Captain Kangaroo

150 lbs? Must be a pretty fast kid? I couldn't find much about him on the web either (as opposed to Tuzze, who is plastered everywhere). Maybe it's because he plays in the metro DC area and doesn't have a "local" paper (Washington Post only devotes so much space to HS football).? Who knows...two early verbals is 2 more than we've ever had, so I'll take it.

Memo to Existing University of Akron students: Pay no attention to this quote! If sneaking kegs and grills on Zips Express busses is a problem, please consult me. I did my Masters thesis on this very topic!

Does The University dare pursue another off-campus stadium after the Rubber Bowl dies? Would it change your mind if it were a first-class, 25,000 seat stadium? Hey....people drove to The Colesium to see the Cavs, and this would be the exact same distance from downtown Akron? Things that make you go hmmmm.... Group has goal: Soccer in Summit Public financing needed for stadium Wednesday, August 04, 2004 Steve Luttner Plain Dealer Reporter More than 100 acres have been assembled in Summit County as the potential site of an outdoor soccer stadium, officials said Tuesday. Paul Garofolo, president and general manager of the Cleveland Force indoor soccer team, said he and others who support bringing an outdoor soccer team to Northeast Ohio will meet with Summit County officials next week to discuss financing the stadium. "We're making progress," Garofolo said. "We need to zero in on commitments on the public side of the funding so we know where we are, what kind of project we could afford to build." Bert Wolstein, a longtime associate of Garofolo's, had been leading the drive to bring an outdoor soccer franchise to the Cleveland area until he died earlier this year. It is unclear who now is spearheading the effort, but representatives of Wolstein's family are expected to attend next week's meeting, said Joe Migliorini, director of the county's community and economic development department. Garofolo said there is an option to buy the land that has been targeted, meaning the purchase would not happen if the stadium doesn't materialize. He would say only that the land is in northern Summit County. Migliorini said the land lies between the Ohio Turnpike and Interstate 271. Wolstein was pushing for a 25,000-seat open-air stadium that could be used for soccer as well as concerts and high school and college football games. Wolstein had a letter of intent from Major League Soccer to establish a team in Northeast Ohio. He estimated the stadium would cost $110 million, and pledged to contribute $20 million. The remainder would have to come from the public. Garofolo said he does not envision needing a ballot issue to raise public money. A possible source of financing includes boosting the countywide real estate conveyance tax - a one-time fee incurred when real estate is sold. Officials also are examining tax-increment financing Migliorini said the stadium could provide an economic boost to Summit County, particularly if there is adjacent development such as an upscale shopping center.

It's like watching "Animal House"...it just never gets old!

Hey "highzip," meet my buddy "highflush!" "#9 in your program, #1285643 in your police line-up"

You got it on the nose, Captain! You know what else would be nice? A few turnovers! Remember the Marshall game 2 years ago...they played like crap...I think they had something like 7 turnovers? It would be nice if PSU shot themselves in the foot a few times. You know what else gives me hope in this game, CK? The fact that PSU could only muster a 32-10 win vs. Can't last season. I believe Can't was up 10-7 in the 2nd quarter? Cribbs got hurt (out for the game), and as Cribbs goes so does Can't. But still...to beat last season's Can't team, without Cribbs for 3 quarters...by only 22 points...on your home turf with 100,000 fans backing you? That's a pretty weak effort. We'll find out whether JD can coach on the defensive side of the ball pretty early in the season. Forget the crap about being stuck with "Owens' leftovers." The talent on the 2004 Zips' defensive side of the ball is no worse than it has been the past 6 years. If JD is a good coach, and Fleming is a solid DC, they'll find a way to stop people with the guys we have. We bitched about the lack of creativity on the defensive side of the ball for most of Owens' tenure. Hell...Owens bitched about it. What is a Zips season like without an abysmal defense? Its been so long, I've forgotten. Here's hoping we see one in 2004! Captain, you're and idiot! Go back to work. Lunctime is over!

Last season Sullivan was cruising along having a nice start to the season, when Swiger took over. Allegedly Sullivan was too slow to the ball. Until the UConn game, Owens' kicking decision looked genius-level. Swiger was rock-solid. At UConn the wheels fell off. Swiger couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Going from memory, Swiger didn't look all that impressive finishing the season. In addition, Swiger hit some more fungoes in the spring game. Could have been bad holds from the new holder...I don't know? Who kicks field goals in 2004? Is it Swiger's job to lose? Unrelated: Did anyone notice John Ferguson is listed as a Punter and not a QB? What's up with that?

You got it on the nose, Captain! You know what else would be nice? A few turnovers! Remember the Marshall game 2 years ago...they played like crap...I think they had something like 7 turnovers? It would be nice if PSU shot themselves in the foot a few times. You know what else gives me hope in this game, CK? The fact that PSU could only muster a 32-10 win vs. Can't last season. I believe Can't was up 10-7 in the 2nd quarter? Cribbs got hurt (out for the game), and as Cribbs goes so does Can't. But still...to beat last season's Can't team, without Cribbs for 3 quarters...by only 22 points...on your home turf with 100,000 fans backing you? That's a pretty weak effort. We'll find out whether JD can coach on the defensive side of the ball pretty early in the season. Forget the crap about being stuck with "Owens' leftovers." The talent on the 2004 Zips' defensive side of the ball is no worse than it has been the past 6 years. If JD is a good coach, and Fleming is a solid DC, they'll find a way to stop people with the guys we have. We bitched about the lack of creativity on the defensive side of the ball for most of Owens' tenure. Hell...Owens bitched about it. What is a Zips season like without an abysmal defense? Its been so long, I've forgotten. Here's hoping we see one in 2004!

You got it on the nose, Captain! You know what else would be nice? A few turnovers! Remember the Marshall game 2 years ago...they played like crap...I think they had something like 7 turnovers? It would be nice if PSU shot themselves in the foot a few times.

Anyone remember the Va Tech game? No one could stop Jason Taylor. He almost single-handedly won that game. Either Chase Blackburn or Duane LeFall need to have a career game at PSU. If we can get some pressure on their QB, it will make our DB's lives a lot easier. Who's our #2 wide out? Remember Va Tech in 2001? Tech's DB couldn't cover Schifino! He was en route to a monster game when he got the concussion. From then-on Bailey got double-teamed and our passing attack disappeared. We need a #2 wide out to step up and take the heat off Hixson. A #3 would be nice too...but a solid 1-2 punch will put pressure on PSU's D. Those are the two biggest keys to a win. I think the emergence of a #1 RB is probably a close 3rd. I give Ringer the nod, with Briggs getting some carries too. Kennedy...who knows? A big "stage" for a true Fr., but Brandon Payne had a great Fr. debut against PSU in 1999 if I'm not mistaken? If we can keep it close through 3 quarters...do we have the depth to hang in there? Under Owens, our 4th quarter collapses were legenday...Miami several times...Wisconsin...Virginia...Marshall several times....God I could go on forever. Back to work...BTW: Got my game tickets in the mail Friday! Great pre-game night campus environment there...if you don't check it out Friday night, your missing out!

I don't think you can say the kid "didn't give Akron a second look" based solely on this column. Keep in mind that, to a man, every local scribe was a buddy of Lee Owens and Paul Winters. They will take advantage of every opportunity they have to slant their columns against the Zips, even if it is something subtile like mentioning a local HS star was recruited by Can't while conveniently omitting his recruitment by the Zips. That's been proven in about 20 PD/Beacon/Repository columns since Owens November dismissal, (most of those columns were posted on this board.) An Ellen Alexander column written only a few days ago stated "New Akron coach JD Brookhart is expected to improve on the 7-5 record posted by former coach Lee Owens last season." Yeah...everyone is expecting more wins...even though we replaced 2 1-AA non-conf games with Virginia and Middle Tennessee, and replaced Eastern Michigan with Northern Illinois. Oh...and we lost our top 4 receivers and 85% of our running game due to graduation. F Ellen in the skull. As far as losing Sutton...the conspiracy theorist in me says the timing between Kennedy's signing and Sutton's commitment to Northwestern is curious, to say the least. Northwesten is a great academic school, so you can't fault the kid for going there. If it was Indiana or Minnesota I'd probably be a little miffed. In general, we got a kid that OSU felt was worthy of a scholarship...and lost a kid that really wasn't even on their radar. I think Tressel's recruitment of Ohio talent has been pretty impressive. If he felt Kennedy was good and Sutton (Ohio kid) wasn't...I gotta believe we'll be just fine without Sutton. Who knows...maybe in a season or two he shows up in NE Ohio looking to complete his final 2 or 3 years of elegibility?

You have to believe that JD was involved with recruiting Kennedy @ Pitt.

McDaniel from Woodland Hills is likely more of a FB, I think. I know Biggs, the JUCO, is being counted on to make an immediate impact. Some of the other guys might get a look as DB's? Wonder how this might affect Tyrell Sutton's decision? One thing I'll always remember: Didn't we have Brandon Payne, Hendry, Marcus Sanders, Thomas Plummer, Matt Carter, Ringer, etc. and we wondered "how the hell are there going to be enough footballs for these guys?" Payne gets hurt, Sanders quits, Plummer gets booted off the team, Carter quits, etc. All the sudden we're down to Hendry! You can't have too much depth!!

Per gozips.com: Although "remaining" is a poor choice of words, I'd take this to mean he can play from Day 1. Now...I wonder if he'll redshirt, or play?

Obviously great news! Did he simply not meet OSU's requirements, or the NCAA's? Wonder if he's elegible (for us) in 2004?

I'LL BE THERE, ZIPMAN!!! ORDERED MY TICKETS TODAY!! CARMAN'S TRIP SOUNDS LIKE DA BOMB, BUT DA CAPTAIN LIKES PARTING ON-CAMPUS DA NIGHT BEFORE DA BIG GAME!! ARE YOU FEELIN' DA CAPTAIN...OR MR. GREEN JEANS...OR BUN E. RABBIT??

Andy Owens and Coach (former) Meyers' kid, both gone. I expected it sooner?

My bad, Hula-roo. I thought you were Z-P, not Z.I.P. Read it too quickly, I guess? I owe you a beer.

That is classic!

Aren't you the same guy that hated the Zipsnation.org site, and wanted to return to the old blue board? You still running Netscape 1.0?

Thanks! I'll give it a shot.

Someone sent me a copy of the interview: David Lee: "So...how are The Golden flushes looking in the offseason?" JD: "Uh....I'm coach of The Zips." David Lee: "Zips....Zips...man, why is that sounding familiar?" JD: "It's the 24,000 student University that's 4 blocks from your desk." David Lee: "Oh man, I'm so embarassed...sorry about that. So are the Mount Union Zips gonna have a big 2004?" JD: "We're the AKRON Zips. Is this some kind of joke?" David Lee: "My bad again, man. For some reason Mount Union football always comes to mind when we're talking local collegiate football. Now Lee, can you tell me what you're gonna do about that defense? My man Paul Winters always has the offense up to speed, but the D always let's him down?" JD: "I'm not Lee Owens. Lee Owens is coaching at Ashland this year. Paul Winters is coaching at some Division 2 school in Michigan, I believe?" David Lee: *blushing* "Oh, there I go again...GOD am I embarassed. Now I'm starting to see why I've been stuck at The Beacon for all these years and can't get a job at a real paper...damn I'm a horrible excuse for a beat writer." JD: "Don't be so hard on yourself. Let's get started on the right foot. What would you like to ask me regarding the 2004 Akron Zips' Football team?" David Lee: " Umm...I'm sorry...what was that? I was trying to figure out the best way to get to Younstown from here. I'm doing a big story on my alma mater YSU. I might stop in and see Coach Pees on my way there." JD: "Isn't Pees in New England with the Patriots right now?" David Lee: "DAMN you're funny JB! We're gonna get along just great!" JD: "I have a meeting. I need to leave. I think you can find the door." David Lee: "That's cool. I heard there is an interview with you on GoZips.com. I'll just copy that and reprint it in a few weeks. That's how I do my best work. Later on, JC." End of interview.

Again, I refuse to give my personal info the The Beacon so I can't read the column. If you have access to the Beacon page, give it a read.

No mention of Jabari at WR...Blackburn not listed on the preseason all-MAC team, but Earl and Rohr are...the departed Shippy listed as a possible contributor.Fun Reading - Click Me I do agree that 6-5, 5-3 is to be expected. I hope for better, but that's a reasonable expectation.

If Roger Brown has ever set foot on the U of A campus or seen a Zips football game in the past 10 years, I'll sh!t a brick. Glad to see he's such an authority on collegiate long snapping. F Roger Brown in the skull.