Z.I.P.

LOL! I loved this statement: "Two sports however, women's professional basketball and women's college basketball, are not favorites for any sports fan." It's certainly good to confirm what I am not. I wonder how many people who said they did not follow any sports reported they love soccer. Anyone in the know knows that football (i.e., "soccer") fans know their game is much more than any mere "sport".

I dont think porter needs accolades to know he's the best college soccer coach right now. Numbers dont lie. ++ Post of the young year, right there, Baby!

Yes, Marty, we all wish you could have taken Caleb Porter to the District. NOT! Is Ben Olson making any new commercials? Maybe he can get his new players to replace Brian Ching and Co. as co-stars now. How are the plans for that new stadium going, anyway? Good luck to Chris and Perry on your grounds. I give you guys at least a 50-50 shot at the playoffs this season.

This is a pretty fair assessment. I've said all along that I don't like our chances when Nik and McClanahan are trying to carry the load, and you've mentioned some of the reasons why here. I think we'll be a better team this year if the burden find it's way back to guys like McNees and McKnight. And I also believe we could be better with Egner and Diggs taking more of McClanahan and Nik's minutes. How has Dakotah Euton looked, in his minimal minutes? Is he a possible recipient of time -- from Nik I suppose?

After the MLS Superdraft, a reporter sat down with coach Porter to discuss the impact and how the program will go forward in 2011. Beside the poor grammar and word usage (what is a "common stigma" anyway?), the author gets Porter to state that he will bring in two new players beside his 2010 recruiting class to supplement what returns. I have a strong anticipation, that those two players will be at the Stiles Center for the College Prep Camp coming up -- this coming weekend, I believe.

Yes, it's wide open, and there's still an outside chance Akron will beat my pre-season prediction, and finish higher than fourth. That said, when do we start the "new coach" thread?

Correct. I read the Sports Illustrated article last week about Steve Lavin's St John's turnaround and they mention Jakarr among six top-100 players joining next year. So he must be academically qualified.

If you read that article again, you'll see, he's (considered by one writer) the top JUCO QB in Mississippi. Although Mississippi may have more JCs than anywhere outside Cali.

From looking at Rivals recently, I think only one or two MAC schools (CMU/Toledo?) had more verbals than Akron. Now, if we can get some more three*s.

I think you have your balls confused Cap'n! Nothing here but (real) football. Don't think they have American footballs in Irieland.

Yeah, well I'm still trying to find out how much of the "salary" includes the GA bonus $$. If the 170k is his total compensation, how much then is the bonus? When Steve Z. signed his GA deal, it was reported that the GA bonus was $160k as I recall. Or was it $170/175? The interesting thing here is the "modest base salary" part. My belief is that Don Garber is the best friend any club owner ever had. His clubs get their best young players' salaries paid for by sponsors -- what could be better than that? No wonder so many players sign GA deals, and no wonder why MLS loves their relationship with Adidas. MLS has a long way to go in this regard to become truly Major League .

Interesting! Compare that list with the Top Drawer Soccer recruits. Carly Pimm vs Danielle Reymann. Same club, different names...

______________________ That's a beautiful argument fknbuflobo, and I'm tempted to agree with you as the biggest Akron fan in the 50th State. (Who's #2, I wonder?) But I had to ask myself, "what would Caleb say?" The biggest reason Akron is able to play "Caleb Ball" is because he has players at every position who have played at the highest level in the USA for years, and in most cases (see what happened when MLS found out Ampai is both small AND slow?) are superior athletes to what Akron put on the pitch before his coming. How much credit should go to the US national youth coaches who tutored the players before Caleb got his hands on them? I would put the largest part of Caleb's success on the fact that he is far and away the greatest college soccer salesman in America. His teams DO play the game beautifully, and in an entertaining format unlike any other university team. I don't believe however, that Caleb Porter was fully responsible for teaching them the short passing possession game is superior to "boom ball". Imagine how much they'd look like Barcelona if Sep Guardiola would share Messi for a season. They surely knew what was the best and most exciting game before they stepped onto the University of Akron (Akron U. to locals) campus. Caleb deserves every dime in his new 10 year extension -- but I will wait and see whether the next Jack McInerney comes to Akron or Wake Forest. As long as the pros can dangle mucho dinero ($$$$) at young kids, and caress their young egos with flattery, they will continue to be attracted to pro soccer. But, as Caleb said today on FSC, the GA contract from Adidas can help persuade players to give college ball a chance. But, as I recall, McInerney took the GA without attending a day of college. Also, I disagree with you that Caleb sees himself as some sort of historical revolutionary. Caleb's interest is in winning as many soccer games as he can. Changing the development of the game is just frosting on the cake -- not his primary goal.

Yes, I think it was this. That name Zach the Zip rings a bell too. Hmmmm!

Back home in Oldham he's better known by his middle name. Welcome to Wembley.

Well, now I know it's not just a girl's school. You learn something new every day.

Caleb: "We have the NAIA National Player of the Year coming in". Also said that the team will not receive the recruiting rewards of the championship until the 2012 class. We will depend on foreign players to fill the holes.

He's on the NSCAA Convention show on Fox Soccer Channel

None of this will happen when Akron gets an on-campus arena downtown!

I was talking to some of Crew's season ticket sales people there and they were all hoping for a Zip to help generate some interest. Ampai and Korb are both really good players but probably would have been seen as a reach at #12 and #18 apparently. That's a shame for Columbus. I'm sure they would love to get more fans from the Soccer Center of Ohio (SCO). On the other hand, there is now an outside chance DC United could make the 2011 playoffs. That's a lot higher than ninguno. I suspect there's more turnover this season than any in MLS history. It's going to be impossible to predict the league this season. Many of the top players -- no I think you can make that MOST -- are no longer with their old clubs.

All due respect, but I don't think Caleb Porter needs to "save college soccer". The number of MLS players (or for that matter, USMNT players) going the college route, rather than turning pro before 18 is, I'm willing to bet (does Dave in Green have time to research this?) the same as it was a decade ago (MLS began in 1995). As long as university education continues to be a major institution in the US, American footballers are going to continue attending colleges and universities, and playing soccer there. And the college game will continue to -- rightly -- earn a large share of criticism for holding back the US' game at the international level. College soccer's contrast from the pro game -- substitution rules, limited playing time, lack of international-level competition does hold back many players, who in Europe, S. America, etc would be playing versus older players with lots of national and international playing experience. But, kids who have both out-of-the-box athleticism and soccer skills will continue having opportunities to play abroad (or in MLS) at age 18 or sometimes well below. Will Akron's exper(iment)ience change the historic trend of US soccer over the long run? I would love to imagine Caleb's coaching tactics becoming the default for major college soccer programs. But there is still a limit of 9.9 scholarships per DI program. Maybe the best thing Caleb Porter can do is bring attention to the game as a major college sport, deserving of attention from Dave and SkipZip. But can we get those two to a Crew match in 2011?

Please don't mention his name to Sunil Gulati!

Plainly beautiful! The link is to the Gozips.com page, I assume. Are these available thru the UA Bookstore.com?

So I guess it comes down to whether we would be able to gather 25 orders... Ummmmm, Hello...GoZips.com? Akron Athletics Department? If they're not interested in taking advantage of this -- I'd assume the NCAA would be willing to sell at a wholesale rate. You'd think they could sell at least a couple hundred. I know Skip-Zip is interested in something with such mass appeal.

If Perry lands in PDX he could well find himself lining up with another former Akron Zip in the backfield. Cameron Knowles is making a comeback in Portland, after rehabbing his injured broken leg suffered in the 2009 season with the Timbers in USL. Cameron was a USL all-star caliber (not sure if they actually named a League XI) player during his three seasons at PG&E Park. I understand Timbers MLS jerseys are already available. Not sure if you can customize yet, but I'd look at putting AKRON on the back. I'd also look at getting in line for tickets to the first game between Timbers and Sounders. THAT one will be a legendary brawl.