Captain Kangaroo

From what I hear, Baker wasn't a bad player. However, he was a bad apple. He managed to offend just about everyone he came in contact with during his brief stint at UA.Estrada is, by all accounts, an outstanding kid. And an excellent football player.I share your concerns on the D-line. It would be huge if one of the incoming Fr. DL's could make a decent impact this year. Historically that's tough to do, but we really need it. Shane Shead is a Fr, but has a year of prep school under his belt. Maybe that head start makes him closer to a Soph than a Fr, development-wise?

Interesting hire. If I was the BG AD, I would have given serious consideration to their women's coach (only semi-joking here).Orr was one of my favorite NBA players. He had the body of Manute Bol, but was one tough SOB.

*Psssst* (whisper voice)….Doooooon't tell anyone….but the Zips play football against The Ohio State University this fall. Thus they are our opponent. Thus it is ok to rip on them. In fact, on ZipsNation.org, it is highly encouraged. Note 1: We regularly compete against OSU is soccer too. Rifle and Baseball too, if I'm not mistaken? We'd play them in hoops too, if they had any nut-sack.Note 2: Running smack against opponents in the "Smack" forum is exactly what the Smack forum is for. If you can't deal with it, don't click on it.Believe me, when the OSU fans start their juvenile taunts regarding the Zips as I walk towards the OSU stadium in my Zips gear this fall, I will have no problems pulling out a few Florida-related retorts. And it will be quality material, I assure you. F The Buckeyes in the skull.

The irony did not go unnoticed here!

Kennedy had the lowest yards per carry of the top 80 D1-A rushers in the nation last year, so I am certain he will need to work hard to maintain his workload. We need a runner that's at least a moderate threat to take it more than 20 yards a given carry and Kennedy has yet to show he has the speed or moves to break long runs.I was told Aaris Reed will be on the field. Whether it is offense or defense is undetermined but he will be a factor this year.I don't see Alex Allen transferring. Why would he? If he wanted to go to YSU he would have done so from the start. I am concerned about Alex's performance based upon watching a similar runner's return from injury a few years ago. Brandon Payne was never the same after he was injured. In hoops, it seemed to take both Wood and Dials until the latter half of this season…roughly 1 1/2 years after their respective ACL's…to really return to form.Gary Pride is intruiging. We'll need to wait until the summer to watch him. Walker is also a wildcard. He showed some nice speed and moves last year. Maybe after a year's experience back on the offensive side of the ball he can take things to another level?McMillon was a non-factor last year, despite our relatively weak RB situation. That makes me wonder if he's in the mix in 2007.I'm sure I'm forgetting some…too busy to think things out today!

In hoops, to date, that's pretty much been true. In football you can reference Ryan Myers as a "preferred walk on" that earned a scholarship and ended up in the NFL. There are many other "preferred walk ons" that have ended up with scholarships.The preferred walk on status is better than a general "walk on." It means the staff wants you on the team. That's better than the ordinary "intramural all star" that tries to make the squad during walk on try outs.

I liked it!

No way.Hipsher was "Dan Dakich Lite." Bring the team to respectability...burn the team out...get fired. At least Dakich could win a few games in the MAC tourney.I'm no O'Shea fan, but at least Tim O'Shea took a team to the NCAA's. Hipsher couldn't win a single MAC tourney game to save his life.No MAC school is stupid enough to hire Dan Hipsher. Everyone saw his "act" up close and personal for 9 years. That was his head coaching audition. He blew it.

I will be blunt:There is no MAC school stupid enough to hire Hipsher. He was a train wreck at Akron. Everyone knows it. Words to describe his teams include:UnderachievingUnderperformingNepotism-ladenUninspiredSure he left the team better than he found it....that's not too tough when your predecessor hands you a 3-20-whatever squad. I thank Dan Hipsher for Z-E-R-O.No one remembers Bryan Hipsher? The kid couldn't have warmed the bench for Tiffin, yet he was logging major minutes for the Zips. I could go on and on...Gheez....

Didn't Hakes graduate HS a semester early to get a jump on preparing for our QB job? To me, that grades him high on intelligence and leadership.I saw Jacquemain goofing around on the sidelines at the Toledo game. He has some work to do to erase that image from my mind. I couldn't see grading him "good" on leadership at this time.I look forward to seeing all three this spring. I only know bits and bites at this time.

Click for All Star Game

USC Spartan 2006-7 Results

My bad taking so long to add my virtual signature to the letter. Excellent job, ZW. Excellent season, Zips. *signed*CK, wife and son

I hope to have some info within the week. We'll see.

Is a .pdf of the sheet music for the Zips fight song available anywhere? Treble and Base clef? Starting to formulate ideas for 2007 tailgating.... I still say handing out 5 cent kazoos before the home opener and having everyone "buzz along" with the band to the fight song @ halftime would be a fun, audience participation thing. If you did it for the K.e.n.t. game you could have a contest to see who's fans can kazoo the loudest. I'm sure K.e.n.t's band will be there and they'll have 5,000+ fans too.

Figures I will be in Chicago that evening. No "closure" for me. I hope it is well-attended, and I fully expect it will be. It is a great idea.

"South Carolina Upstate?" I thought I had heard them all?! Overall, I like it. How many AK-Roadies will make the trip?

What was the change in apparel sales in 2005/6/to-date (in response to the MAC Championship/MCB and soccer team's success)?The numbers look worse than I would have expected. But what is the price tag for the regional exposure we've received from the MAC tourney two weekends ago. Or the national exposure had we beaten Miami?Like it or not, sports is a great way to expand your school's name across the nation. A well-performing athletic program benefits all our degrees. And, it's fun.

Like I said earlier last week…the BCS has worked its way into basketball. The big schools are tired of sharing their $$ with us "little" guys. ESPN wants Clemson/Mississippi. ESPN doesn't want Akron/Northern Iowa, regardless of whether of not the brand of basketball is better.Utah and Boise State proved they can compete at the highest level in football. Butler/George Mason/K.e.n.t. have done the same in basketball. But they needed to be pretty much flawless to get there. The NCAA will use these select teams as the poster children for how fair the existing systems are. That's laughable. The MAC needs to call a spade a spade and make a big stink. Mack Roades does too. The traditionally black schools made a big stink about always playing in the NCAA Tourney "Play in" game. Next season, I guarantee the SWAC won't be in that game. Or, the tourney will expand to 4 "play in" games. Either way, because they bitched, the system will be fixed to accommodate them. If the NCAA goes to 4 "play in" games, it may help our cause a bit. It will be interesting to see how that plays out.

I went back and reviewed the posts. Specifically yours. There was no reference to the Zips. The thread began in that direction, but it turned into a discussion of the OSU game. If you'd like to discuss Thad Matta, OSU or Xavier, please do so in your blog or elsewhere.

I heard JD Brookhart is a leading candidate.

It was interesting to hear "Duke" Vitale call the coaching job by Mike Krezewski "probably the best coaching job of his career." Gotta love Packer and Vitale. Note to everyone: Please take the discussion of the OSU Xavier game to another board. If you want to draw a game tangent to something Zips-related, that's fine. If you want to discuss OSU basketball, there are plenty of other forums to do so. Thanks.

I think you shoudn't quit your day job.

I'm sure Frye's presence made it a topic of discussion in the weight room.

Amen. I will be forever baffled that ANYONE complains about the Zips playing in a professional stadium.