Z.I.P.

Hope you like your seats. However, one thing I must say that hopefully won't throw a damper on the elation is: There's no scarf that goes with the tix. For that you gotta go to the soccer ticket office. For the record, I suggested to the AD throwing in a generic Zips scarf with FB tix. As slow as the Info seems to be filling up, they might end up throwing in something like a Rubber Bowl urinal for every hunredth buyer. :blink:

How many scholarships do we have left for 2010 class?

Only thing Robertson Stadium has that interests me is Brian Ching and Major League Soccer's Houston Dynamo. Hopefully by the time the new AD arrives, the Dynamo will have plans for their own futbol stadium. It's about the same timeline as Akron's soccer stadium, I hear.

Thanks for the heads up, Capitano. The brother is a WR/DB our of "Averett" College/University per the Tulsa Talons, 2007 Arena League 2 Champs. I think they played in the league with the (defunct) Hawaii Hurricanes at one time. Who said there's no Arena League this year?

Just want to say thanks for your suggestion -- I hope the Rowdies take up your idea, and that the UA futbol team(s), continue to be a prime recruiting ground for Rowdiedom and the Rowdies continue to be a big factor in the success of our teams. As far as South Florida goes, they are another of the rising powers in collegiate soccer. But, I believe that we shall win. Memorize that line, freshmen, and repeat it on Friday, August 21st starting at 1930 hrs.

Well, I guess I have to chime in, seeing as how I'm the scarfmeister of Zipsnation. It's pretty basic -- first time I've actually seen the design, but it will have to suffice for a future national championship program. I'd say, if you can buy one of these -- get 'em early, cause they may not last long. Go Soccazips!

Yep it's the rookie. But with all the national and international experience he has, it's hard to call him that.Look for the Canuck to duplicate what the Englishman did last year. Gee, Teal, hope that's not too much pressure to put on our big man up top. Naahhhh, I think you can handle it.

It's a bad idea. If having the games played at the top-ranked school is a good thing, then let's do that for the men also. Will you go along with that? I didn't think so.

Can someone who is familiar with the St.V's football program confirm or deny the author's comment about Mark Murphy being a member of the Packers Hall of Fame? I think he has him confused (very common mistake) with the OTHER Mark Murphy, who's career was slightly before the St.V's Mark Murphy. I think the Irish DC played his entire career with the Redskins, didn't he? The Packers' ex-player and current Chief Executive Officer is a different Mark Murphy, not from Akron. And Kara Murphy is the daughter of the ex-Redskin, current Irish DC. Or then again, I might be full of beans.

I think James Harrison called and told him the president might show up! :blink:

when is the school going to stop being referred to as Akron University, at least by the media?When coaches, players, fans, alumni, students, staff and all Akron old timers start calling the university by it's proper name and showing some respect and school pride, then maybe the media will catch on.......until then we get what most call us...I'll always be a proud Akron native, and Akron U grad. Now can we move on?

Former Zips All-American defender Cameron Knowles makes his Northeast Ohio professional debut on Saturday night, May 9th for his United Soccer League club, Portland Timbers. The Timbers play the home Cleveland City Stars, looking for their first victory of the season after three losses. It would be great if a contingent of Akron fans could make the trip to Bedford for this game. I think that next year Cameron should make the jump to Major League Soccer -- but can stay put as the Timbers make the jump as an MLS expansion team. But don't wait until Cameron comes to Columbus. You can see him tonight in Bedford. In another interesting move, former Caleb Porter recruit, John Michael Hayden, two-time national champion at Indiana (2003-04) has joined the City Stars just this week. Hmmmm, interesting coincidence.Visit City Stars site

Sweet, but they better be careful. My grandfather might come out there with his clippers, as he's always looking for a source for his favorite Pennsylvania Dutch recipe for fried dandelion greens.

Thanks Charlotte. But you aren't suggesting there's no correlation between money spent and the success of a basketball (or any other athletic) program, are you? I suspect they do teach statistics and probablility at UNCC.BTW -- I was the guy who when UNCC played at the Rainbow Classic three years ago, shouted "Put in Cornbread, coach. We want Cornbread!" Remember me?

At 6-8, 255 the coach in Tucson who might be interested is named Sean Miller.

Two words - Klaus ZollnerI think our "local" recruiting base is more within our budget, and seems to be working very well. St Mary's has made a living off Australian players as of late, so going overseas is definitely an alternative strategy. But I think we should leave the overseas recruiting to Caleb Porter.Good idea. I hear Caleb is currently recruiting a 6-7 PF/Holding Midfielder out of East London. That's the tough side of town. The docks.

I was afraid when I got to work today that I would have bad news facing me. But heaven forbid it would come in reading the ZipsNation. I can't express my sadness. There's really no way to underestimate how great a loss this is for the Akron athletic program, for university athletics depend on people like Barb to do -- without pay -- what cannot and will not ever be done by paid staffs. This is like losing a coach, or a superstar athlete. Zeke's Mom, and many other future Zips' family may not have met Barb, but you would have, and you would have enjoyed her company, as so may of us did.I believe I first met Barb in 2000 in Portland (and later in Seattle, Cleveland, Albuquerque, and even amazingly at McKinley High School in Honolulu). I walked up the grandstand stairs at Harry Merlo Soccer Field, and she called out to me, as soon as she saw my "Akron" T-shirt, to join the cheering section for the game against the Pilots. Barb never met a soul she didn't like, and I'm pretty sure that went both ways. Some tried to compete with her, but no one ever surpassed her love and spirit in being the top Zips fan. I hope that I can meet more of the Zips Nation on the road, and I will be thinking of Barb as we travel that road together.Go Zips!

It's interesting to see your point on the arena's size Zip Fan. KD actually said the same thing when we talked about the size. He cited CSU's lack od atmosphere because they can't put a crowd in the Wolstein Center. He thought Xavier's Cintas Center (10,000) was a perfect fit. He also said our attendance was too low for a university and city our size. We talked about all the new dorms and he agreed they would help. He also said that we shouldn't need on campus residents to boost the attendance. He tought the locals should be clamoring for tickets, like the old days of Memorial Hall. He ended it by saying he wanted to play a more exciting brand of BBall that he felt the community, students and locals, would respond to enthusiastically. I gpot the feeling he believes he can do it and he will succeed. What a positive guy!All hail King Keith! In all seriousness folks, Keith Dambrot has changed everything about the basketball program (as many of us predicted when he was sworn into office), but I think he would also be the first guy to put the Kybosh (not being a New Yorker, I don't know the proper spelling of that one) on the smarmie attitude being generated toward him personally. Keith knows he is not the "owner" of the program, the University community is. To put it in other words, Keith is just keeping the seat warm for his replacement. Let's hope the seat stays warm for a long, long time. More to the subject, many of you are probably too young to remember that when the JAR was planned (and before it bore that awful name) the powers that be campaigned for it to be more "realistically" sized, at 4,000 seats. That the powers now think 10,000 seats are necessary is a sign of how things have changed in the Rubber City. All hail the change!

My mistake. There is no U-18 World Cup, yikes! The FIFA events this year are U-17 in Nigeria and U-20 in Egypt. No Akron players are on the U-20 roster. Looks like Caleb got his timing just right on recruiting. The only Akron "player" participating in the World Cups will be 2010 recruit Perry Kitchen, Capt of the U-17 squad.As far as the U-18 camp at Home Depot goes -- it ended on Sunday with a scrimmage vs the LA Galaxy reserves. Not much to provide, except Kofi played very solid at central defense all camp, which included three or four scrimmages by A and B squads. A-Team got to play Hollywood United. Wonder if one of our guys got Anthony LaPaglia's jersey? Wow!

Well, they should have played to win -- they still don't have a win against pro competition this season. What a disappointment to lose the 2-0 lead versus Chicago on Saturday.Yes -- Teal Bunbury is for real, and COULD be this year's Zakuani. Wouldn't a reasonable resemblance be GREAT? Was a very interesting, and no doubt beneficial Spring campaign for Caleb's troops. On another issue, those with questions about the appearance of non-appearance of our youngsters will have the same questions when the season gets under way. I have to look up the dates, but the U-18 WC I think is in September in Nigeria. So the team won't be together fully till late in that month. At least that's my understanding.

Holy spumoni! This deserves a thread of its own. Never heard about M Thomas' decision in Bearcatland. And at BG, soccer could be dead! (not to mention hockey) You all should know what THAT means -- the MAC will have to find another pretender (is there another Florida Atlantic, or Hartwick out there?), or not be able to compete in a sport where it has a favorite to win a national title. Does the MAC have a Commish yet??

Thanks Cappy. The author tries to fill in some of the holes that haven't been covered, at least in the Seattle press. Not quite on target however, as far as how Stevie left Arsenal at 15. Previously it was reported that the club decided to eliminate the birth year team Steve was playing on, and at 15 he was placed with 16 y.o.'s. That's not the player's lack of ability, but the club's financial decision that sent Steve to London Academy to play. While there, he was noticed by I believe by coach Slawson (who was actually interested in Steve's teammate -- how many times have we heard this story?) and offered the famous "sight-unseen" scholly by Caleb. Well, that's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.As far as the playing time issue goes, Zak is one of a small hand-full of MLS rookies to have played in every game this season. He's made the move from forward to attacking MF with his typical alacrity and if the only question is whether he starts or comes on in the second half, then he's certainly one of the top new players in US soccer. I expect him to continue to learn and improve while growing more comfortable with the pace and physicality of the pro game.

Most historic event for Akron on this day may have been the debut of Yoram Mwila. GoZips.com says he had two SOG. Did anyone on the board attend this game?

Rick Chryst s_cked as the MAC commissioner...Good riddance..."When Rick Chryst arrived, the MAC actually had to pay to be on television."And now they don't pay anything -- but every other conference GETS PAID for their ESPN contract. Nice PR Rick!

I don't know about the travelling opportunities (I won't be visiting any venues), but I can tell you that the trips to Va Tech and UIC will be the toughest games the Zips will play this year. Two nationally ranked teams on the road, during the week. Michigan will also be a tough one, but perhaps easier to be motivated? This is not a scheduled designed for a "team of destiny". Of course we would never be so arrogant. Would we?