Captain Kangaroo

With all due respect to Sean Hakes, I think the topic of his departure will be closed. I'm sure this will break some hearts, but sometimes tough decisions need to be made.

You can take it as bad news, but Da'von Moore is officially cleared to play for the Zips.

More words...we want to see MORE WORDS!!!! Is that the best you've got?!

You need to type more words.

I certainly have no problem with you either, Buckzip. GMann-17 deserves some backing. I agree with the guy regarding the pro-OSU banter on this board. It has no place here. Aside from two people, no one wants to read it. Likewise, incessant OSU bashing has no place here either. Anything between these two extremes is subjective, but usually stays posted as-is if it is not ridiculously off-topic.I also agree that OSU bashing is VERY welcome on this board in 2007 because they are our opponent. Once the game is over, if people want to bash, they can do it in the smack forum.

I was told a former Zips basketball coach works at ESPN and helped arrange the internship. I don't know the name.

OSU fans can't help themselves. They MUST talk up their Buckeyes on the Zips board. It is as predictable as the sun rising in the West.OSU Fan is so used to getting his way in NE Ohio that he thinks people even want to hear his "wisdom" on a Zips board. It is kinda like the drunk chick at Karoke who thinks she's Toni Braxton, but really sounds like Rosanne Barr pinching out a 4 pound turd. The chick really thinks she's compelling...but she isn't.Truth is -- no one cares about OSU here. Ok...we've proven that two people utilize this board for OSU discussions. One person is grunting out the turd, and one thinks she sounds great. Out of our 1000+ members (ones that aren't porn spammers) I guess that's not too bad.F OSU. Oh, and Hakes....who cares. He's at a California JUCO. You'll see him at North Texas next season. Or maybe Sam Houston State. Either way, who cares.

The numbers I heard were: He could do 5 reps at 185 lbs (bench) at the end of last season, and he's up to 10 reps at 185 right now. That extra muscle should be a big help on the boards. He's taken a physical beating the past two seasons...but he should now have the body to turn from being the "nail" to the "hammer."

Late Friday night I gave Blair Danner a call to see if there was a slot left for the Zips Basketball Golf Outing yesterday. Luckily there was a foursome in need of a hacker like myself. So, like about 130+ other Zips fans, I woke up at the unGodly hour of 5:45am and headed down to Raintree.I played with a good group of guys. Two were pretty rabid Zips hoops fans, the other was a former Zips golfer from my UA era ('84-'89). We finished -10, which wasn't too shabby. I think -16 won it?But the day really wasn't about golf. Even though football season is only a week away, it was fun to get the banter started regarding the upcoming hoops season. I've never really had much luck establishing any repore with the basketball staff. Football staff? Those guys have always been EXTREMELY helpful to the ZipsNation. But the couple emails I'd sent to the Basketball staff always seemed to have met with the same virus that infected the Microsoft Outlook "Reply" button of so many UA Athletics Department computers.And the few times KD had shown up at past Golf Outings, Mike Thomas' golf cart wisked him through the course like Dale Earnhart Jr. driving the Pope Mobile. If you were lucky, you caught a glimpse.This Outing, the basketball staff was COMPLETELY accessible. KD was great. Jeff Boals probably spent 25 minutes after the lunch just talking to my buddy and I about anything from recruits to eligibility to his 39minutes of PT during his Freshman year at OU. All the guys were great. I'll do my best to follow up on that and get the ZipsNation hoops coverage on par with the detail provided in the football section for the upcoming season.The Outing itself was fun. My group didn't drink any beer...ok, I did but the other three guys abstained... so I thought maybe the basketball crowd wasn't as party-oriented as the football outing crew. Buy at days end the kegs located throughout the course were floating, so SOMEONE out there was hitting the kegs-n-eggs? As rabid a fans as the two guys I golfed with were, both season ticket holders in the lower JAR section, neither had heard of ZipsNation. To me that was pretty surprising. Sweet, black mock-turtleneck golf shirt with an embroidered Zips Basketball logo as an entry gift. VERY nice!ZipWatcher spoke to a lot more staff members than I did, so I'll leave it up to him to discuss any player-oriented details gleaned from the day. He's better than me at that stuff.I'll throw out that much more is expected from Jimmy Conyers this year. His defense is apparently really coming along. He had the expected adjustment problems last season, coming off a year away from competitive hoops. But he's ready to go in 2007-8, and he's definitely on track to get his 4th year of eligibility back.KD also mentioned that, of his 12 recruits, 11 of them will get their degrees. If may take a while for some, because they've elected to play professionally instead of finishing. But all eleven will graduate. Matt Futch is playing pro basketball in Mexico, BTW.KD also mentioned that the Zips offer unlimited summer school to incoming Freshman. Having a player with 6 credits under their belt is a huge advantage in keeping them on track to graduate and keeping them eligible. Of course, this costs money. He also mentioned that the Zips need money for road game charter flights. He brought up how great it was that, for the Binghampton game this year, the Zips tipped off at 7pm, and were back on campus by midnight the same night. They missed zero class time. The more they can do that, the better it is for the kids and the program. You know the additional $325,000 OSU isn't paying us to play in two weeks. That could have paid for all of that. And much more.Great event! It will be held again the 4th Saturday in August (23rd) 2008. I highly recommend it.If anyone esle was at the event and has some comments, please post them!

This is the previous tailgate thread. Click for Tailgate InfoI still don't know where I'll set up shop. Maybe here, maybe the muny lot. A parking deck seems pretty sterile? Is it really a decent place to fire up a grill? Is the atmosphere good...or is it just like...well...grilling in a parking garage?

Yes you can. It is somewhere between $650,000 and $700,000. The math isn't that difficult.

I wish Mack would have told OSU, loud and proud wherever he could get some press, to F-off. There's no one that could side with OSU on this one, unless you're a pathetic shill for their program. We should play there for free. GOD, it is such an F-ing privilege to play in the Horseshoe. There's no excuse for us to take 1/2 the pay-out of Youngstown State or K.e.n.t!! None whatsoever!! F-ing dirtbags. Total F-ing dirtbags. I hope we never schedule them again. If we do, I'm not going.

My opinion, based on a grand total of one scrimmage watched:Jacquemain and Jackson are both better-than-average passers. Jackson is more elusive. However, he defaults to running too soon. Jacquemain gives his receivers a chance to finish their routes.I think that slight edge in overall pocket poise outweighs the couple plays where Jackson's footwork might come into play.If the offense sputters under Jacquemain and needs a spark, that's when Jackson will probably get a chance. BTW -- I hate the term "He can manage the game." Give me a guy that can put the ball in the endzone and move the chains.

Anyone else have fla.shbacks to:Butchie leading us to a 14-10 1st quarter score at Penn State, then Owens puts Gromek in, and...21-10...28-10...35-10...in the blink of an eye.

A well-researched "scoop" blows up in someone's face. Glad that's never happened to me! Great job on covering the practices throughout August, Mike. Outstanding information.

I agree. If we could have held this group together for another 6 years we would have crushed the Buckeyes this year. Stupid NCAA eligibility rules...

Domonkos might be useful as a kick off guy, but that's about it. If I see him trot on to the field to duck-hook a 40 yarder this season I'll scream. Igor has been underwhelming thusfar, but at least his kicks sail end-over-end and don't rotate sideways.Either way, we need a kicker that makes 75-80% of his kicks. Not 33%.

You think? Winthrop, Dayton, Temple, Wyoming, Oregon State or Colorado State plus a Bracket Buster game doesn't constitute a solid non-conference schedule? What more could you ask for?

Monorail comes from the Latin "Mono," meaning "one," and "rail," meaning..."rail."Great episode.

Click for Bain

Click for ColumnHopefully the BC game goes as well as the Minnesota game last year.

Balaam is not eligible this fall. At least that's what I was told last week. Unlike some of the other "casualties" he is going to stay in school and expects to be cleared to play in the spring.Brinson signed up for classes in the spring, but aparently lost interest. Barring some act of God, he's not going to be a Zip.

Derrick Alston (#33) was a great RB. Had 100+ rushing yards against Tennessee back in 1990?I like the Chuck Webb reference. At times he was a man amongst boys.It is a shame that a lot of the aforementioned guys don't remain close to the program. I see Hilk and Buddenberg at the golf outings, but a lot of the other guys have dropped off the face of the earth. Too bad. Whether they realize it or not, they are a big reason why we finally are getting REAL 1-A facilities and a genuine commitment to 1-A football. They all have a legit reason to have moved on from UA...the clowns we've seen over the past 20 years that control the athletics department have been pretty forgettable, to say the least...but these guys layed the groundwork for the dramatic upgrades that are going to happen over the next couple years and I wish they'd actively be a part of it. I wish the University would reach out to these guys. They deserve it.

Hilk and Moten were two of the top 5 LB's of that era. Maybe the top 2?Buddenberg's a top 5 OL.I can't put Clark on an All-anything team. 1 year in a Zips football uniform + 3 in an orange jump suit gets him no recognition in my book.I wonder what his rap sheet is now-a-days? And "Smokin' Crack" Mack Warren? And Marcus Reliford, who was much more adept at breaking through off-campus housing windows than breaking through any opponents defensive lines? Yes...Faust took too many chances.

I couldn't disagree more. Dwight was the best DB we've had in the past 15 years, and was an absolute "shut down" corner. He was the best I've seen in a Zips uniform. He pretty much single-handedly won several games during his career. It is unfathomable how bad some of Lee Owens' defenses would have been without him.That 40-below-zero game @ K.e.n.t his senior year was one of the most impressive individual performances I've ever seen in college football. Too bad there were only about 261 people there to witness it.Vic Greene...maybe Bobby Lyons were at his level...but that's about it.Dwight Smith Ruled/Rules