Z.I.P.

All right, all right. Pre-game. Somebody zapped Z.I.P.

Shot of Rowdy Crowd at Harder Stadium UC-Santa Barbara. Halftime of Michigan semifinal on Friday night.. BTW -- anyone remember the NCAA official who asked the Rowdies to "Restrain your rhetoric", after some barnyard chanting in the first half? I looked in the program, and the guy is the NCAA Soccer Championship Committee Member, and Head Coach at St Johns Univ (NY), John Diffley. Makes ya say, Hmmmmm.

Ampaipitakwong family with Lowes Senior Class Award Loses something in the download, but here is the shot I took of the Ampais at Harder Field on Fri., Dec 8.

I must have missed Mr Smith. But I met Simon again at the College Cup (and he provided some advice to the Rowdies, following their small run-in with the NCAA Committeeman). Amazingly. he looked about 6 inches shorter than when he went up to field free kicks at Lee Jackson in the early 80s. If you had asked me, I would have sworn he was a midfielder. And 6'6.

Agreed. It needs to be marketed the way Sports Illustrated markets their magazine - using a World Series or Super Bowl champion -- everything from a bound book of team highlights and DVD video to championship caps, jackets, wristbands, earrings, seat cushions and ear muffs. No ear muffs for me, please, but I would like a championship license plate holder and a window decal. Please, Mr Wistrcill.

Did anyone else notice the contract attached to the interview? Most especially this language: Assuming that you are amendable, please indicate your acceptance by signing below. Well, if that was written by Dr Proenza, he can at least claim that English is not his first language.

I agree, i could see us running the 2009 formation with Perry ( if he stays ) and Scotty in the middle like a Ben zemanski and Blair Gavin, bc perry is more defensive, and Scotty is more possession. Can you fill those of us who weren't here in on how the earlier formations differ from 2010's? 2009 was a basic 4-4-2 formation, perhaps a 4-4-1-1. The wing backs routinely overlapped into the offensive third, just as they continued to do in 2010. That is the style Porter teaches. Zemanski and Gavin, both holding midfielders, were singularly and unbelievably replaced by Kitchen, a freshman. Formation recognizably changed to 4-1 (Kitchen) –3– 1 (Nagbe)–1 (Mattocks). I like this formation because of the clear-cut and distinct responsibilities of each position. This was only made possible by the work rate, soccer acumen, and physical toughness of Perry Kitchen. Although perhaps not the best player on 2010 champions (I love saying that), Kitchen is the heart of that team. On a predominantly finesse oriented team, Kitchen is the only enforcer. He will not easily be replaced. God, I hope he remains a Zip one more year. Merry Christmas everyone! Did we all get what we were dreaming of this year? No doubt about Z.I.P. I got to view the first national title win, which many thought was this team's destiny. In reality, it was nothing but years of hard work to become the best at their craft that made this collection the best college futbol had to offer. I think fknbuflobo has it pretty straight. Another year of PK, with what we have coming in, and the amazing leftovers -- Akron is #1 in the preseason again. But on the other hand, maybe we should be grateful that we were able to experience one year of Kitchen's magic. If he were as good a player at another position, like say forward, he would have signed a pro contract earlier -- ala Jack McInerny. I have to think that that fact plays into Caleb's strategy, which seems to be "tie-up the backs first", as they are not just the heart of a winning team, but are less likely to jump straight from youth ball to the pros. Now, let's hope that Andrew Souders doesn't sign a pro contract in the next year-and-a-half. Does Gallego play CB? That will be an unbeatable tandem. And Yedlin on the outside? I hate to say it, but the next three years could belong to Akron. After that it's too hard to know, but I know we'll keep it humble under CP's control. Happy New Year!

Wow! Thanks for the update -- I would never have known that Teal Bunbury is on a new team if you hadn't informed me right there. Sporting KC! Will they be starting basketball, or hockey, or some other sporting clubs besides football? On another track, if the Timbers (and I intend to become a big fan, effective immediately) have a shot at Kofi Sarkodie with pick #2, they should send fireworks up over PGE Field. Thanks you Whitecaps! (No offense to the Nagbes)

Temple, Miami, CMU, WMU, BGSU, UBuff. All trending downward. It could be a new era for teams like EMU, and possibly Akron. The relatively incompetent may have the advantage over the absolute incompetents. Let's see which category we filter into.

Center back, correct. http://wwww.goal.com/en-us/news/2617/youth...draw-brazil-0-0

Thanks trimmy for your contribution. In spite of the to-be-expected response from the naysayers, soccer, or if you will, football is far and away the world's biggest sporting spectacle, and ummmm, thinking culturally, perhaps only the motion picture industry can compete with it in the entertainment arena. Hey, if you're looking for a to beat up, this thread is as good as any. But if trimmy is speaking literally (i.e., coaching both the men and women's teams), the feat has in fact been done, by the legendary University of Portland Pilots Head Coach Clive Charles who lead both UofP teams, and excelled as manager of both (title: "Director of Soccer") for many years before dieing from cancer in 2003 after leading the Pilot women to their second national championship). Bill Irwin has coached the Portland men and women since then -- he relies heavily on his assistants of course -- I believe he dedicates most of his time to the women's program. Clive Charles was largely responsible for making soccer the king of sports in Portland. And Caleb Porter could provide the same impetus in Akron. Notice how the Wikipedia article on Portland athletics focuses primarily on the soccer teams? That's relative to their success compared with the rest of the teams. However, I feel we should give our two-year head coach, Chris Pfau all the room he needs to deliver a winning and eventually NCAA tournament team to Akron. His incoming recruiting class is probably the best in the MAC. And I expect the future to improve even more, recruiting wise, if they start to put together consistent results and a MAC title in the next couple of years -- a result not out of what we might expect at this point in time. I don't want to put too much pressure on Chris' shoulders, but expectations for his program are increasing -- and hopefully he can receive some help from an incoming men's recruit to gain his first US international player. No names mentioned here, but a little research can provide the solution to my puzzler.

This is an amazing -- and valuable statement: The university also agreed to devote $80,000 ''in additional compensation'' to help him help UA President Luis Proenza promote the university ''locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally.'' Probably -- no, surely that's an understatement (sorry Shirley) -- Caleb is now the most famous person associated with the university, and his notoriety (let's wait a bit before calling it "fame") provides a platform to not only promote the university, but to increase it's global presence. His time and energy are going to be overtaxed by all the requests for his presence, but his employer is, The University of Akron. Or for those who prefer, Akron U.

Hilarious maybe, but from all looks, Drew is developed beyond any of our current/past players (at any position, frankly) at the HS Junior level. IOW, the opponents aren't laughing. He did his Barson best in the recent Nike International Friendlies, taking balls off the line in the first two games to preserve a win and draw. Be sure to keep abreast of how his US U17 national team does in Mexico at the 2011 U17 World Cup, where he will likely be the third straight future Zip FB to captain the team at the WC, after Sarkodie and Kitchen. I bet no other college in history could say that!

I wonder if the color is really that much darker than the short-sleeve. I like the darker better -- the NATIONAL CHAMPIONS stands out much better.

1-12 If that's "good," what's "great?" 4-16? No use arguing with some of these guys Cap'n. The way they see it Steve is the "Shooting" Guard and therefore he should lead the team in shots. You simply can't let facts about how many of his shots come from behind the arch or how he is an extremely streaky shooter get in the way of blindly breaking down shot attempts based on what position a player plays. Can we now say 1-11 was a "good" football season? Cap'n, PLEASE don't start calling him the "I-Guard"!

I agree. However, he didn't get to New England because of his great coaching record at Can't. He got there because of his personal/professional relationship with the head coach. Being a HC at Can't didn't hurt his career. It depends on what his career aspirations were. If they were to go to Can't and have losing season, one after another, then go to coach at New England, I would agree with you 100%. If he wanted the Can't job in order to parlay success into a BCS job, it hurt his aspirations. Well, history shows that if you have at least one winning season at K-ent, you can have a long BCS career. Ask Don James and Glenn Mason. The trouble is gaining that one winning season. (at K-ent!) Not many are willing to take a chance on it.

Thanks JZ! The Scuttlebutt in the discussion shows how difficult is for Americans to get work permits in Europe/UK. MLS has to be happy about that. Excellent point, Z.I.P. I assume that if you impress enough in your "trial", the club will do as much as they can to help you clear the administrative hurdles. BTW, if anyone votes for "other" and has someone in particular in mind I'm sure we'd all be curious to know who it might be. Summoning Tank and Bisbee in 3-2-1...

Thanks JZ! The Scuttlebutt in the discussion shows how difficult is for Americans to get work permits in Europe/UK. MLS has to be happy about that.

There are 14 JC teams in Mississippi divided into 2 divisions, they play a 9 game regular season. Top 2 teams in each division(4 team total) meet in a playoff system. Winner is Mississippi JC football champion. Mississippi JC Champion is one of the teams in the Mississippi Bowl which is one of about 8 or 9 JC Football Bowl games. Do they still play the Wool Bowl in Roswell, NM?

Made order from Bookstore on Tuesday for L and XL shirts. They were available and are on their way to Hawai'i nei. Look for Z.I.P. in his on ESPN next week @ Diamond Head Classic basketball tournament. He's getting plenny exposure on the network lately.