beacon in the skull. The reason they want the stories is because they haven't covered the Zips for a decade!! They have no Rubber Bowl history in their files!. Maybe they should reference their AP wire stories? I'm not doing the Beacon's work for them. I've done it for a decade. That's enough.

Can someone please print the listing of the "thugs" JD has recruited. I'll define "Thug" as someone who's been convicted of a crime.I follow the program pretty closely and I just must have missed something. Igor punched a kid two years ago. Pace (Owens recruit, BTW) got busted for weed and a gun. Who else?The kids from a couple recruiting classes ago were basically kids that had no business being in college. Good athletes, but bad students. Some were absolute jerks. But where's the arrests and thuggery? Please list.When I see a school with the "Thug U" moniker, I see Barry Switzer's OU teams, Miami U's teams...the Zips are as much "Thug U" as CVCA is "Thug HS." Recruiting is like a 401k. You can't go balls-out on "aggressive" funds, or you'll lose your ass. JD's recruiting 401k was to heavy on "aggressive" athletes for two seasons, and he lost. Now, Zips recruiting is more balanced. But you still need to have around 10% in "aggressive." If you don't, you'll lose all-the-same (does it really matter if you lose because your players flunked out, or because you recruited 3.0 GPA RB's that ran 4.85 40's?). No. It is still a loss.

BG is the comeback win. 72-71. BG's defense is so bad they're trying Bryan Hipsher out at nose tackle.Bryan Williams scores 4 defensive TDs to go along with a KO return and punt return TD. Sets the NCAA record for most points in a game by a non-offensive player.

Looks like there will be a long list of suitors?

Difficult to improve on 2007’s 4-8?

So Says Syracuse-based Fish Origami Expert

6-foot-4 quarterback Taylor Ogle

Could the bum ankle keep the big schools away?Read down about 1/2 way.

He could have been this guy.Pretty similar story, except he wasn't acquitted. 18 years of this guy's life wasted for something he didn't do. And I'm sure at the time 99.8% of the public was demanding the guy get burned at the stake.

November 18th is really early for a major OOC game. Good news -- Winthrop won't have much tape on us (we're a pretty different team than '07-08)Bad news -- Lots of new Zips faces with minimal game experienceHow many starters does Winthrop return. Are expectations high in Rock Hill this season?

Anyone here remember the game against K.e.n.t. about 8 years ago where Paul Winters had a center, Frye at QB, and everyone else split wide-out? Frye got sacked under a pile of K.e.n.t. defenders. It took about 2 seconds.

My random thoughts regarding the event --I wish it were held in the practice facility rather than the JAR. Too small.Nice job making it kid-friendly. Sno Cones, inflatables, cotton candy...all very nice.All the players were great. They all seems approachable and answered any questions.I didn't see Bain's air cast until too late. I can imagine it is too bad an injury, since he picked up Zippy and slung him across his back at the end of the even. He's one big dude.All the DL's looked...well...like DL's. None looked like tweener LB/DL's...we have as much size on our defensive line as any MAC team. Newbies like Dan Marcoux and Shane Shead looked like they put on 20 lbs of muscle. Lively and Pendleton seems to be in much better shape than in the past. Sewell will be a beast. VERY excited about or DL.Incoming Fr Joe Pechuta was about 30 lbs lighter than I thought he'd be. I can see why he's grayshirting. Looking at the upperclassmen surrounding him, predict he'll make a huge jump in body mass in the next 12 months.Jordan Miller is a thicker kid than I expected. He has a lot more muscle than Rodgers did at the same point last season.I wouldn't be surprised if Nate Schuler sees some playing time this year. He's bigger than I expected. Someone "stole' my son's autographed poster about half way through the signing on the offensive side (the tables were split offense/defense). Some guy just reached in and grabbed it in front of Andre Jones...never saw who did it. My son kinda panicked when he saw it was gone. Andre Jones got up from his seat..and it was really busy at the time...and helped track it down. It took him a couple minutes find it, but he did it. I have a new favorite Zip. He's awesome.The Chicago Tribune doesn't have as much ink as the Zips biceps. It's shocking to see a player without tattoos. Maybe that tattoo parlor next to The Sun Bar and Grill IS worth 3 million dollars by itself? Alex Allen switched to #10 (from #26) this year in honor of a HS teammate of his who died this past summer.De'von Moore indicated his knee was still not 100%Andre Jones mentioned his catching and route-running were going "really well," but he has a lot of work to do on his blocking. Bowser said his injury was "no big deal at all," but followed it with "I'll be good as new in a week or two." I was hoping for "...in a day or two."JD stated there was no way we'd finish where the "prognosticators" are predicting. He expects to compete for a championship. I'm going to hold him to that one. To be honest, this is the most size and depth we've had in memory. My two biggest concerns are QB (obviously) and LB. After Kevin Grant at LB, who knows what we've got? Balaam? Williams? Williams? Siler? We have a lot of LB's with little, or no game experience. Everywhere else, I'm confident we're ok.

So tell me this...is it physically possible that the marquee OOC game on Ohio State's schedule...the game that people have been talking about for a year in The Zips' State (formerly known as The Buckeye State) somehow slipped unnoticed past those responsible for determining the Zips home game start times? That, last week, someone from UA looked at the local sports section and said" Wow...OSU plays USC at 8pm the same Saturday the Zips play Ball State @ 6pm...who knew? Better change our start time." PLEASE tell me there isn't anyone of authority at UA capable of that one.If my season tickets say Ball State: 6pm, I'll puke.