sgm405

You missed the point completely. When in my post did I compare the AK-Rowdies as a student section to the Cameron Crazies, or say that I expected us to be as good as them? That's a ridiculous thought. My point in bringing them up was in showing that the greatest student section in college basketball has no dress code other than wearing Duke gear. I'm also not sure that wearing the same color shirts will make us look bigger. The section will have an effect on games by being loud and crazy...the worst possible thing you can do is send people up top and leave 20 open seats down low, which was done.

See, it's that kind of thinking that is going to hurt in the long run. There was a problem at the game...RowdyZip's friend obviously left upset, and I know a few others that aren't happy that something they had no idea about was mandatory. Many of these people are veterans of the student section. So let's just sweep it under the rug and ignore it? That is the solution when problems arise? I'm really not trying to start a shitstorm here...but when you have confusion (people not knowing about meetings, not getting emails), lack of organization (lack of notice on the meeting, people being told different things), and veteran section members getting booted, that is a problem worth talking about.Again, I'm not trying to bash the leaders...I am sure they're trying their hardest, and they will naturally hit some bumps in the road. But the absolute worst possible thing we can do with this information that is coming out from various members of the group is to ignore it. Why not look into what happened, admit mistakes made, and work together to find a solution?I agree we all need to be on the same page before the Nevada game...unfortunately, if we look to avoid "dragging this on" and "ruffling any feathers" instead of fixing what has gone wrong so far, I'm afraid that we'll again have 3/4 of the student section filled with yellow shirts, and double that number of Rowdies sitting in Section 5, wondering when this meeting was and why they never recieved an email...

I still hold to my belief that unless you have shirts ready to give out for at least the first 3-4 games, you simply ask people to cheer like crazy and to wear Zips gear or blue and gold. Look at the Cameron Crazies picture posted in my previous comments...they have all different shades and they look just fine. I don't know where this whole "We have to look exactly like" thing came from...I just don't see the big deal. The biggest problem stems from the initial meeting. It was put together last minute, people were given one day's notice, and the meeting itself was very poorly run. I know 5-10 people that I talked to on Saturday afternoon alone that, A) Had no idea there was a meeting, B.) Had no idea there were shirts, and C) That they were mandatory to wear. That was the first problem.The second problem is the response. I know that the leaders of the group care about the students...and that they're doing their best...and that they have the best intentions. But by telling the student that had been sitting in the student section for years that he had to leave his seat - that sends the wrong message. A much, much better response would have been to get him a shirt, or to let him stay and ask him to pick one up before the next home game. If they have office hours to give out shirts, couldn't they have just gone and gotten him one? Wouldn't the shirts be stored there? I would've done the exact same thing RowdyZip's friend did. Why couldn't they have worked something out with him instead of letting him sit with the people he came with, the section he has been sitting in for years (and probably has been sitting in since before the leaders of this group knew what a Zip was)? Why was the message simply to move? Hearing this kind of thing scares me...with actions like this, it could be a very, very disappointing year for the AK-Rowdies...and that would be a true shame.

And I'll continue the response lolI simply have to disagree here. Two main points...1) It's not true at all that all student sections wear the exact same shirt. A few do, but most simply wear something of the school or the school color...that should be the requirement. Wearing an Akron shirt of some kind, or blue and gold? You're in. Take a look at the following pictures:Duke - http://www.mrkamoji.com/b_images/crazies.jpgWisconsin - http://badgerherald.com/news/2005/02/01/BBALLfans_DM_416.jpgValparaiso - http://www.valpo.edu/student/pepband/pics/...t%20Section.jpgIt is NOT, I repeat NOT common for the students to all wear the same exact shirt. I have no idea where anybody got this idea from. It IS common for the students to be asked to wear some sort of shirt from the team, or at least the school colors. 2) What looks worse, 3/4 of a section wearing one shirt or a FULL student section all wearing Zips gear/colors?GO ZIPS!

I wanted to move a discussion from another thread to here so that this topic gets the attention it deserves. The discussion is about the student section and what proper attire should be...here are the remarks made so far by various members of our forum:ROWDYZIP SAID:I'd like to vent here over some idiocy over what is now apparently a completely student-run group. I had a good friend of mine get booted from the student section because he wasnt wearing THIS YEARS Ak-Rowdies shirt. That's right, a 5 year engineering student and now grad student and AK-Rowdy who didnt have time to pick up his shirt prior to the game (full time work and full time school make it kind of hard) was removed from the section by the student "president." Now maybe it's just me, but shouldnt we be making sure the section is at least full before booting people? It sure was nice to see those 30+ empty seats down low while my friend was sitting at home, angry at the entire athletics department because of one little big-headed "fan."I SAID:Just to piggy back on what RowdyZip was saying, I think we need to focus on getting Akron fans down low to fill up the lower section. Either have more of the shirts on hand and ready to give to people or let it slide...the only requirement to sit down low should be to be cheering loud and proud for the Zips, especially when there are empty seats. One Zips fan kicking out another Zips fan out of the student section is simply inexcusable. I am confident that the leadership of the group will step up and fix this problem.ZIPPYRIFLE SAID: yeah, when you get the shirts you have to sign a contract saying that you have to wear them, always stand and be loud, and that you will be classy fans. i find it a bit ridiculous because there are so many other things i am required to wear that sometimes i don't go home between class, practice, then a game. on top of that, it has to be THIS YEAR'S shirt, so you can't even get by with last years. by signing the contract, it also means that there aren't going to be seeing any of the half-naked, fully-painted fans down below. i dunno...i signed the paper with the understanding that i won't get to stand down below for a majority of the games.SKHORBOTLY SAID:I understand all the frustration of all of you guys and i am not in the board of the rowdies and i am not here to defend them either.All what i want to say is that it makes total sense to me that a uniform should be required, don't you think ?If we go back to last year, everybody was wearing the right shirt in the first game, few people were not in the 5th game and by the time we got to the end of the season, almost half the rowdies were not wearing their shirts and the section looked awful.If you look at any organized and decent student section, rule number one in the book is to wear the same shirt... so let's cut the rowdies board some slack.When i'm running out of time and i do not have my rowdies shirt, i will happily sacrifice sitting in the upper section rather than sacrificing the organization of the whole student section.ZIPTRUMPET87 SAID:Another suggestion might be to have the offending person move to the edge of the section so as not to detract from the uniform look? I understand the dress code thing, but even some of the Rowdies were wearing things over their shirts.Let's keep this discussion going...I think it's a very important one to discuss.

Just to piggy back on what RowdyZip was saying, I think we need to focus on getting Akron fans down low to fill up the lower section. Either have more of the shirts on hand and ready to give to people or let it slide...the only requirement to sit down low should be to be cheering loud and proud for the Zips, especially when there are empty seats. One Zips fan kicking out another Zips fan out of the student section is simply inexcusable. I am confident that the leadership of the group will step up and fix this problem. I had an interesting perspective of the game as I was sitting with a few friends from Cleveland who wanted to check out the Zips. After hearing that the gold shirt was required we sat up top...just didn't have the energy to fight that crap. Anyways, here are a few thoughts...- Overall student section noise was great, especially for a game against a no-name squad. - Good, strong chants...just need to make sure both sides are on the same page next time. It seemed like there was a lot of confusion. - I'd drop the "that way" thing...or whatever it is. Only half of the people seem to be doing it and you can't make out what the group is saying at all...it basically looks like half the section points and yells jibberish. Everybody around me was trying to figure it out (I only knew from the discussion on this forum)All in all, a solid performance!

I would too, but it may actually hurt us...if Fazekas is out for even a little bit of time, might Nevada drop a game they'd normally win and move down the rankings a bit?

They do list us as being in the MAAC...

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2688538

yeah... two thing i noticed... the first is on the frobnt where is has EST. '05. I lied last years EST. 2005 way better and what's with the word University being cut at the end of a line and split in two?! some details are being overlooked UAM! i do like the gold color though. I think of it this way, every school we play with the color blue has blue shirts so why not exploit the fact that we wear gold! at least it sets us apart.Kudos on getting the name on video games. I heard about this happening back in June when a former worker and friend of mine was at a college sports convention representing UA. They were putting in student section names and he approached and made sure AK-ROWDIES would be in there. He didn't even know it was in the game until i read it hear and told him. He was pretty excited although he hopes they didn't screw anything up with it. Can anyone give some more info on what it says and how it looks in the game?! It just basically lists "Student Section: AK-Rowdies"...and with the game's chant creator you can easily make some of the chants we do...pretty cool stuff

Why should I give a rat's ass about Urban Meyer?

You just can't steal a chant from a division rival

Talking about stealing cheers, that is straight up O-H-I-O from OU. Yeah, I definitely agree there. I mean, most cheers are ripped off of somebody...but we can't steal from teams that are visible to our fans and opposing fans, like OSU or anyone in the MAC...that'd just be tacky.

I agree it'll be an OSU victory...just wondered what the OSU haters valued more - OSU losing or having a shot at the National Champions next year...

This question is more for the OSU haters I guess...and I'm not trying to pick a fight, I'm just curious to see what you guys think:OSU or Florida?Would you rather OSU lose or have a shot at upsetting the defending National Champion next year?

Here's some of the best from the best student section in the NCAA:http://espn.go.com/page2/s/cameron/hits.htmlI'll go back to my original thoughts though...the main focus should be on noise, noise, and more noise. "De-fense"..."Let's Go Zips"...Jumping up and down and just making noise....these cheers should remain the focus.Not to say that we shouldnt come up with some good ones for OU (Bubba) and Can't, but we don't need one every game. The problem, as I see it, is that the student section isn't that big in the first place. It's much, much harder to get a good "special" chant or cheer going. If the focus is on the 3 basic ones and making a ton of noise, the rest of the crowd can help out.

Just got mine out from the other night and looked at the back and read through it once again....pretty damn creative. Kudos to whoever came up with all of that!(Just next year let's please go back to blue shirts! lol)

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/stor...ht&lid=tab4pos1Nov. 13Arkansas-Little Rock 81, Akron 79Results like this are why the MAC doesn't ever get a second team into the Dance. Instead of having an opportunity for a solid road win at Texas Tech and a chance to get games against Marquette and possibly Duke on a neutral floor, the preseason MAC favorite punted one against a Sun Belt club that finished 14-15 last season. Akron's schedule also included only one additional D-I game until this Saturday.

Haha yeah, the chant creator is sweeeeet. Me and my roommate started a dynasty and each took a team...he took YSU so I have my fans chant "F-U-C-K-Y-S-U" LOL!And they actually say Dambrot's name and stuff...great game

For anyone who has played College Basketball 2k7 for Xbox 360...if you look under school information for Akron it says "Student Section: AK-Rowdies"....pretty cool stuff!

They sure do suck don't they

A few general responses...TO QUICKANDZIP:- I didn't go behind anyone's back with my post. I know many of the leaders post on Zipsnation, and I know that the heart of the Zips student section resides right here on this forum...that's why I wrote what I wrote, because I knew it'd reach you guys. I know you're saying this to try to make me out to be the bad guy, but there's a big difference between constructive criticism and going behind someone's back. Going behind someone's back would be if I criticized the group and said nothing to you guys...here I am though, coming to you and the rest of Zipsnation (the best Akron fans) with my feelings on the group, trying to help you guys get even better. - I'm sorry, I just don't see how practicing the chants is going to do anything with keeping everyone on the same page. When Romeo scores, we do the Romeo chant. The veterans in the crowd will do it anyways, the new members will echo it...it's not brain surgery. - I say I am speaking for others because many that were there that don't have an account said the same things. TO BLEACHER BUM:I'm glad you see my point, and I think we're closer to being on the same page than we might realize. I like the "special chants"...I really do. It just seems like at times we are trying to plan to do 6 or 7 of these, instead of just sticking with one or two.

Bleacher Bum, a few thoughts...- Glad to hear people went to the women's game...Kest seems like exactly what that program needed. - I'm not sure section leaders really worked at all last year. It's a good idea in theory, but when the game gets heated I'm either making a ton of noise or doing a defense chant, not looking to my section leader to see what chant to do next. - The intensity for the OU and Can't games were up a notch because those were the two biggest home games of the year...I really don't remember anything that was planned specifically for either that had any effect on the game. We were just loud and proud with defense chants and noise in general. Personally, I think most of the chants are too cute...maybe have one or two "special chants", and the rest of the time stick with the basics - defense, jumping/noise making, let's go Zips...that's seriously all we need. - I agree on the Nevada game being huge. Anything less than a sellout would be a huge disappointment. Again though, I suggest we just try to make a ton of noise and have very loud chants of defense and let's go Zips...they do the job, they carry a big time noise level, and there's no way anyone can screw them up.

Well I guess we can't take criticism...and you're missing the point. I have been going to games for 6 years now and have always sat in the student section. I care a great deal about the Zips and in supporting the team. I'm speaking out because I want the group to be successful and because I want you to maintain the interest of both new and current members. If you'd like, I can tell you the meeting was worthwhile. I can tell you that we needed to practice chanting "airball", that we needed to tell everyone where the student section is, that we needed to practice jumping up and down, and that we needed to go over other chants like "Diaaaals"...if that's what you want, I can do that...that's fine. Or I can tell you that the meeting was a great idea in theory, but that the time wasn't used in the best possible ways (better than "waste", eh?)...I can tell you that when you try to instruct basketball fans how to chant "airball", it insults their intelligence. And I can tell you that whether or not you believe it, there were many in attendance who feel the exact same way I do about the meeting. I can also tell you that if you react this way anytime someone tries to help with some constructive criticism, it'll scare people off from ever doing it in the future. And I can tell you that if that happens, this student section will never, ever reach it's potential of being the bets in the conference and one of the best among mid-majors in the nation.

Did you even read my post? I praised the leaders of the group many times, and was quick to point out that it was simply constructive criticism concerning the meeting. I never "bashed" the group or the leaders...I just pointed out what many in attendance felt - much of the time that could have been valuable was simply wasted. I'm not sure if you're a leader in the Rowdies or not, but if you are I certainly hope you learn to take constructive criticism much, much better. I care about the Zips and the student section and want to see nothing but success, and thought my concerns might be of value to some. There was really no need to get that defensive...