Class of 82

That's for sure. And just two out of our first eight at home. At least we should get some kind of fan support in the Puerto Rico tourney with Abreu and Betancourt playing for the good guys.

Yeah, and be sure to remind him to wear his lucky bikini while you're at it.

Yeah. But it was a whole lot worse to see Zeke get in a panic when he fouled. But seriously, Zeke knows how important his presence on the floor is to the team, and I believe that's why he's walked on egg shells so often in games where the refs have called it tight. Now that he knows there's some help behind him, I think some of that extra pressure dissipates a little bit so he can, as you point out, let loose and just play.

The real scandal is not Infocision. They're just a company like any other providing a service these organizations are more than willing to pay for. The real scandal is the charities who hire them and similar companies, and it has been happening for years. The "charity" gets a nice chunk of cash with virtually no cost or hassle attached, and they could care less how much Infocision makes or the way it makes their donors feel, quite understandably, like chumps. At least until stories like this come out and those same charities want to cover their rear ends. Get smart. Find a cause you care about, investigate how they raise and allocate their funds, and give them some cash directly if you like what they do and how they do it. And hang up on phone solicitors.

+1 I love Gerry as a human being, but he did not do a very good job as our head coach, especially at the end. Lee Owens was a major upgrade who changed the team culture in a good way almost from day one. That's just reality. (Owens' only real flaw, imo, was that his Zips defenses were generally awful and he never found a coordinator able to help him get that turned around in time to keep his job.) And you're right, too, that it's only the hard-core fans who will show up until this ship gets turned around. The casual fans need a few victories to bring them back on board. That's just another reality.

Hi Dave, Great observations, imo. As for the Twin Towers bit, I expect we'll see it some, but I don't really know if that's the identity this team needs to be its best. I wanna see us use our depth and athleticism to run people out of the gym on offense, press people to death on defense, and generally make playing Akron about as much fun as harvesting honey without a beekeeper's suit. I want a take-no-prisoners approach that steps on opponents' throats from the opening tip and does not let up until the last buzzer. Even without Quincy, I think we've got the personnel to do just that.

I'm sure there will be all kinds of experimentation with line-ups, and you may well be right. I still believe, though, that Pat's biggest value is going to be as Zeke's back up. With him ready on the bench, I think Zeke can play a lot more aggressively and assertively from the opening tip. While it might seem counter-intuitive, I actually think Zeke will foul less and rebound better without that overriding fear of early fouls that can become self-fulfilling, especially with MAC referees. And with Pat giving some quality minutes off the bench, Zeke can have more in the tank at the end of games. However it all pans out, it's gonna be fun to watch, though. GO ZIPS!!!

Great, great news! A deep team just got even deeper. (I agree, though, skip, that the irony is that it makes the loss of Quincy loom even larger than it did.) Pat's presence as a back-up should take a lot of pressure off of Zeke and free him up for the monster senior year we know he's capable of. GO ZIPS!

The Sun was my favorite near-campus spot in the late 70s, early 80s. We used to shoot pool and drink a little brew there on afternoons after classes.

Mike Tirico on the call... "Are you kidding me??!!!!!" Nope, Mike. We're not kidding you, bro!

From a purely basketball standpoint, Q's absence will hurt us. He could, and did, play three different positions and gave coach Dambrot a lot of flexibility to make in-game adjustments and significant match-up problems on both sides of the ball for opposing teams. I don't think that kind of versatility is replaceable. That said, though, I think everybody here is confident that Akron remains a formidable contender for a MAC championship with more depth than anyone else in the conference, especially if Tree and Harney fully establish themselves and the new guys pan out like we all hope they will. And there's even more reason now for hoping Forsythe gets his waiver.

That Hixon remains in the league after the terrible injuries he's suffered is extraordinary and truly impressive. That is a young man with true grit and determination. I think what I like best about Domenik and Chase (and Jason Taylor, too) is that they are not just good players, but good and decent people as well. They are a real credit to Akron football. P.S. Greatest Zips moment ever was Hixon's TD catch in the MAC championship after being sick on the sidelines just the play before.

Lol... yeah. Steve also got Dee Friesen mixed up with another guy on a TD catch. But Dunn was on the sidelines and said the play was right in front of him. Anyway... I take it all with a grain of salt. Next to Nev Chandler, Frenchy is my favorite homer announcer of all time.

Really in-depth article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer on gecko-related research at UA. http://www.cleveland.com/science/index.ssf...s_research.html

Having to work Saturday, I listened to Frenchy call the game but could only catch replays via espn's scoreboard, which unfortunately were pretty much excluded to scoring plays. Frenchy and Joe Dunn both were adamant about both of those helment-to-helmet calls being horrible calls, especially with the game on the line. They were equally adamant about the bogus call late in the second quarter that led to a Miami score. I know they're homers, but they didn't think any of them were even close calls. That said, though, I agree with the sentiment that our defensive effort overall was a greater factor than the bad officiating. You just can't give up 700-plus yards and expect to win. And kudos to Dysert. He played out of his mind. Still, I continue to be more than impressed with the way Dalton Williams and the offense have blossomed in the new spread. We can and will score points on anybody, and especially in the MAC. Coach Amato has his hands full this week getting ready for BG, but I still believe he's a quality coach who can help his kids continue to get better. Go ZIPS!

There's a dadgum new sheriff in Akron, baby!

Hey Tanks... Hope you all have a great visit to Akron! P.S. Sorry about that close Auburn loss to LSU Saturday. I really thought Auburn was going to get the chance to win it before that big LSU completion on 3rd down. Oh well. Heckuva a football game in any case. That one play notwithstanding, Auburn's defense looks like the real day.

Sorry to hear about D'Orazio. I hope he can keep his chin up and be as good a leader on the sideline as he was becoming on the field. P.S. No shame for being an optimist. The genuine willingness to be optimists and believers... if given just half a chance... is why they call us fans (short for "fanatics") in the first place. Right? You predicted a win, and they played like a team that believed they could win and left it all on the field. I salute you, brother, for having their back and for having faith!

Yoda never coulda said it better.

We all remember Coach Iaintbowden talking about a "process," which pretty much translated into, "We are really hopelessly awful, and if we work real hard we have a chance to just be really bad sooner than anybody thinks." Finally, though, we can see a process... a real one... at work with these Zips. It's evident that the players believe in the coaches' systems on both sides of the ball. They know that if they do what they've been taught to do, that good results can come. They have gotten better every week. And they will be better next week, too, just in time to start MAC play. Now, it's time to put it all together and open up a can of whoop-ass on Miami. Go Zips!

Amen.

Well, he's 6-3 and pretty built. State-record 10.63 in the 100 meters. Maybe he just needs a few yards to reach full speed. (EDIT : correction... not a state record, just a state champion. Brandon Saine ran a 10.38) But seriously, 4.49 is just what was on his rivals profile. If he can run under 10.7 in the 100 meters (about 110 yards), he surely can run better than a 4.49 40.

Well, he's not on their official roster, and if he's home in Akron I wonder if he's even enrolled as a student in Bloomington. Not sure how that might effect his eligibility should he come to UA. They were projecting him as a safety, according to his rivals profile. At 6-3, 205 and a 4.49 40, I'd be excited to see him here on either side of the ball.

George Thomas' Beacon Journal wrap-up this morning of the Bowden presser noted a visit by former Buchtel wide-out and 100-meter state record holder Nate Harris. (The kid can flat-out fly.) http://www.ohio.com/sports/zips/ua-footbal...nessee-1.335677 (at the bottom) I guess things must not have worked out for him somehow at Indiana. Anybody have more info? George?

Wow... Joe is still going strong! He is an Akron treasure... and one of the main... if not THE main... reasons for UA's renown in polymer science. The program was already very good, but landing him in 1970 began a cascading process of attracting even more of the world's greatest minds in polymer chemistry and engineering (and that's not an exaggeration) to Akron. To top it off, he's just a heckuva nice man. I've had the honor and pleasure to meet him several times.