Captain Kangaroo

I don't see why the game would conflict with anyone's BBQ plans. The game is being held on Saturday evening at 6pm...who holds their Labor Day BBQ on Saturday at 6pm? Sunday, maybe. Monday (Labor Day) definitely. But Saturday evening?You must have some awesome relatives if you can stand doing nothing but BBQ-ing with them for 3 straight days. I'd probably kill mine half-way through day #2. You must have a cast iron colon to eat BBQ for three days too. I couldn't do it.

The same thing happens to me on Thanksgiving. I typically go home to see family, so I can't make any Thanksgiving Day/weekend games. But it seems like a lot of people around Akron like the concept of a Turkey Day game, so although it doesn't work for me, it seems to be a decent idea.I think it will be a "wash." Just as many people will be able to make it due to the Labor Day weekend time slot as those who will miss it.I don't buy the "I have relatives in town so I can't make the game" excuse. If I'm in Akron and the Zips are playing football in Cleveland, and I have relatives in town, I'm buying them all tickets and heading to the game. Out-of-town relatives are usually dieing for something to do aside from sitting around the house.

I was able to view the 2007 recruit videos this past weekend. Man are we set at LB for the next couple years. Aaron Williams is incredibly physical...Almondo Sewell reminds me of a bigger, faster Jay Rohr and Matt Little is looks to be a drop-in replacement for Stokes in 2008!! They all look outstanding.Davon Moore is going to be an unreal free safety. Big, fast fast kid.DL Shane Shead's film was from HS. He looked about 210 lbs. If he's up around 240 lbs now, look out! His HS film was really impressive.Brian Williams is a strong north/south runner with break-away speed while Gary Pride rips...tears...spins and looks to get to the endzone on every play. Lots of competiton at RB this fall!I'm glad I watched it. Now I'm pumped for 2007!

Last year, when the University decided to sell the student seats at the JAR for the Nevada game, one of my friends wrote the University to complain. He actually got a response. It read something like "...we were told that the students typically didn't show up for games during winter break so we decided to put the seats up for sale rather than leave them empty."If I were Mack Rhoades, the lazy-ass person that said that would have been fired on the spot. When his/her replacement came in the door, the task would have been stated:"I am told the students typically didn't show up for games during winter break. That is totally unacceptable for a marquee game such as Nevada. I want that game packed. I want students at the game in droves. You find a way to do it." I also would have set this up a couple months prior to the actual game instead of simply waiting until a day or two beforehand.Why do I mention that story? Because, if the University still has the attitude that "NO one traditionally goes to Akron football games, so why spend the money to Market it?" the game will flop.I do not believe that will happen. The University is going to be responsible for filling a 30,000 seat stadium 6 times per year beginning in 2009. They can't afford to be lazy and unimaginative anymore. The bar has been raised. 8k for an Akron football game is no longer acceptable. If only 8k attended the Patriot Bowl heads should roll at The University of Akron. If less the 20,000 attended, heads should still roll. It would only be because of the world's worst Marketing effort that it could happen. And even the $5,000/year Parking Genius at U of A couldn't screw things up that bad.The city of Cleveland is pimping the game hard. The Browns are pimping the game hard. The University will soon be pimping the game hard. Those in NE Ohio associated with the Armed Forces will support the game heavily. Inexpensive tickets will be available, making the game affordable for just about anyone. And -- This is game #1 of a new tradition. It will only grow in the future. It is a great idea. It gets a "name" team, Army/Navy/Air Force, on a MAC team's schedule every year in a virtual (99%) "home" game.I remember all the whiners grousing about the MAC tourney moving from the Seagate center to the Q (Gund). "They'll NEVER justify it. It will fail. The MAC can barely fill the 8k @ the Seagate Center...there will be tumble weeds at the Q." Ask anyone involved with the MAC tourney if it has been successful in Cleveland. I has been a HUGE success. Thank God someone had the vision to see it while everyone else sold the MAC short. It will be the same with the Patriot Bowl.

Very, very sad. Eerily similar to Randy Walker's all-to-short life.

If Cleveland were a 3-hour drive from the U of Iowa campus...and we were playing the Hawkeyes...then we would be seeing 45,000 ticket sales in June. But it isn't, and we're not.Comparing the marketing and demographics of the two games is like comparing Eskimos and moth larvae. There's no correlation.

Hence my qualifier:

In mid June, whom do you expect to be purchasing September Akron/Army tickets?

I think your missing the point that the game is to showcase a MAC school vs a Service Academy on Labor Day weekend. That is the draw: Patriotism on Labor Day Weekend + a Service Academy + a local D1 school.People will show up for is in very respectable numbers. No chance in hell it draws only 15k. There will be 15k supporters of Army at minimum. As long as U of A Athletics Marketing does their job, there will be another 15k Zips supporters too. Another 5k or so general onlookers will put attendance around 35-40k. The Zips are playing in an NFL stadium on Labor Day weekend 40 miles from Akron in a very winnable game against Army. I have no clue what there is not to like about that? If Iowa brings 50,000 fans to watch their team club NIU in front of 20,000 Huskie fans, who cares. The Patriot Bowl is a great idea. Unless it is a downpour like @ Happy Valley last year, it will be a blast and highly successful.

No Zips recruits in either game this season:Click Me

A red U of A shirt? Couldn't be a Photoshop job now, could it?Kudos to the Miami fan that modified that one.

I would love to know why it doesn't work that way, because it makes sense to me too.

Brookhaven Offeree to be a Flyer

Years ago, I devised a plan where both are simultaneously possible.

Who's gonna give in...or will the stadium be built around them? (click me)

I think if you need to ask "how many shops are there?"...the answer is probably "not many."The hike to campus isn't bad. They'll probably need to build a pedestrian bridge over the tracks to handle the student influx?I think it is great.

I have traditionally started accumulating data on recruits in June. Looking back at the history of the names available, it seems like a pretty futile effort. Even when evaluating the best available information...only about 5-10% of the names associated with the Zips in June ever make it to the Zips February press conference. Plus, Rasor has done a nice job assembling the 2008 offer list on his site. Why duplicate the effort?Maybe in July/August I'll start digging into things.That said....here are two offers I found while wasting my lunch break:New JerseyWR Lynell Payne (6-3, 210) of Marlton, N.J., will attend a Clemson camp this week. He says the Tigers are recruiting him as a safety, a position he's never played. "I'm more interested in playing receiver," Payne said. He also has offers from Cincinnati, Connecticut, Delaware, Temple and Akron. He is also drawing interest from Rutgers, Iowa, Tennessee, Virginia, Florida, FSU, Boston College, North Carolina, Kansas State, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Syracuse. GeorgiaTroup offensive lineman John Oliver recently added offers from Akron and South Florida to his portfolio. He already holds an offer from Arkansas.The 6-foot-6, 270-pound Oliver said his participation at a racent Scout.com one-day camp at Georgia Tech proved beneficial for multiple reasons.“I think that camp gave me some exposure,” Oliver said. “And I got to see my competition right now and what might be some of my teammates in the future. I think the camp helped people get to see what I can do.”Oliver likes the idea of playing for the Tampa Bay-based Bulls program.“I’m really interested in South Florida,” Oliver said. “They play at Auburn in week 2. I figure I might go to that game.”Oliver plans to attend camps at Georgia, Furman and Jacksonville State this summer.

In a slightly related note, the Zips expect 6' 5" Canadian DL Hassan Hazime to join the team Jan '08. MAYBE this summer, but January is more probable. The Zips decided against offering fellow Canadian DL Vaughn Martin.

A couple things I picked up at the outing:1.) Harvey is officially gone. No miracles left in the bag.2.) Lindsay still has a chance.3.) Ryan Brinson "Enrolled in a couple classes this spring...but that's about it." Don't look for him to be in a Zips uniform this fall.4.) As previously reported on this site: Forget about the ND QB, and forget about Johnny Long.5.) It was good to see Sean Hakes participating in the event. He's probably up to around 220lbs now?

Outstanding event in every aspect once again! A HUGE thank you to all involved in organizing it. Beautiful day to hack-up some sod @ a very nice country club. I expect it will take weeks...maybe months to repair the damage. For your $125 you received a sleeve of balls, nice Akron Football golf shirt, burgers, drinks, dogs-n-brats, greens fees w/cart, door prizes, steak dinner, access to the team staff - who honestly answered ANY question you asked...$125 sounds like a lot, but it is a steal if you add up what you get out of the deal.The event was kicked-off with JD giving a short "state of the union address." Nothing huge to note, other than his expectation to be hosting Indiana in an on-campus stadium to start the 2009 college football season. Mack Rhoades followed the speech with confirmation that an important meeting was being held June 13th regarding the stadium (major donor has stepped forward?). And, that is is fully expected the stadium plan announcement will be officially held sometime in August 2007. That's the first time I've ever heard Mack directly address the stadium issue with confident, concrete statements so I'm guessing things have progressed to the "dotting the I's and crossing the t's" state. Mack also has lost about 30 lbs. You could hardly recognize him?The couse was in great condition. I think the University could fund the new stadium by recycling the empty Coors light cans that mounted as the day wore-on? I could probably have funded a lodge myself:D No sign of Charlie Frye. I think the Browns also had a golf outing @ Firestone yesterday. That may be the reason. Substituting for Charlie was Elvis Grbac and Mount Union's own Jim Ballard. There were enough former Mount Union players on hand I was shocked that Terry Pluto didn't show up to write a column about it? Seriously - it was good to have them attend. While the Zips had a decent showing of former players...John Buddenberg, Brian Hilk, Dan Basch, Brian White, Jim Borreci, Andy Wills and several others...you'd like to have believed more would show up and support the program. That's not just my opinion...the football alumni present seems to unanamously feel the same. Getting sidetracked for a second...I think this is where the AK-rowdies and the whole Fear the Roo thing will pay dividends in the future. There was really ZERO done for a couple decades to foster any school spirit @ UA. It is being done now, but the damage done by the comatose University alumni groups...be they football alumni or general alumni...is impossible to overcome in a year or two. This year's outing had 20 more participants than last year's, so things are going nowhere but up.Funny story: JD drove a ball for our group @ hole #14. He hit a big time banana-screamer that got no more than 8-feet high, and removed some serious bark from a tree about 50 yards down the fairway. SOMEONE in our group immediately commented "Man, that looked just like a Domonokos field goal!" About 14 of the people around the tee box got a kick out of it. JD just groaned "last year it was..." Gotta get back to work. I'll leave with this:In JD's earlier speech he stated the event is much more of a "fellowship" event with the staff and the program's supporters than it is a fundraiser. It really came off that way. It was a lot of fun getting 150-or-so supporters together for a day of bad golf, football-talk and cold beer. If you missed it this year, it is next being held on June 9th, 2008. Mark your calendars now...you won't be disappointed!

If the Dolphins just gave up a 5th rounder for Trent Green...who's one pedestrian hit away from a career-ending concussion...I would think Frye has some value around the NFL.

All $90.00?

Twice a decade....I'll take an 80% win percentage over our rival any day.

With regards to Title IX, does the K.e.n.t. football team count towards the schools men's or women's scholarships?

Obscure note, but what the hell...it's slow in the summer.