Z.I.P.

ONE TO ZERO AKRON!!! Took just 7:56 for freshman Eric Stevenson to score goal #1 versus the nation's #2.

The CBS College Sports version -- the best gametracker in my limited experience -- is linked on this story! BTW -- the statement that the Akron-North Carolina series is tied 2-2 can't be correct, since last year's game ended in a draw.

Less than two hours to the start of the 2010 "Journey to the Cup". Thought you would like warming up with last year's highlight film from Caleb's Twitter page. Go Zips!!!!!!!

Thanks LAZ. Fine article. You're just one thread late, however.

It'll be none other than Andy Alleman. Link Awesome, Too bad his NFL days are over.. he was mentioned on national TV a few times as a quality backup! Yes. Yes! The pride and joy of Aultman, Ohio! Let's hope his horse and buggy get to the Info on time.

This story is already out on Gozips.com, about two hours after it went live on SI.com. It is, honestly the best national media article yet on what is happening to Akron soccer, as well as what's happening to Akron as a result of Caleb and how he has changed the culture of the town and "the children on campus" -- a reference that both he and his mentor Yeags appear to embrace. Ah, shucks, I just' love the li'l Zip boys and girls! And I am sure that the shout outs to the Rowdies will make them most happy. I HOPE this appears in the print edition. edit: For some reason, the link above starts with page 2. Here it is from the top: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/socc...rter/index.html

Steve Zakuani was Man of the Match, with two sterling assists, as Seattle Sounders defeated CD Chivas USA 3-1 in the semifinals of the US Open Cup at their practive facility in Tukwila, WA last night. SSFC will face the Columbus Crew at Qwest Field in Open Cup Final Oct 5. Take a look at the great video post-match on the right of the page. Great to see the team winning in their best colors, including Nate Jacqua, the pride of South Eugene, OR in his Ducks Green. This was the Sounders-Chivas match to watch, as the last time they faced off at Home Depot Center, Zaki was injured and no Zips played for either side. I'm not sure of the status of Blair Gavin (injured three weeks ago), but I suspect Ben Zemanski was rested last night. http://www.soundersfc.com/Matchday/Matches...Chivas-USA.aspx

Here is the Beacon's story on the corrosion grant. Link There truly is HUGE $$$ in corrosion control. Here at Hickam AFB, where I work and write prose, we have recently built a multi-hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars Corrosion Control Hangar for the recently arrived fleet of C-17 aircraft, and we probably spend tens of millions every year for maintenance to prevent corrosion on those birds. No surprise that the AF (USAFA) is interested in UA's expertise in the field. Think they can arrange for the Falcons to play a FB game vs the Zips?

Biomimicry rules!

Folks, the Zip in Paradise would love the opp to see a Zips football game in the future, West of the Mississippi (prefer West of the Rockies), but in all seriousness, the only WAC/MWC schools that would even CONSIDER playing home and away with Akron would be NMSU, USU, Idaho, SJSU (unlikely they would travel to OH) and Wyoming. UNLV? unlikely, but let's give'em a call anyway! And someone please tell the I-Coach that he still owes a game @Hawaii from the Owens era.

I like it.: ''When I first heard from Caleb, I didn't know where Akron was, I didn't know it was in Ohio,'' senior co-captain Anthony Ampaipitakwong admitted. ''Players would tell me, 'Akron? Why are you going there?' I got it from everywhere, even my family.'' But, I wonder, if Ampai were from Akron -- as good as he was (and is) would he have come to UA? If he were FROM Akron, he might have been already infected with the fatal illness, that if it's Akron, it can't be any good. Thank you Doctor Porter, for offering the cure! Now let's get that vaccine distributed widely.

I can't comprehend how Utah State was going to the Mountain West. No one has heard of their football team since Merlin Olsen strapped up the ol' leather. And frankly, I think all this movement just predates the point at which the BCS will form their own division, and leave everyone else in the dust. The point of this MIGHT be to determine who will be IN the BCS when it throws the rest under the wheels. I think BYU's chances were better in the MWC, as a couple more BCS bowls from it would increase the probability of the entire conference moving up --- or at least the schools that make BCS bowl games consistently. Independence will make it tougher -- not easier, for BYU to get into a BCS bowl game. And, as for the Sunday article in the Honolulu paper goes, Carl Benson is history's greatest evidence of the Peter Principle at work. He has to be the worst administrator in American history. Only a league as brain dead as the WAC would have failed to fire him years ago. I'm looking forward to the Rainbow Warrior's future rivalries with Portland State and Humboldt State. Go Bows. Beat those (HSU) Jacks!

Final entry on that board for that thread: RE: GAME THREAD: Akron 5, UNC 4 - National Semi Game 2 - PKs -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nice run for men's soccer, I was calling for Elmar's head back in the 90s but he turned it around this decade. Reality is Akron will lose their coach next season to the MLS or a bigger school, then we'll have another shot. See you next year! haha, guess we dont have our coach now eh? I hate UNC. Believe it or not, I can find NO discussion of #2 North Carolina's battle with the nation's top-ranked college soccer power coming up in just three days at Chapel Hill. Or is it in Cary? I presume our fans know -- and may compete along with our team versus Tar Heel fans. If there ARE any real football fans in Tar Heel country, they're welcome to discuss the match, politely, here on Zipsnation.org.

Fox Soccer Channel has finally released it's schedule for the 2010 National Soccer Coaches Association of America, National Game of the Week. Beginning Friday with two noncompetitive teams, Clemson and South Carolina. Well, Clemson made the news by hiring a new coach at what is believed the highest salary in the nation, c. $300k. Highlighting the schedule are games between Maryland and Duke, October 1; UC-Santa Barbara and Duke Oct 15; and the Central Coast Tangle between Cal Poly SLO and UC-Santa Barbara in San Luis Obispo on October 27. They played last year before around 12,000 spectators. Oh, and another game that may create local interest in everyplace but Brunswick, Ohio, where they have banned football, is The Akron Zips hosting the Golden Hurricane of Tulsa in a replay of last year's NCAA quarterfinal matchup. That one on Friday, September 24 comes to you from the newly renovated Lee Jackson Field Soccer Stadium in Akron, Ohio.

Personally, I suspect Dreal1scout is still hurting from being cut from .

I think most of you are missing GP-1's point. Which, as I understand, is: Akron's existence as some kind of "major college" football program is nothing but a pretense. They are not now, and have virtually no chance in the future of becoming a major player in college football. Unfortunately, at this point in time, I am afraid the weight of the evidence is in GP-1's corner. But the part I don't understand personally, is all the emotion being blown off at how the University of Akron's status in college football reflects the status of the city of Akron vis-a-vis similar and familiar cities. Is Akron a better place to live than Youngstown based on its college football experience? Does it mean that Akron is a better city than Cleveland, because the Forest City/Mistake on the Lake (choose your favorite) lacks a FBS football program? There are many excellent locales -- and many great universities which provide development and pride to their areas, which have no college football at all.

What do you expect from a planet named after a bad sportswriter?

I know what you're talking about. I knew a couple junior high students that knew about Akron's soccer team, but that was only because they play soccer themselves. Youth league soccer has been HUGE in this country for years now, but it still hasn't taken off on a general, pop-level yet. But considering how huge youth league soccer is in this country I can't help but believe (hope?) that it is still only a matter of time. I have no delusions of college futbol ever being another college basketball, let alone college football, but I do honestly feel it could one day easily rival college baseball as the #3 college sport. I suppose It would either be futbol or hockey. As hard as I tried not to be drawn into this false ideology (see -- can you tell I was a Soc major? ) I just had to research the subject, because I couldn't believe that baseball could possibly be the #3 NCAA sport attendance-wise. Akron baseball crowds of 25-30 years ago (my era) were smaller than the teams, and my own experience was of Hawaii leading the nation in baseball attendance consistently from the late 80s into the mid-90s, with attendance figures in the 3-4k range (Murakami Rainbow Stadium seats about 4k). Since that time, many universities have built much larger baseball stadiums, or teams are playing at minor league parks. I was amazed to find These attendance statistics for the 2010 season. But note that only 5 or 6 of the top 42 listed are outside the Southern tier. What I was thinking, was that women's volleyball would be the #3 sport in attendance terms, since over the past decade many Big-12 and SEC volleyball programs have gained a foothold and now outcompete the once-dominant West Coast programs, many averaging around 4-5k, especially Nebraska, Texas, Florida, Minnesota and quite a few others. I'll have to check to find out how VB compares to baseball, but let me admit -- the baseball stats come out of Wichita State, and to me at least, it was a Shocker. edit: Here are the latest NCAA women's volleyball attendance stats. I was expecting a lot more schools in the 3-5k area, but it was my Hawaii-centric perspective on the sport, my school having led the nation in attendance forever, and VB outdrawing men's basketball since forever here. edit #2: Finally here are 2008 NCAA men's soccer attendance figures. Only 25 programs draw 1000+ for men's soccer (I suspect women's soccer would be about the same), while 45 schools draw 1000+ for women's VB and for baseball the stats showed just the top 42, with the lowest (OSWho at #42) at about 1200/game. But the top draws (especially LSU) were a lot higher for baseball than VB or soccer. So maybe baseball has the lead, but as far as I can see it's still early in the game, and we're playing a full 90 here!

Sadly not. They lost 3-1 and Morehead was 0-3 this year. WOW! I'm pretty sure MSU is an even younger program than Akron. I saw them about 7 or 8 years ago, which was their first year I think. They lost about 6-0 to a mediocre Hawaii program (pre-Natasha Kai). This needs to serve as a lesson about being prepared every time out. I was skeptical about those suggesting Akron might be top-25 this season. I think it'll take another 2-3 years to get there, but it's well within the possible -- and extremely difficult with over 300 D-1 programs.

Frankly, I expect Cuse to "Paste Colgate"!

I just called the ticket office to see how many tickets were sold. I have 2 season tickets, but I am bringing along some people with me who do not. I figured we would be safe just getting them at the box office but wanted to be sure we wouldn't be in for a surprise Saturday morning. Was not able to talk to a live person, but listened to the message and learned the game is sold out! No, not the Syracuse game on 9/4/10! The Can't State game on 5/5/09. No, I am not kidding. You must be confused. That's a baseball game!

Hey Zach, not sure if you've taken any geography courses at the U., but you might want to check your map of the Sunshine State. USF is in Tampa-St. Pete. But good luck to the gents. The heat and humidity should get them ready for nex' weekend in Noth Ca'lina.

What were his grades like? Was he in danger of being a non-qualifier? All I can think to say is, at least he didn't take his talent to South Beach, that would be formulaic.

Hate to tell you this, but the stepping-stone strategy is becoming more deeply ingrained in Akron athletics. This guy, Coach Wyshner was something in the area of a miracle worker for Akron Tennis. Something between a Keith Dambrot and a Caleb Porter. And he took the opportunity to parlay his success the way the other two have not. I guess we have to wish him well. What other choice do we have? coach!

Please! Don't ANYONE tell GP-1 that Gozips.com is in a rebuilding phase!