bobbyake

Kofi Sarkodie is in episode 13. I know there are other threads covering the other players but they're spread out. Figured it would be easier to put all the Rookie Life Videos in one place. Kofi Sarkodie: Chris Korb and Perry Kitchen: Darlington Nagbe

Bobby, First, I want to again tell you that I commend you for your avid suport of our soccer program. But, regardless of what you said in one of your previous comments about getting very few "no shows" in soccer, I want to share both my observations, and some things that I know to be true. We're you at both the Cleveland State (5,300 tickets "sold") and Ohio State (5,800 tickets "sold") soccer games? I was at both games. The first game was in perfect weather. The second one was cooler and rainy. At the first game, I couldn't move while trying to find a place to stand in the East corners. At the 2nd game, I had plenty of room to move around and found plenty of room to sit in those areas at breaks. So, why was the "announced" attendance higher in the second game? Because we surely counted tickets "sold", same as we do with football. I, alone, personally have knowledge of more than a dozen tickets that weren't used on Wednesday night. One friend could not use one of his two reserved tickets because his spouse had a work obligation. Another friend had a decent block of tickets, and could not give most of them away, despite sending out e-mails to everyone he knows on Monday and Tuesday. My neighbor has 2 season GA tickets, and did not go because of the threat of rain. And I had purchased 4 tickets, and only used 2 of them. There's plenty of no-shows that do not subtract from the attendance that can be announced, in both sports. Sure, this is certainly a much more obvious problem in football, partially because you are dealing with a much higher amount of ticket sales, and partially because the problem appears to be bigger in that sport. But, to point out that soccer has few no-shows would not be true, especially as the weather continues to deteriorate. I think I mentioned before that I agree with you but think that soccer probably gets 90% or more of tickets sold to be used while football right now is probably less than 45%. I've been to every men's soccer game this year. I honestly think the OSU game was a lot more crowded than the first game. I've never seen the grass section as packed as it was. I took videos of the crowd for both games and can upload them if you want to compare them. The fact that this topic is being debated so much is a sign that the University has a poor way of calculating attendance. It would be much easier if they went by actual attendance and there would be no debate here. If they have to come up with a clever but legit way to increase the number to save face, then I will look the other way.

Some points to back my opinion: First This is NOT the video that I was speaking of when I said that I saw and heard Porter talking about Meves' lapses last year... when he seemed to loose focus. There's another video where Porter elaborates more... can''t find it... too many WL Beers. Probably someone knows which video it's in. Same point though... Porter does question Meves sometimes... and I think that it's a stronger question than he has for most other players... certainly more doubt for Meves than the other returning starters. Second There are plenty of people out there who question Meves... it just takes some gonads to speak out on ZipsNation. Not so in the stands! I posted another ZipsNation Update video just after the OSU game... and had to delete it... twice.... because of the clip that I included on the Ohio State goal... where Meves decided to come out of the box... and maybe should have stayed home. I lowered the video volume on it once and I could still hear two people yelling at Meves. That's YouTube... not a good place to voice opinions. Here is better. Third I am not a parent or relative of a Zip player. I'm not a small guy... so I played football... and there are no soccer genes in my family. But... I do sit in the parents section... and that's why I had to edit and delete the video. I would imagine that the stands are full of people whoe scream at Meves sometimes... because we just can't figure out what gets in his head. Fourth I don't question Porter... glad we have him. We were a good team before he got here and he made us a dynasty. I just think that Porter feels the same about Meves sometimes. Of course... he can't always be pleased at the individual play of any position... and I understand that. He got on Mattocks big time for his red card against NM... and he had to. But he also praises Mattocks. Same for Meves. Fifth I never questioned Meves stats. Stat-wise... he looks good... excellent even. I just don't like what gets in his head sometimes. Yellow cards to get on TV? Plus... there's the good game - bad game thing. He is on for a few games... then he is off... or lacks focus. He had another good game on Sat... 3 SOG... no goals allowed. But what was the yellow card for against WMU? Hopefull he tackled a WMU player... and it was not aother delay after a ref warns him. Sixth When I mentioned playoff game... here's what I meant. If I was an opposing coach... I would talk to the ref(s) and tell him that Meves tends to delay the game a bit when the Zips are ahead... and that he tends to not listen when he is told to get the ball in play. I would tell the ref to watch for that and issue a red card for his habit of ignoring the request to start play. Doubt that a guy who habitually ignores a ref's request to get the ball in play would ever result in a red card... but it's worth a try.... for an opposing coach. I'm not real anti-Meves. I just wish that he would straighten out and listen sometimes... and stay in focus. Here's another question... Generation Addidas didn't come knocking for Meves last year... and I wonder if they will this year. Porter in very influential in the MLS draft... so I think that he probably told people that Meves needs another year at the college level when some teams showed interest. If Porter would have given them his complete backing for Meves... he wouldn't be here in 2011 Right? There were only 3 GKs taken in the SuperDraft last year... so considering this... is he one of the best 3 in the nation in 2011? I think that we are looking to have Meves again in 2012. He may be getting his instructions to delay from Porter. If so, can you knock him for it?

For my money Tom Wistrcill has done continually improving job performance. This has to disregard the hiring of Ianello who literally is a joke or the butt of many jokes. Wistrcill has to take steps in the near future to replace Ianello before this man totally destroys Zips football. Frankly, this means that Ianello gets fired at the end of this season. The university and the conference can not afford another sad sack year from him. Then Wistrcill has to find and hire a proven coach who plays to win. I over heard a comment on a talking head program that there are only two kinds of football coaches. There are those men who seek to be a head coach because they love being a head coach. Then there are men who seek to be head football coach because they LOVE to win. You can not name a HC at Akron since Jim Dennison who coached for the thrill of winning. Even Gerry Faust, bless his heart, was more enamored with being a head coach than winning. Oddly, at the high school level Gerry was well noted for his strong take no prisoners, killer instinct. Getting the Notre Dame job must have punted those attributes right out of him. I honestly think Caleb Porter should be the one that picks the next football coach at UA.

I have to admit, I do like the youtube videos the University does and think TW is behind those.

Then you have to look at who hired TW. It looks like the Bobinski-Thomas-Rhoades string of progress is over and Proenza now looks bad whether he keeps TW or admits the mistake and fires him. My guess is he may be pressured to resign and/or an "assistant head coach" will be brought in to bolster iCoach for the next couple years. He has a good track record from Akron Soccer. He locked Caleb Porter into a long term contract, though I think Luis Proenza had a lot to do with it.

Hoppin Frog won the GOLD MEDAL for the Boris and the Bronze for Barrel Aged Naked Evil BBW in the 2011 Great American Beer Festival!!!! If you have never tried Fred's beer, go to ACME right now and pick some up!!! http://www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com/w...f11_winners.pdf http://www.brewersassociation.org/pages/me...nners-announced "Ohio wins two gold medals and two bronze medals at the Great American Beer Fest! In the most competitive category in the competition, the American Style India Pale Ale (176 entries), Fat Head's Brewery and Saloon won the bronze medal for their Head Hunter IPA. Fat Head's also won the gold medal in the Baltic porter category for their Battle Axe Baltic Porter (out of 19 entries). In another hotly contested category, wood and barrel aged strong beer (118 entries) Hoppin' Frog Brewery won the bronze medal for their Barrel-aged Naked Evil Belgian Barleywine. Hoppin' Frog also won another gold medal for B.O.R.I.S the Crusher in the imperial stout category out of 56 entries. Congratulations to both breweries! It was an amazing cometition with nearly 4000 entries from about 560 breweries. I'm sure there were a few disappointed Ohio brewers, but this is a tough competition, and there were a lot of quality beers entered. " http://www.examiner.com/craft-beer-in-clev..._alerts_article

Attendance for the game was 1,431 which is very good for Western Michigan. BTW, Meves had 3 saves today from 3 shots on goal. That should be enough to silent his critics until UCSB.

I'm amazed people are defending the announced 14,000+ attendance figures but could care less. If this is what Akron has to do to keep D1A status then we should all look the other way. We all know the truth, actual attendance is very low and the worst it's been in a long time.

I thought winning the Wagon Wheel trophy changed this year. I was listening to 1350 early and they were talking about it being a competition for all the sports programs. Each program gets a point to determine the winner of the trophy this year. Too bad Can't doesn't have a men's soccer team to beat on.

well, there goes one of the possible wins. Next chance is against Buffalo

get your popcorn ready, this should be an interesting ending

I'm suspecting he's a relative or friend of another gk

for anyone sick of hearing the announcers from the stream, you could always mute them and get sound from here http://www.sportsradio1350.com/mediaplayer/

the problem with soccer stats is that they don't keep stats for things like preventing shots on goals. Meves is really good and with a little leg strength, could find himself playing in the MLS. His stats for USL Chicago Fire: SOG - 38 GA - 3 Saves - 35 GAA - .426 SO - 5 He saved 92% of the shots on goal. http://www.uslsoccer.com/teams/2011/22315.html#STATS I remember the Chicago Fire PDL got kicked out of the US Open Cup on a 3-0 loss to Sporting Kansas City (the senior squad, not a PLD team) so if he really only had three goals against him all summer, that means all three came from a professional team. http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2011...chicago-pdl-3-0

14-0 Eastern Michigan, this is ugly. I'm starting to wonder if we should start a petition to get 1350 to cover Akron Soccer away games instead

the problem with soccer stats is that they don't keep stats for things like preventing shots on goals. Meves is really good and with a little leg strength, could find himself playing in the MLS. His stats for USL Chicago Fire: SOG - 38 GA - 3 Saves - 35 GAA - .426 SO - 5 He saved 92% of the shots on goal. http://www.uslsoccer.com/teams/2011/22315.html#STATS

Mid-season grading is very common on ESPN.com for every sport... and on other sites for every sport. Meves scares me... and he scares other too. The time to be scared is now... not after he throws a playoff game. Porter has to be thinking along the same line. Do some research. He didn't bring in a load of GKs for kicks. He brought them in to push Meves... and to try to make him return to form. This is crazy talk!! Meves did an amazing job last year during the playoffs, especially when it came down to penalty kicks. I highly doubt Porter has ever been worried with him under goal. My only nag about Meves is his foot strength, but considering Akron doesn't play the long ball, it's not a problem.

from my understanding, they are allowed to count tickets given through endorsement deals. For example, First Merit gets a certain amount of tickets for games, I think it's close to 1,000. I remember reading an article about their donation and that it came with a big allotment of tickets. Infocision and Summa would get the same deal. Regardless of whether those tickets are used. they're considered paid for.

If you were sitting behind the Rowdies like me, you probably thought OSU was louder because they were directing their chants in the direction of the Rowdies. The Rowdies on the other hand, were directed their chants towards the pitch. This creates a huge difference for those sitting behind the Rowdies. As far as casual fans behing mixed in with hardcore fans, the MLS experiences this all the time. Designating certain areas for hardcore rowdies would improve the level of sound. The goal has been to fill the hill and that's been accomplished. It's time to work on perfecting the hill. Taking notes on how MLS teams do it could help. Crew8's idea of chant leaders would help a lot. What happend to the AK-Oldies? I'm up for organizing an alumni group for chanting. Time to get this Rubber City Renegades thing rolling. Where is the Tetris song? I want Korobeiniki!!! Time to recruit someone that knows how to use the trumpet Here's a tradition to start, singing the entire anthem Here's the celebration from the game I will be writing to the University to complain about the DJ playing music after the game. There's no reason music should be blaring while the Rowdies do the victory chant. I hope others will join me so there's a possibility this will be corrected.

Attendance 5,819

Montreal is second for least amount of goals allowed at 27, the first place team is at 26 http://www.nasl.com/index.php?id=13

the game winning fieldgoal against Marshall was a great experience as well. Sad truth is, I believe next year will be just as bad if not worse than this year.

This isn't true for the entire US; California, Oregon, and Washington would be exceptions as far as professional sports go. A winning Seattle Sounders team will easily outdraw a losing Seattle Seahawks team. Last report I've seen shows MLS attendance and soccer interest up for this year. But that's another story. As far as this topic goes, fan support for UA football is depressing. I miss the day when I would get excited to go to a Zips football game. Attending the Motor City Bowl to watch Akron was one of my best experiences as a UA student.