Captain Kangaroo

It will be very interesting to see how the Zips finish against:

That kind of sums it up for me too.

That's odd? I'm guessing they are simply re-doing their web site. They did a very nice job on my some jerseys for me a couple years ago. I hope they didn't shut down?

The K.e.n.t. Golden flushes dropped yet another game, losing to lowly NIU 27-20. The K.e.n.t. basketball team lost to Detroit on a three-pointer at the buzzer.And for those of you that really couldn't hack two months of Buckeye hype regarding another national championship run, and in case the Beacon didn't send a writer...I wanted to be the first to notify you that the Buckeyes lost to Illinois 28-21 in Columbus. A nice follow-up to the Buckeye basketball loss to D-II Findlay earlier in the week.If you really want to stretch it...the Zips women's hoops team did have a nice showing in Ann Arbor last nich too, losing 67-55. The leading scorer in the game was a Zips freshman(freshwoman?), which seems to bode well for the team's potential this season.A pretty nice Saturday for not having a Zips game. At least it was for me.

I like it. Nice job.But...I was really shocked the University just didn't make a video of that Fred Martin Ford commercial to pump us all up. The one that goes (paraphrased):"Here we go again, Zips fans. Another crushing defeat. Another punch in the stomach. The Zips suck..."Why hasn't that freaking commercial been pulled yet? Are people within the University's Marketing Department that stupid to let that thing continue to run through hoops season too? They must be.

what about a wide receiver who kicks someone to get his foot back?What about a Rubik's Cube in a forest? OU fans blame Nichole Brown-Simpson's neck for getting in the way of OJ's knife.

I think it was a great play on the OU guy's behalf. Not only did his cheap shot take out one of the nation's best punt returners, but he also took out our best safety and it only cost him 15 yards. Anyone notice how easily OU moved down the field via the air with Dixon in the secondary instead of Andre? Great move by Solich.OU fans also seem to forget...on OU's 1st punt last year they also hit Jones after a fair catch and got flagged. There's a history to Solich's special teams. THAT is what JD was pissed about.

And...yes, if anyone cares, I edited the topic title. It's our playground here, so My bad...shoulda' done it sooner.

www.athlete-tech.com

My favorite:

I don't get all the hubbub regarding getting an "Akron Guy" as "the next head coach." First of all I don't get "the next head coach" thing. Don't we already have a coach? Any decent AD keeps his ear to the ground regarding coaching prospects regardless of who he's already got. But JD has 3 years left on his contract. He's 100% coming back for next season. And unless he really blows it...and we look like we did @ BG last week for a good portion of 2008...JD would probably get a 1 year contract extension at the end of next season. "Akron Guy?" Who cares if the guy is from Akron or not? Why limit your coaching talent pool from "Any Available Coach in the United State" to "Any Available Akron Alumni Coach." Give me a coach that wins and can recruit. I could care less where his degree is from.Winters? I agree with the guy above: Great guy. Has Akron in his heart. I think getting him in the fold somehow would do a lot for getting the football alumni organized. But we can do better than a 3-8 Wayne State coach as our HC. Even as a coordinator...the guy could never make the play call to ice a game. Or get a TD when we really needed it. In that situation we always punted...and the opponent subsequently pushed our D down the field and beat us. I've seen enough of that.JD is my coach. He's not perfect, but any problems I've had with him seem to be being addressed. His recruiting strategy didn't pan out, so he changed and still brought in a #1 rated class. He changed from a CJ7-centric run-fest at BG to a gunslinging, wide open attack vs OU this week. He's a young coach that seems to be adapting and getting better. I'm interested to see what he does in the off-season with his staff. And in landing a top QB recruit.BTW -- I think JD's salary is about 1/2 of Solich's...and he's 3-1 against him.

Temple goin' nuts!!

I thought the same thing. It was an interesting move by JD. I'm not sure if it was by design or the fact that he felt a change was needed. If by design, he was playing one one quarter and the other the second. He went with the hot hand in the second half and it worked out. I have to admit that CJ11 played much better than CJ7 last night.Why was CJ7 taken out? You can't be serious. If Fumbles Mc Lollypop had stayed in that game for 15 more minutes I guarantee the final score would have been reversed. Thank God the plug got pulled before the damage was worse.Easy Capt.....I understand he was under performing. I just thought it was an interesting move. JD normally doesn't move that quickly on something like that.I'm just curious if that was the plan or not.I agree that JD made the right move when he did.CJ7 had way too many turnovers vs BG. Fumble...INT's. I think JD has seen enough of him at QB. He got yanked because of his track record as well as his initial couple minutes vs. OU.

I thought the same thing. It was an interesting move by JD. I'm not sure if it was by design or the fact that he felt a change was needed. If by design, he was playing one one quarter and the other the second. He went with the hot hand in the second half and it worked out. I have to admit that CJ11 played much better than CJ7 last night.Why was CJ7 taken out? You can't be serious. If Fumbles Mc Lollypop had stayed in that game for 15 more minutes I guarantee the final score would have been reversed. Thank God the plug got pulled before the damage was worse.

I think equally as important as player retention is -- Coach retention.In the past 3 years we've had a lot of coaches leave...mostly for better positions - Alford went to Utah, Wallerstedt to Kansas, Pry to Illinois, Nori to the 49'ers, Terrell Williams to Purdue, etc.The drawback of hiring good coaches is they often become a hot commodity and move on. Somehow...and it isn't easy...JD needs to keep his better coaches in Akron for a longer period of time.Someone told me once that the relationship the players have with the position coaches that recruited them is a lot more personal than what they have with the head coach. I think relatively large number of position coaches leaving has contributed to the player retention issues we've discussed during the past couple years. Is it the major cause? Probably not. But it is more of a factor than people have mentioned to-date.

I don't see how that would show he made a mistake. I think it would show that CJ11 takes care of the ball better than CJ7. But CJ7 gives us a better chance to pick up 3rd-and-short. It would be smart to use them in situations where their strengths would be utilized, and their weaknesses hidden. If he made stuff up, then why is Jackson still here? Why is CJ11 still here? People can create whatever conspiracy theories they like. The simple fact is we have two mediocre-at-best QB's. But we have no Plan B available in 2007. That's JD's fault...they're all ultimately his recruits. But, it is what it is. CJ11 is "safer" than CJ7. CJ7 pumps out turnovers at a rate that makes Pillsbury envious. But...CJ7 is more of a play maker than CJ11. Neither seem to exude a whole hell of a lot of leadership. Pick your poison...and wait for the Matt Rogers/KC Patterson battle in the spring. I think I can speak for the entire ZipsNation when I say Domonkos should be very grateful he's playing Division 1A football. He's the worst collegiate kicker I've seen in my life. If Domonkos has any problems with being suspended, he should first look in the mirror. Then look at his game tapes. If Hildreth were bombing 50 yarders with 5 second hang time in practice, he'd be the punter. But he isn't...so he isn't. That doesn't mean Stec is any good, but it does mean, at best, Stec and Hildreth are a "wash." And in that case you go with the younger guy and hope he develops. Stec is a below average punter, but he's hardly the reason we only have 3 wins at this point in the season.

Just for curiosity's sake I checked out the final standings in the Big East. They split their conference, and it appears Lola's Louisville Cardinals finished 4th or 5th, depending upon how you want to interpret the divisions and records.

Z-P is probably the only person I know who was around Akron during the pre-Zippers era. We should ask him! :blink:

He may have taken his position as "shooting guard" too seriously?If that is the kid who tried to walk on with the Zips...what a shame.

In what could be one of my worst decisions of 2007, I decided at 2pm on Friday to leave work, pack the truck, grab my son and make the 2-or-so hour drive to Bowling Green Ohio.BG had a nice tailgate area, and I stumbled across Zip81 in the tailgate lot in addition to some other Zips fans and band member parents...so the pre-game stuff was all good. That's about all I could hang my hat on.You could tell the game was going to be "one of those games" from the get-go. In past games the defensive lapses could be attributed to the offensive ineptitude. The defense was simply gassed, and surrendered yardage and points during the game's late stages. Tonight, for a full 4 quarters, the BG moved up and down the field with ease. The Zips rushed 3 and dropped 8 on numerous occasions...and BG receivers were WIDE open every time. We couldn't formulate an effective blitz to save our lives. Offensively, we were equally inept. CJ7 left...CJ7 right...CJ7 up the middle is a lousy offense. I don't care if he got 130 yards. He should if he's carrying it 24 times. Did it put up decent numbers? Yeah, if yards were worth anything. Unfortunately points are what really matters and the Zips avoided the endzone like Karen Carpenter avoided Haagen Das.The Zips had 6 visits to the red zone. 5 were inside the 10 yard line...and we got a whopping 13 points out of it. Of our 11 possessions, 9 of them started beyond our 30 yard line. 9 of our 11 possessions ended in BG territory. We had 25 first downs! 243 rushing yards! And 20 points...I've never seen an offense do so little with such excellent field position for 4 full quarters.Bryan Williams had 8 carries. That ain't right.Mike Rasor kind of summed it up best in observing that BG ran the same "spread" offense that Akron did...but BG ran it correctly. And they had the right QB to do so. CJ7 lobbed lolly pops all night. That won't cut it.I'm glad I saw CJ7 get another crack at QB. Now I know neither CJ7 nor CJ11 is our answer. I'm looking forward to next season when CJ7 is at WR, Matt Rogers is the QB and CJ11 and KC Patterson duke it out for the back up role.Last season's BG QB Anthony Turner did a hell of a job in his "slash" position. Threw a TD. Caught a TD. UConn went from 4-8 to 8-1 this year when they moved the incumbent QB Hernandez to wide out and brought in a play maker transfer from Iowa State. Getting a solid QB for our spread offense and moving CJ7 to a "slash" position could be just what the doctor ordered. For the remainder of this season -- Play CJ11 on 1st and 2nd down. Bring in CJ7 when you need a couple yards. It ain't the long term solution, but it is the best one we've got at the moment.On the positive side -- Hell of a game by Jabari. Best stiff-arms ever.

And then land a QB that can get him the ball!

I've had a really bad 2007 regarding by predictions, so it is probably a curse for him if I say "no red shirt." If we can afford to red shirt him, that would really speak well for our team in 2007-8.

I don't see a red shirt happening. He seems to be doing very well. And, unlike Bardo last year, size-wise, Steve is pretty much ready to compete. He just needs to get that "banger," inside attitude. I think he'll be good for about 10 mpg this year, but we'll see.

Going into the first week in November, here’s a quick update on how things look for the Zips basketball team:The veterans are pretty much fully up-to-speed. But it is a work-in-process for the young guys. For McNees and Bardo, the redshirt season has made the transition to D1 hoops a bit easier, but there is still a world of difference from being on essentially the “scout team,” working against Rome and Dru…and being on the white team and being counted on to contribute and run the show. McNees has shown he’s an excellent ball handler. And, he can stick the wide open jumper with the best of them. But PG is the toughest position to learn. Expect a little bit of inconsistency from him early on, with play improving as the season progresses.Jimmy Conyers had his best practice week ever last week. The game has really slowed down for him. He may be the hardest working player on the team, and also may be the team’s toughest post defender. Every great team has a shut-down type defensive specialist, like Demetric Shaw was for K.e.n.t, or Floyd Johnson was for the Huggins-era Zips, and for the 2007-8 Zips that guy looks to be Jimmy. His offense is coming along too, but look for his defense to stand out immediately.Nate Linhart worked with a personal trainer this summer and put on 10lbs of muscle. Look for a more consistent contribution effort from Nate in ‘08, with a boost in his outside scoring.How’d Ronnie Steward get hurt? It was a freak thing…he simply pivoted awkwardly and “BAM,” the dreaded hip flexor reared its ugly head. There’s no fracture, and he’s not on crutches. But the pain has prevented him from practicing. Jeremiah Wood is in great shape. However, his right hand is banged up a bit. He’ll be fine when the season starts. Word on the street is he worked quite a bit on a 10ft jumper this summer. If defenses pack it inside and dare Wood to shoot the “J” he’ll probably make them pay.Chris McKnight went to Europe this summer and played pretty extensively. He made great strides in his outside shooting, and was his team’s leading scorer. With the year of college hoops under his belt and the summer experience he’s gained, look for a much more confident, polished Chris McKnight this fall.Quade Milum – Here’s a guy that KD absolutely loves, and who should be a much bigger contributor offensively than ever before. He’s a great kid, hard worker, and he’s really added to his game over the summer. From 10ft and in, he’s money. His hook shot is off-the-hook wicked. Quade’s biggest hurdle this year is believing in himself as much as the staff believes in him. Like we saw @ Temple a couple years ago, when Quade plays with confidence, he can flat-out dominate. From everything I’ve been told, we should expect to see several more “Temple-like” performances from Quade in 2007-8.Steve Swiech is slowly rounding into form. He’s dropped 15 lbs since arriving on campus and his footwork is improving almost daily. But in high school it was commonplace for him to catch lobs from the point guard and score at-will over the smaller opposition. In D1 hoops there are plenty of guys his size, and who have serious hops and quickness, and that’s been a bit of a wake-up call. Like any incoming frosh, it will take a while until Steve gets used to the speed and athleticism he’s going to run into every night he steps on to the court. Offensively, if he gets the ball within 8 feet, he’s been solid. His touch is unreal for a big man at such an early stage. “The Wizard of Wadsworth” Nick Goddard will definitely get opportunities to contribute during his final season. If teams try to pack it in on J Wood, look for the Zips most underrated passer to kick the ball out to our guards for some wide-open 3’s. This is likely the situation where Nick will see the majority of his “real” (non-garbage time) PT this year.That’s all for now. Time to clean out my gutters.