sgm405

I think you took what I said the wrong way. I don't blame the students for the attendance. I think the turnout was great for students. I'm just saying it'd be nice to take it even a step further and get more there.

I figure we can all share here...----- THE GOOD ----- - 33-13 victory...just what the Zips needed after the CM loss, now going into Can't next week with some momentum. - Andre Walker played well...19 carries for 80 yards and 2 TD's. Definitely did well filling in for Kennedy. - Jermaine Lindsey. He had a very solid game. Same for David Harvey, who continues to impress. - The students on an island. I'm just not a fan of the rowdiest, loudest, most spirited section being on the away team's side. - The students who did show up. Aside from the overuse of one chant (which I'll get to later), everyone was spirited and upbeat. If only more would show up next time. - N.C. State defeated #20 Boston College. Makes our win against them look even better. ----- THE BAD ----- - Dennis Kennedy MIA once again. As good as Walker did tonight, we need a healthy DK to make another MAC Title run. - "AK" ... "ROWDY" chants. I don't mind the chant one bit...it's unique to Akron and easy to do. But we need to mix in a few other chants as well. There was an AK-Rowdy chant about every five minutes tonight...it's good, but if we don't mix it up with some other stuff it'll get old...fast. - First place in the MAC East? The 2-0 Can't State Golden flushes. What appeared to be a joke of a game in the preseason now looks like it could be a good one. We should still win with ease, but with the way they've been playing and it being a rivalry game, the Zips have to come to play next weekend. ----- THE UGLY ----- - Our kicking game. I've never had less confidence in a kicker as I do in Matt Domonkos. 2 for 4 tonight on XP attempts with a missed field goal from about 12 yards out. Is there anyone else out there? Can we just get a high school kicker? Unfortunately Stec didn't look much better...one atrocious punt and one punt blocked. - 16,011. MAC Champs. Home opener. Pretty good weather. Fireworks after the game. 16,011. Downright pathetic showing by the people of Akron. With most of our home games being later in the season in much colder weather, are we even going to stay above the 15,000 mark?

This weather is really going to hurt attendance...

I'm not sure that most of the complaints root from the stadium itself...I think it's more the location that bothers people. An on-campus stadium would do wonders for attendance.

To show people the reason for wanting the new stadium...???

First of all, the "kid" is not an idiot...he's actually a really good friend of mine. Second, he was simply noting that with the way things are set up, that there was only one road to leave on from that huge area and was discussing the problems that created. He then mentioned that this problem was made even worse when the weather was bad. I really don't see anything that is inaccurate about those remarks, do you?

Awww they spelled my name wrong! It's GartOn!

Also look for me to possibly be quoted! My friend and I were very, very clear that this is a good thing, so hopefully it's presented in a very positive manner to get people behind the project.

billcro69, KentZip -Good find on the websites...it was tough to hear them so I was worried that I'd hear a letter wrong. I edited my initial post to correct my mistake.

Thanks Mike...I had a feeling this was the case...

I think the lack of fan support is due to lack of winning. Follow me here...Akron's basketball team was decent but nothing special until Dambrot arrived. Attendance was pretty low. Keith Dambrot comes aboard, the basketball team starts winning..and wouldn't you know it - attendance increases big time. Akron's football team during the Charlie Frye era and even before that was good but not great...every time they had an opportunity to take it to the next level, they failed. When they did have these opportunities, the fans came out in packs. Remember the Miami game Frye's senior year? PACKED. Last year they struggled with attendance until - you guessed it - they starting winning! We went from barely anyone showing up at the Rubber Bowl to busloads of students/alumni/other fans heading to Detroit for the Motor City Bowl. What caught their attention and got their interest in the team? WINNING. We can blame the ABJ, OSU, Ohio weather, the economy and whatever else...there's tons of excuses for the Zips not drawing fans in the past. But the real reason is simple...they weren't winning! That's what it's all about in sports...win and more people come, lose and more stay at home.

Yeah I'm really not sure...maybe someone with some journalism experience at a paper like the ABJ can shed some light on the topic. Like I said, I wonder if it's more the higher ups than the writers...

Doesn't look like her...but then again I was half-concentrated on my lunch so who knows

I'm not going to pretend to know a ton about journalism, but here's a thought...Isn't it possible that these writers are given assignments to cover other things aside from Akron? Mike Rasor can write about strictly Zips sports because he has a blog set up to do so. If he was hired by the ABJ would it really be that much different? Like I said, I don't know...but I have a feeling it's more the higher-ups to blame if anyone, not the writers.

Not sure who it was...and the pics aren't showing up on my computer for whatever reason.

No way a BJ writer was in attendance. Someone will forward a release to the BJ. A phone interview with Mack would probably follow...IF the BJ thought it was newsworthy. Sooo I'm lying? The woman said she was from the BJ. Why in the world would I lie about that?

For one of my graduate classes I had to go observe a Board of Trustees meeting. It was discussed at the meeting and the contract was approved. After the meeting me and my buddy were at the Student Union eating lunch and a woman approached us because she noticed my Zips polo. She asked us a few questions about the stadium - if we liked the idea, if we thought it would be good for the school, etc (which we of course said yes and yes to). She then took our names and numbers, said thank you, and said "make sure you get the paper tomorrow!"

I thought people would be interested...- UA interviewed the top 3 professional design companies in the United States concerning the new stadium. - The ended up agreeing on a contract with HNTB Ohio Architect (I believe that is the correct company name at least, it was tough to hear) who they have apparently worked with before...the contract was approved by the Board of Trustees today. - Look for an article in the Beacon Journal tomorrow about all of this, most likely with a bit more detail

I'm all about the thought that Akron could one day go deep into the NCAA Tournament. But I'm not sure that's something you can just expect to happen. How many times has Can't State done that during their run, once or twice? And I'm not sure that it's a "low-bar" for the program at all to simply make the Dance. All I'm saying is this...let's make it before we start talking about how deep we can make it.

I have to disagree with that last part of your post. This is going to be a nice & exciting year. But this thing is just beginning to build, and it's year 1 of Jimmy. The Zips are only on the uphill climb now. In a few more seasons, we're going to look at Keith's team then, look back to 05-06 and wonder how he won 23 games. There's a 30 win season in the Zips future. By THE year I meant the year we finally get to the Dance. And why not? They could've made it last year but were missing two things: 1) a strong scorer, 2) A rebounding presence down low. Now, here comes Conyers (scorer) and Wood (great rebounder). Why not this year????

I couldn't be more excited about this team. They basically lost:PetersonFutchPrestonThey added (in effect): ConyersWoodMcNeesMcKnightBardoThat's two starters added to a team that won 23 games and should've at least been in the MAC Title Game. And both players - in my opinion - will be two of the best three players on the team (along with Romeo). This is going to be THE year my friends...

http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html

Just saw an ad for the game while watching Comedy Central. It said there will be postgame fireworks Saturday...this going with the free shirts that were earlier reported and it's obvious Akron is doing it's best to get the fans out to the game!

Rasor brought this thread up in his blog...my response is up there.http://blogs.ohio.com/rasor/2006/09/the_mo...1.html#comments

Attendance is not going to be good this year. Two reasons why I think that...1) The Central Michigan lost. The Zips had a ton of momentum going into Saturday's game. Local and national media giving them attention, students taking notice. The loss (althought it's not necessarily fair) killed a lot of that. 2) Weather. Fans simply don't come out to the Rubber Bowl when the weather is bad. I mean...I know it was REALLY bad weather, but if you have a near empty house against your rival while playing for the MAC East title, that hurts. 3 of the 5 home games are in November. Ouch.