Captain Kangaroo

I really appreciate all that you guys do to promote the site. I think it's going to be a pretty hopping place to be in about 3 weeks! Our August board traffic is easily triple what it's ever been. Back in the "really old days" (2003 and prior) we'd be lucky to get 10 posts in an August week. We get that about every hour or two now!Hope to see you in the tailgate lot!

Click for Snippet

I hear Can't State football is having a Bob Hallen Appreciation Night September 30th. In his honor the Can't team will wear its blue jerseys, with a yellow stripe down the back.

We're safe. No one watches ESPNU.

Dooooooon't tempt me!!!

I have no idea who he is, but he loves the Zips?Click for Mr Beane

Click for Stadium DiagramWhat is the Rubber Bowl seating capacity now?

I implied absolutely NOWHERE that the MAC and the Big 10 have across-the-board equivalent talent. In fact I specifically stated "The Big 10 is deeper. It has some better athletes." How much clearer can I make it? My point is exactly as I stated: If I watch a football competition between Northern Illinois and The University of Akron, that football game is as interesting, compelling, thrilling and competitive as anything the Big 10 has to offer. I stand by that statement. Big 10 football is no more competitive than the MAC.

I like the MAC. I actually prefer it over the Big 10. There is no such thing as a "mid-major" conference. That is simply a term coined by large $$ schools to try and separate themselves from other institutions. Competion in the MAC is excellent. I see no difference in the MAC and the Big 10 regarding competition. The Big 10 is deeper. They have some better athletes. But the gameday conference competition is not any better than the MAC. Unless it is Can't/Buffalo. I don't blame them, so long as they don't look down on the MAC while they're doing so. I liken them to the rich kid down the street that has a superiority complex. I don't see the family connection in the least. Did an act of God place the soccer team in the finals in 1986. Did it place them in the Top 10 this preseason? If the NCAA wouldn't have been screwed in seeding in last year's tournament, the Zips would likely have won the championship. They beat Maryland on a neutral field. I agree with that too...to an extent. I have a bunch of friends that are OSU fans. And Notre Dame fans. And Michigan fans. Etc. That's all good as long as you don't have some superiority complex that the Big 10 is God. And, talk-down the MAC as some second class conference because it isn't on ESPN every 30 seconds or properly covered in the local papers.

I can live with that sentiment, but I wish it were otherwise.BTW: At the Can't/Toledo hoops final at the Gund this year the Jumbotron showed a guy in a Michigan shirt. The crowd boooooo'd like he was a member of the Taliban. They then showed a clown in an OSU shirt and the entire MAC crowd went bananas. I thought that sucked. I wish the MAC crowd would have just ignored the "skit." Going bananas for an OSU clown in a retarded, staged skit at a MAC Championship event is pathetic. But...that's the mentality the MAC is up against.

Damn Akron education... Fixed.

The Plain Dealer reports former Ohio "Mr. Manslaughter"...or was it "Mr. Football?"...anyhow, Ray Williams needs a stellar summer session to become eligible to play football for Toledo in 2006. Scooter McDougal is also in the same boat.

It is highly probable he will be a Zip. 95% certainty. He will not be eligible this season.Click to Review Update, In Case You Missed It

Pretty much anything is ok in the parking lot aside from kegs. If I recall, the University's deal with Coors Light makes them frown on people bringing kegs into the lot. Be cool...have fun...drink alot...grill food...act responsibly (yes, all this can be done simultaneously) and enjoy the Akron game day.

There is a fine for drinking less than 2 beers per hour.

Put 5 of you in a car. It costs $1.00 per person to park. You have to have that in change in your car ashtray?If you want a tip:Say you can't afford $1.00 to park. You get to the game 4 hours early, before the parking company arrives. Park your vehicle. It's free.

I'll clarify one thing for a few - This $500.00 "donation" allows people to park in the paved lots. It has no effect on the grass area, which will still be $25.00 w/no donation.I was in the "Tailgate" paved lot last season. It cost $50.00. It was never more than half-full (8 of the 16 spaces utilized) at any given time. Those of us there made the best of it and had a good time. It was nice being out of the mud, close to restrooms and near the inflatable things the kids like to bounce around on. It was a good deal, and I would have done it again. I'd have done it again for $100.00. But $500.00...that's insane.If the University can get $500.00 for the spots, good for them. My guess is they will be stone-empty. Maybe there will be a few big donors...and a few University employees who don't need to pay the fee parking there..but that's it.Z-P is correct. The real party goes on in the $25.00 lot. I will be back there again this year, like I was for 19 of the last 20 seasons. To be very blunt: The people donating $500 to the University for parking are not a blast to party with. They're actually kind of boring. The few that will pay will arrive 15 minutes before game time and stroll in the bowl. I like to arrive 6 hours before game time and ramp things up until kick-off. Most of the others on this board do likewise.I really shook my head when I read that 3-page letter detailing the $500.00 parking cost. I can't imagine anyone reading that and saying "That makes TOTAL sense...I can't wait to write my check!!".I'm no "cheap" guy. I will up my donations to the University a bit this year because I like the coaches, the teams performance and I want the success to continue. But I ain't shelling out $500.00 to park at the Rubber Bowl. That's the most insane thing I've ever seen.I have some thoughts on how this could have been handled. Maybe I'll post them another day. It's too nice outside to be tapping on a computer keyboard.

You're joking right? Hopefully after this season that won't be so funny If rumors that the endzone seating will be closed are true, seating could be hard to come by. I don't predict a sellout by any stretch, but if we reduce the seating to 24,000, we will likely come close to a sellout.BTW: Our Marketing group is non-existant. I see the gay Can't billboards around Akron, but Z-E-R-O Zips stuff. This concerns me tremendously.

It is our home opener, so you can bank on a full parking lot of tailgaters. We'll have 17-20k in the bowl regardless of the outcome of the first three games.Welcome to all the North Texas fans. You'll have a great time in northeast Ohio.

He would not play this year. He would have 3 years eligibility remaining, beginning in 2007.

The NIT has dropped from 40 teams to 32 teams for this coming year. I guarantee one of those 8 slots went to a MAC school in the past.

I feel so guilty. I graduated from UA but didn't end up working there. I think I may form a support group...me and the other couple thousand people that do so every year. Matt Newhouse was the best. He was one of the original student posters on our board. He should get a ton of credit for generating student enthusiasm for athletics at a school where it was once thought impossible. He did more as a grad student than most of the paid "professionals" that preceeded him. Looking forward to our future games with FSU now that we have an "insider!"

I don't think Toledo needs to expain too much regarding their recruits. They've sustained a high level of success for longer than anyone in the MAC. Saban, Pinkel, Amstutz...they plug in a new coach and roll on. You can't do that without great athletes.I look forward to playing them this season. It's been too long.BTW: I was at the Rubber Bowl the last time we played Toledo. We scored a TD to bring us within 10 points late in the 4th quarter. Rather than go for two, Owens kicked the extra point, leaving it a 9-point, 2-possession game. I never thought I'd see a dumber coaching move in my life...until I saw Owens on-side kick vs. Liberty when we were up 41-14.

Someone help me here...The list of BCS shools MAC teams has recently beaten (in the 90's and beyond) is pretty extensive. Off the top of my head I can recall:Iowa, Minnesota, Pitt, Northwestern, Kansas State, Alabama, South Carolina, Maryland, Penn State, Indiana, Clemson and Iowa State. I'm intentionally leaving off the Rutgers', Kentucky's, Navy's, Army's, Cincinnati's and UConn's of the world, although these BCS schools have recently fallen to MAC teams too.There's probably at least 10 other very respectable BCS schools that MAC teams have recently beaten. Don't sell the MAC short just because you/we were stuck with Gerry Faust and Lee Owens for 18 years. The rest of the MAC has fared pretty well as of late.

I can't reveal a source, but it's very solid information.