Class of 82

Hey Watcher... Where you been, man? Haven't seen you post for quite a while. Good to "see" you, dude! '82

I think you've identified precisely why they have them at 70. They will no doubt project Ohio to repeat in what will be assumed to be a one-bid conference. I think they're wrong, though. I think both Akron and Ohio do better than the national pundits predict with their OOC schedules and that the MAC will have its best shot at two bids in quite a while.

Most interesting to me was Dambrot's comment about maybe going more up-tempo and that it depends on how hard the team wants to work on the defensive end. I totally get the surface meaning, but I'm not sure I particularly like some of the implications of what that comment might indicate. These Zips better be ready to play some defense, rebound and get out on the break at every opportunity. With our depth, turning the other team over and running them ragged should be our game plan more often than not. Hopefully, Keith's just planting a little seed and issuing a challenge.

It's too bad internet articles are not suitable for lining the bottom of a bird cage. Don't know how we'll finish, but neither does this writer. GO ZIPS!!!!!

I'm no trademark expert, but that looks awfully close to a violation to me, especially what looks exactly like the "Fear the Roo" logo on the upper right. It's not possible UA wouldn't have secured rights to its own images, is it?

Lol... how can anyody not love Frenchie? He's one of the greatest homers in the history of sports broadcasting. Several times a year, I just have to listen to this replay again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kypnW0FaYY Classic!

Good topic, GP1. It will indeed be interesting to watch the Bowden era unfold. My word is "potential." As in, I'd just like to see Akron football reach its full potential as a program. It never really has, but I'm convinced it finally has that chance.

I just hope Zeke concentrates on achieving the goals he has for his senior season... athletic and academic. If he does that, the NBA stuff will take care of itself. I think the worst thing he could do is read too much of this kind of stuff and take his mind and his talents off the tasks at hand. Carpe diem, Zeke!

You don't have to be a Zips fan, George. Like the comment over at ohio dot com... I think most of us just want to see the same kind of good reporting and information-gathering that you've been so great at providing thus far. But who knows? Maybe covering these Zips as they (figuratively) try to raise themselves from the dead will make a fan out of you yet. All the best yo you and yours.

Well, I guess the good news is that UA and the Zips can play a key role in rekindling a spirit of Akron pride and a tighter sense of community that we've kind of lost over the years. The coming year's Zips making the kind of NCAA run they're more than capable of would be a real shot in the arm. And man... it would be such a blast. GO ZIPS!!!!!

Sorry to bum you out. But that's just reality as I see it. I keep hoping one day that people here will wake up and realize what a wonderful place this is. The negativity is palpable, but I don't think anything could be more misplaced or unwarranted. We've lived for several long periods in other places around the country, and I would stack the overall quality of life in NE Ohio against pretty much anywhere. (About the only thing we don't care for is the winter, but that's not a deal-breaker for us.) One of the things that keeps me from getting too down is the genuine spirit of optimism and pride exhibited by the vast majority of participants here. If Akron is ever going to turn itself around, it's going to be because of people like you meet here. I'm proud to be associated with Zips Nation because of them. I'm proud to be from Akron, Ohio, and I'm even more proud to be a Zip. '82

Hi wadszip, One thing you need to know about the entire state of Utah... it's a very "rah-rah" population. They are very insular, and they are proud, almost to a fault, of where they come from and where they went to school. Doesn't matter if it's BYU, UU or USU or wherever. Sadly, very few Akronites (present company definitely excluded!) take much pride in either their community or their university with anything approaching the same sort of enthusiasm. In fact, far too many are pretty much ashamed of where they live, and the Zips get lumped in right along with that more general lack of community self-confidence and pride. I wish it were otherwise, but that is the harsh reality. The majority of area sports fans follow tOSU almost exclusively and are just your run-of-the-mill, half-interested band-wagoners when it comes to Akron or K.e.n.t. The JAR being what it is doesn't help, but I don't think a new arena fixes the fundamental issue... which is a beaten-down community loathe to invest its emotions in anything they feel is bound to disappoint them at the end of the day. It's like Captain Kangaroo once said about his little boy's first experience with a bitter Akron loss. It ain't easy being a Zips fan. In fact, as all of us here know all too well, it's usually pretty darned hard. Consequently, a lot of Akronites and even alumni just say no thanks. GO ZIPS!!!!!!

Swenson's double cheeseburg with everything, accompanied by jalapeno poppers and washed down with a large California, is something akin to a religious experience.

Actually, I miscounted. There are 26 true freshmen listed, and 13 red-shirts, for a total of 39. So I guess we're close to your number already.

I was just looking at the roster at gozips and counted by class status. Anyway, it just struck me that you don't often see a college football team with that sort of breakdown by class. But you're right, of course, about the number of players who bolted or were eased out.

Without commenting on individual players, it's interesting to me that out of the 85 kids listed on the Zips roster, a whopping 33 are either freshmen or red-shirt freshmen. 15 sophomores. 20 juniors. 17 seniors. It's pretty apparent that this is a far different team from last year's squad. Whether that translates into wins, time will tell. But Bowden and company have sure put their stamp on this roster already.

Fair enough. But I think they've already added a few better players, especially on defense. I'm sure we'll need more, but it sure seems like a start in the right direction. I also like that the coaches really worked to evaluate the young men who were already here, moving several to different positions where they think they'll be more successful. Coaching can't make a weak team great, but it can make a weak team as strong as it can be. Besides, the only directions this team has to go from last year is up or sideways. I don't see it going sideways.

This is a great story in general, but the coolest part might be missed by many casual readers. As this article demonstrates, we are seeing more and more examples of interdisciplinary and interdepartmental collaboration in cutting-edge research at UA. Indeed, the new Integrated Bio-science Ph.D. program is all about bringing research in various disciplines to bear in a comprehensive way and offering gifted students like Alyssa Stark the chance to customize her doctoral studies across several disciplines... in this case Biology and Polymer Science. But the possibilities for bright students are almost endless. http://www.uakron.edu/id/ib/departments.php Absolutely awesome... and something UA can be very, very proud of. Go Zips! By the way. Ali Dhinojwala and Pete Niewiarowski are not only world-class scientists. They're both really nice, down-to-earth people. Man, we're lucky to have faculty like them! Eat our dirt, Can't State!

Serious, indeed. It almost looks like he might be responsible for dispatching that unfortunate bird in your sig pic.

Man... you look at something like this, and all you can say is, "How freaking dumb can people be?!!!!" What's the old saying? When you lie down with dogs, don't be surprised when get up with fleas.

Don't know how long this link will last, but here's his profile from the CSU Athletics site: http://www.csurams.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/james_cj00.html Looks like he was a solid contributor for them. He should help us, big time.

I loved Jim Dennison and hated what happened back then, but that water is not only long over the dam... it has flowed down the Cuyahoga, through Lake Erie, over Niagara Falls, traveled the length of the St. Lawrence River, hitched a ride on the Gulf Stream, sublimated into the atmosphere and is now part of the snow pack in northern Irkutsk.

That's nice. A lot of folks seem to like him just fine, and maybe he avoids putting his foot in his mouth when he's not talking about athletics. Whenever I think of Gordon Gee, I think of him interviewed after a nationally-telecast tie against Michigan and calling it "one of the greatest victories in the history of Ohio State."

Every time Gordon Gee-whiz opens his mouth, I think the same thing. He makes something like $2 million a year, or about half of what he has to pay his football coach.

Hey gmann, enough with the name-calling, alright? There's no call or cause for that just because people disagree. My dissatisfaction with the NCAA has little to nothing to do with the punishment they've meted out. (I would grant that they found themselves in a damned if you do/damned if you don't situtation, but they have no one to blame for that other than themselves.) My problem has to do with the fact that 1) the NCAA really has no useful role in solving or preventing what's fundamentally at issue here, and 2) they are so clearly self-serving and self-interested that it makes me sick. Want to make sure no college president or athletic director or coach or whoever covers up criminal behavior again? You send them to prison, and then you take away large sums of their own personal money. THAT will put far more concern into the minds of the masters of college football than anything the NCAA could even think about doing. There's a criminal and civil process in progress to achieve these deterring ends, and that process needs to continue until every single culpable person is suitably dealt with. As for the NCAA, listening to Dr. Emmert, you'd think that integrity taking a back seat to expedience is a new thing in big-time college athletics. You'd think that the disproportionate power of high-profile coaches and programs is a new thing. And you'd think that the NCAA has within itself either the will or the wherewithal to change what's fundamentally wrong in big-time college athletics. (They have neither and want neither, imo.) For God's sake, man, who does he think he's kidding? The NCAA is neck-deep in the money-and-power-fest that allows this kind of crap to happen. The sell-out happened long ago, and everybody who was in on the take is STILL on the take every bit as much as they were before these sanctions were handed down. And that's exactly what they want to keep public attention focused away from, in my opinion. (Hey, do you think a janitor or a grad assistant who witnesses a crime by a high-profile coach at Alabama or Ohio State or Texas is going to feel any safer about reporting what they saw and keeping their job after Emmert's press conference? I sure don't.) As for ESPN and the networks, there's no law that says college football and basketball has to be on television so college presidents and coaches and NCAA executives can make fortunes. There is a sort of law, however, that money (and the love of it) corrupts. P.S. I'm not "mad" about any of the sanctions handed down, per se. I'm "mad" because I don't like powerful people trying to get away with snowing the public. And I don't like outright hypocrisy and ass-covering in the so-called name of integrity. Unfortunately, it happens a lot these days, and I for one have had more than enough of it.