Z-P

Is it just me, or was ZFF's old board "more fun" than ZW's? This is a beautiful format, but with so few regulars why do we have to be so organized and have so many categories that someone can't pop in here and mix football with Adrianna's boy cuts? Mark Patrick does it on the radio show, but at ZipNation we get pushed into "other topics". Zff......shame she got snuffed eh? That's all...........my visits are tapering off and that's why...........it's just an opinion...........in case anyone wonders where the hale I went or is even concerned with my opinion.............. I would prefer this thing didn't get looking like a pee wee board. Y'all do whatever you want.

In case you're wondering where I'm at, well here I am. Before I "go to the window" and plunk down my bets, I want to see more. I'm not used to coaching changes up close and personal. I think and hope so much is changing for the better, and so much more needs to be done, that I just can't predict with any accuracy what next seasons outcome will be. Check me out the last week of August after some late summer peeks at what's going on. Oops.............one rock solid prediction I will make is that we'll play 11 games not 10.

Here's the link in the St. Louis Post Dispatch: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/st...kie+free+agents Copy and paste sluggies.............. Good Luck Mike!

Saturday was a great day. ILFSITF and a couple in the spring too. UAM et al did a nice job on creating “an event†again. Man they make it fun to “hitch em up†and come to UA Football. I wish more FB fans in NEO would begin to take advantage of the great show going on over here. I’ll do my part to keep propping it. We became the first on our block to post an election year lawn poster Saturday afternoon. Know what I mean? It’s bluuuuuuuuuuuuuue. Got a couple bumper stickers goin also. That’s fun………. “be the only kid on your block………†Slugs have pretty much spoken my observations. I’ll just add a few little things here: When did Billy Sullivan get the tranplated bionic leg? Man can he bomb a punt this season. I really like Bertchie. That kid’s tough and shows a lot of heart. Swigerts attempts were looooong, given, but they still were really not very clean looking. Maybe we never gave Micah Fahler enough credit for the great job he did controlling the back end of that part of our game. Like everyone else, I want RCMP on the field. I hope he works hard with Superman this summer and gets his receiving skills fine tuned. I really feel bad for Bobby Gardner. The buzz I heard later was that the break was so severe, it could be career ending………….man that’s an awful thing, and after all the hard work he’s put in………….senior season, I’m just depressed about that……….it could happen to anyone, but shouldn’t happen to anyone. Seeing Jerry Faust on the sideline doing his act made me “feel all warm and fuzzy†not………..JD’s the “anti-Jerry Faust/Lee Owens†i.e., all business and serious as cancer. It’s a good change……….we’ve tried a couple politicians and still haven’t gotten over the hump. How large was that crowd? I know a count’s somewhere because of the raffle tickets passed out at the door. I’ll guess 500 excluding players and coaches. What do you guys think? It seemed to be about the same as last year, and that may be good…….in a way…..because there’s probably residual sentiment for the old staff and some people boycotted the game. Just an opinion. Speaking of old staff, it was nice to see Coaches Meyer, Stacy and Geisser at the game. I saw quite a few people go out of their way to say hello, and wish them luck. IMHO, that whole group of guys were first class people, and I wish them well. Yaddah yaddah yaddah………..got to get back on my machine………

Thanks for coming in PS. Still stand by my comments. You may be more on top of the reality, and I yield to that, but by the same token, I doubt that EVERYTHING I SENSE is incorrect. How'd 2 collect all those punt return yards, TD's on returns, and YAC if he couldn't seperate? Did you see him play? No disrespect, just aksing. BTW, luv 9, and he's a blue chip young man with a huuuuuuuge future ahead of him regardless.

As I sit here and write this, we’re up to 239 of 255 selections in the draft. BTW, how’d we get to 255 with 32 teams in 7 rounds = 244 picks????? Anyway, I could just cry. I saw Matthew yesterday at the Bowl, and he looked awesome. Toned, tuned, looooooong arms, chiseled. He looked great. Big, big smile and personality. How the hell can 29 receivers be better than him? Did any of these scouts see film on Matt? He has hands, he had YAC, and he was a team leader. I could just cry for him. I thought for sure he’d be picked up on day two. Silly me. Here’s the dealio………….to get over and go in, on draft day, guys like Matt need “Championsâ€. Who are their champions? The coaching staff. What happened to his “Championsâ€? They got handed pink slips. Kid got jammed at the precise moment he needed help the most. I really can’t be pissed, because I support the change, but it suuuuuucks for Matt. Could JD have helped? Yea, maybe, but he has other problems and issues he needs to work on more. So I can’t rag on him or his guys. Could The Boss have helped? Yes. Frankly, I don’t know that he didn’t help. But the mere fact Matthew didn’t get picked makes me wonder. Can The Boss and the new guys inject themselves now to see if they can help the “lost classâ€? Yes they can. Will they? I’d like the think they will, but it would help if the rest of you slugs jumped the issue and got behind this. They are going to want “us†fully “on boardâ€â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦.so lets let them know we’d like to see them jump behind Matthew, Irv, Mike and the others lining up Free Agent shots at the Show. B/G game comments tomorrow…………..I’m still bent at you guys over the crap I collected on the “Politics and Religion†dealio………

OK, since I started all this, I’ll attempt to clean up my mess. 1. I apologize for being “too casual†and dropping posts on the board that are not topic specific…………….related to the uni…………. or are not in line with what the rest of you perceive to be the purpose of the board. Really, I mean that. I’m not a guy who wants to “ruffle feathers†or cause another to get “cranked†at me. 2. Just to explain……….I thought that because we “visited each other†daily on this forum (some days several times), we’d become “buddies†and could keep the board going by injecting “craziness†from time to time. My bad…….. I guess. But that’s where I was coming from. IMHO, this thing would go “dead†if it weren’t for the fun we have cracking on each other (like the dude getting after me all the time)………….but, again, it’s looking like most of you don’t care for this. Right? OK, I guess. So I am out. 3. This thread wasn’t intended to jam opinions up anyone’s crack, it was a 10PM post of a casual opinion (among friends?) after watching and thinking about a movie. I’ve seen these late night rants on the blue board and here before. They are almost always funny and entertaining……………also from time to time thought provoking. However, they are (or seemed to me to be) conversations among “friends†with common NEO/UA/sports/beer (Cap’n et al) interests. That’s all. 4. As to the censorship issue, this is ZipWatcher’s board. He’ll be doing whatever he thinks he should do. None of us have any control over that…………..and frankly speaking, I really don’t mind because my sense of ZW is way up on the Z-P ometer favorable side. But it is what it is. ZFF’s blue board got reeeeeeal ugly at the end, and I’d hate to see that again. 5. So, sorry (I guess)……….never mind the rant that started all this.

Did that suck you in? Surfing, and hiding out from the sarge , I just watched the last half of "Gallipoli", a 1981 flick staring Mel G and others. Know the story line? The Brits invaded Turkey in 1914 because Winston Churchill said they'd be no problem to knock off, and they were allies of Germany in WW1. Know what happened? I did, being a student of history, but I sat thru it anyway, and got reinforced. Brits got their asses handed to them. Dragged the Aussies, Kiwis and Indians (from India) with them. They left their blood on the beaches of Gallipoli also. Here's the point. I'm a news hound. I'm extremely well read. (Last book Al Franken's Liars) I travel the globe (as Cap'n and ZFF know) regularly.......so I have a "feel" for what's happening. OK? Slugs (and I am totally serious here) I think we (The USA and it's citizens) are in the most desperate straits we have ever been in.......................in my entire life. I'm scared. Do you know how many "western powers" have gone into the Middle East with military might to "bring them into the modern world" since 1200 AD? No fewer than 10. All failed. But now you and I have aligned ourselves with a cat (W, who I too supported)who is going to "bring democracy to Iraq and the surrounding countries" because "some power has told him to do this" and look what is happening. It's the shits. No, it's not Vietnam. I was around then, and this is different. It's worse. Religion is involved. That's the worst. OK, there it is. An ugly bucket has been dumped on ZW's ZipNation Board. I wouldn't start this if we weren't heading into the quite times, but WTF. If you guys want to pursue this, I'm in. If not, I'll go back to reporting on the Sopranos, and Adrianna's boycut panties............. One more thing so you know where I'm coming from..................I'm an economic conservative, and social liberal...............so I'm one of those guys who has no party, so don't stick me in one.

Thanks little guy, but you're giving me too much credit..............if and when I post, it will be long and "crazy"...........under Z-P or Olzip only...........honest

Bumped into Tommy G at the scrim last Friday night, and he asked me what I thought of his new feature "5 Questions".........don't know about you guys, but I really like it. I would just hope he "rolls it over" every few days to keep it fresh. Like maybe really ask 15 preguntas and post 5 contestas 3 vezes.............. What are your thoughts? I'm sure he'd appreciate hearing from us.

Hey......... Nice to have you guys back. Was this an "annual trip" type deal, or didja just take off to chase some sun, , and tee? How was the game? Who handles who? Doc or Cap'n? Give us a "report".......... Real nice shot on that other thread, sort of from the heart. You touched a little nerve over there when you mentioned that this and GoZips are the only places we get any news. You're correct. But in addition to that, we've become buddies, and have fun exchanging all sorts of other crap (meaning info about the uni, the board, our communities, UA history, and common NEO sports interests) and it's fun to pop on here and decompress from the workday for a few minutes. The back and forth banter and all the cracking on each other is a grin also. No blood, no damage.........right? ZW........where've you been? I checked out (don't tell the boss ) google for ZipNation yesterday, and we are still way the hell down the list......ZFF had Dreamwater right at the top on Zip Football somehow, and our fun could increase exponentially with more sluggies on board. Anyone seen ZIPMAN? Not that I'm missing his one tune music anymore , but he kept things moving with his..........kill the (old) staff. rant. Guess firing all the coaches takes him out of the mix for a while ZFF.........weren't you going to get us together at a golf outing or something? Maybe we should all hook up when JD puts his first fundraiser together in the summer.........what do you think? I read the post from MN with interest. If it's true that Jabari is going to see action at WR, I'm geeked. Can't did that last season with their backup QB, and the young man had a great season. It also allowed them some trick sets to sneak up on people. Sort of like the old "Slash" days at 3-Rivers (for you ZFF)................and speaking of that, BTW, did you cats know ZFF is a Stillers guy? :blink: Right here in our midst all this time we had an imbedded emninie. Anyone going Saturday? Dude, you coming in? If you are, I'll have to wear my aluminum leiderhausen to the game...........

nm

I meant to drop this in before and forgot......... ZFF and I were in agreement that the scrim was "rough" compared to years past. If we had the same staff back, the team would be running known plays, and would look sharper. As is now, they are learning, and hense looked a little ragged at times. I hope that's why the blitzing worked, because if not, we're gunna need two QB's. I'll take "rough" at this time of year anyday, knowing the product on the field by mid season will be different than last year. ZFF agreed. ILFSITF

Want an opinion? Mine suitable? No? Too bad, here it is anyway. The Evening…..once again, the Boss, UAM, just everybody on the support staff showed why we sluggies rave about them. They’re doing a “Big 10†job with a McDonalds budget in the face of less than stellar offering of student and community support. You guys and gals are the greatest. Your work is surely noticed (by those who you want it to be noticed by) and greatly appreciated by the small but committed UA Alum Community (like ZipBoy, ZFF, Cap’n and others). You are sooooooo close to blowing this deal up…..I keep thinking about what our achievable 10-2 season last year could have meant. The Play……..2 quick things……as I write this in Word, surely somebody else has posted something, so I apologize if I’m redundant. If I miss complimenting some of you guys who played so well, I’m sorry. It’s just that I’m not in my “ Full Football†mode yet, and I’ll prop you later. Jerrell did a nice job. He runs “low†and we haven’t seen that out of our rushing game (you know, the rushing game we didn’t employ last season?) in the past 5 or 6 years. Jimmy Gray used to run low, but he took off like a jet when he spotted a crack. Vince did a nice job also. Jay Rohr……real glad to see him starting. Mark T., glad to see him on the field a lot also. He looks to me like he could become a special teams all star, and we really need one or two of those. Big Bad Dan looked good, and so did his little brother. Nice squeeze on that tight ball in the endzone. The real wake up call :blink: for me and ZFF (who I enjoyed the scrim with) was the play of Jabari. Who the hell said he couldn’t throw? Dummy. He’s got a huuuuuuuge gun. I think downfield, he’s longer than Superman (squz me guys if I’m wrong, it’s just an opinion based on 45 minutes of spring ball). He’s accurate, and I was impressed at the way he positioned his throws to limit any potential disasters. I’m betting (I don’t know the young man personally) that he’s a real smart young man………..he really impressed me………….however, it was mostly 2’s on 2’s for his action. We felt bad for Ferggy, because with the exception of limited time he didn’t see the field until the end of the 3rd quarter, and by that time the coaches wanted to run mostly. I like Dom as a receiver and punt return specialist. But then I’d probably like Dom in any position he occupied on the Football Field or any athletic venue for that matter. He went upstairs and pulled down a bad throw from Charlie that really wowed the stands. PA man gave credit to the wrong receiver. To me, none of the other receivers stood out (as yet)………..I like BBD’s hands (Big Bad Dan). ZFF and I were going crazy pointing out how sooooo many guys have trimmed waaaaay down for the season. Examples……we could see Big Red’s belt for the first time in history (Justin Hein, the mountain). Jimmy B looked tight, BBD was trim (must be a new chick in his life), Charlie was pumped up :blink: (what, + 15lbs maybe?) Just everybody. They looked great. Another thing, how big was Donaldson’s injury to us last year? Man oh man could we have used him. Nice seeing him back in action. About this Jabari deal……….remember when I called for him to start the Marshall game last year? I was screaming for The RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) to come to the rescue. Charlie had been injured the game before (Uconn) and even though he’s a warrior, he could have used a rest (and there was no way Bobby P could have prepared for a QB he’d never seen before)………on top of that, Marshall wanted to hurt Charlie because of what happened to Byron L at the bowl the year before. But all of that made too much sense, I guess and that’s why I’m not the coach………anyway, Bobby P knew Charlie was hurting, so he concentrated on shutting 42 down (who had killed him in the two previous games. In the one the year before, Bobby ate the ball for 50 yards and 10 minutes of the 4th Qtr to lock up the win)………….anyway, once the rushing game was gone, Charlie didn’t have enough in his tank that night to get anything done. Pruett called off the dogs in the second half (IMHO because he liked LO) and we lost 42-24…………..the score could have been 142-24. Trust me I was there. My point is this, I wanted Jabari to start that game. I think he is just that good. I think this guy has a huuuuuuuge career coming……. .and I feel a little sorry for Ferggy. Last night, Jabari actually looked sharper than Charlie, but there’s no way………day in and day out anybody in the College Game can be better than #5. Other Observations………I’m gunna get flack for this but I just have to dump my bucket………it’s early enough, so maybe it can become a bit of a positive push in the right direction. OK, so why couldn’t JD jog over to the PA last night, and thank the 500 or so fans for coming? I mean, what are we talking about here, maybe 180 seconds of time? I’m getting the DISTINCT impression he doesn’t understand where he is working now. :angry: I‘ll explain. This is not Pittsbugh, C/State or the Denver Broncos. He has a very small and somewhat fragile fan/booster base here. It’s so small, they don’t even publish it for anyone to see. The Boss and UAM kicked butt to get those few folks out last night, and I didn’t see JD do anything to acknowledge it. JD, when you turn around and look up into the stands at the 8,000 people attending the MTSU game, and the 3,500 at the Buffalo game (your first two home contests) you will wish you would have taken the time to shake each person’s hand in the stands last night so they would have brought 2 or 3 friends to see you play in the fall. You’re not getting to your support community. I’m in it, trust me when I advise you of that. I know, you are new around here. We know that. It’s tough…………..but the little things pay big dividends. Want to see a cat getting it done? Look at Kieth D. Now, having said that, I’m going to crack on myself and say a 11-0 season will take care of all that……………right. But don’t waste precious moments The Boss and Staff provide you with like last night. Help UAM help you. And another thing……….with the exception of Jud Cummins who was at an Indians game, ALL the graduating guys were at YOUR scrimmage last night to show support for YOU and YOUR program, not theirs. ALL OF THEM. THEY ALL STOOD TOGETHER IN ONE PLACE ON THE WHITE SIDE OF THE FIELD EXPECTING SOMEONE, ANYONE TO COME SAY HELLO. They stood there for at least 40 minutes, all in a group. Cherry was back from Chicago, Bates was there, Irv, Marques from Detroit, all of them. NOBODY FROM YOUR STAFF TOOK EVEN A MEASILY 1 MINUTE TO ACKNOWLEDGE THEM. You’ve got a business background so I assume you know the importance of overall management a Head Coach must do. That’s all. Just a little spanking. Go be 11-0 and kick me in the shins. ILFSITF

I’m geeked for the scrim tomorrow night………but I’ve gotta tell ya slugs, I really don’t expect too much from the guys just yet………and if you’re expecting to see something really impressive, please don’t be disappointed when it’s not there yet…………..let me splain. This is conjecture……….but there’s probably a whole new system being put into place. Yea, the players have had some time to see it in the film room, but the field view and execution are a whole different matter. Keep in mind the players don’t yet know the staff, the staff doesn’t know who is who in uniform, and what they can do, hell………the staff doesn’t’ even know each other yet……….they're new together………so I’m just saying “stay in your shoes†for a while while all of this comes together. Hey, here’s an idea……….Cap’n can get us together on the sideline at 6PM and we’ll put a team together to take the field against the returning Zippies! We'll kick em right in the you know whats . Oops, scratch that, I forgot, our QB “The Dude†won’t be there to walk us right down the field. He'd probably be chasing me around for one of these anyway, so it's an overall bad idea. Another thing (while we’re on the subject of problems)………..how about the crappy weather this spring. :blink: Geeeeeeez. Poor JD. All that work to do and Mother Nature won’t even co-operate. When my kidz were in HS, I used to pack what we called a “Track Trunk†the first week of March each year. We did this for 10 consecutive years. The “Track Trunk†(take notes on this you young pappies ) contained: umbrella seat cushions my heaviest hooded parka multiple sweatshirts and sweatpants, thermal longies thermal socks, gloves and cold weather hats thermos for something hot a complete change for all of the above if I got wet and was at a big meet and needed to get out of the wet stuff, including dry towels cameras, binochs, shades shorts tee shirts ball caps and shades light weight jackets change of above if wet full rain suit Honest! That was in my trunk from the first week in March until the 3rd week in May! But you know what? In those 10 years of hauling around my “Track Trunkâ€, I never ever remember us having as crappy a spring as we have had this year. Cudos to all our guys, players and staff, for battling thru the bad weather………..of 2004

Couple observations after a nice bit of posting......... Kyle Fromholtz........could have started 4 years at either corner or wideout. He was headed for certain All-Mac Standing. Great, great athlete with the top speed in the class. Great size and strength. Superior field sense......a little like Jay Rohr with a nose for the plany. Surely had professional potential, but cursed with a lack of focus on what was really important. I credit him as being the big big hole defensively which could have wiped out enough opponents points over those 4 years to have taken us to several additional wins. Tooooooo bad, what a shame. "Butter" Smith.........highly popular young man among his classmates. Should have developed into a leader for the class. Great speed, superior hands, could have gone at either WR or Corner, like Fromholtz. Evidently his brother was murdered mid first semester, and he tried living at home with his single mom? (this is from memory) started missing school and that was it. EJ Lily..........best pure HS RB I have ever seen, including Mo C. As a freshman (HS) literally ran over opponents. In the same class as Larry Kenard, who went to OSU but ended up at Mount and is now on his way to the League. You should have seen those two as youngens. Wow. Lily was a real dummy. He was so gifted athletically he was given everything at Alliance. When it came time to take the SAT, he probably couldn't even read the instructions. This guy totally turned my opinion around about requiring guys to come thru college to get into the professional game. I now think there should be a "minor league" where kids like him can go. Why not? Topic for another day. Take me on if you think you have a case. Jason Miller........."shot himself between his ears"...........for some crazy reason, this gifted player thought he should be playing as a TF, and even starting! Got into an argument with the staff, and quit in a huff at the end of summer workouts his soph year. Too bad, here's another defensive loss which came back to haunt us.....but it wasn't the coaches fault..............kid messed up. CJ Holmes........real nice player out of Marion Harding...........football blood lines, but couldn't handle the academics. Could have been a two way player, corner and wideout. Bates...........you said it all (athletically)..............but guess what? He's a winner in life. 4.0 engineering grad with all kinds of ups for his future. Handled his health difficulties with dignity and class..............signifcant role model if the other guys just take the time to think about it. These guys all shirted, so in combination with Superman's class which also has some good guys, it should have produced a 9-3 season in 03 at the worst. I credit the coaches for all the good recruits. I credit the coaches for failing to include any kind of ground game into their 03 plans, costing them a shot at a championship. The Boss handed down their reward.

Oh goodie..........the Dude's not coming Friday night so it's safe for me to go I'm in.............. Hey Doc.........how about a tailgate? (post scrim)

Right on baby...........you spoke my mind...........nm for now.

Hey Tommy! Nice job again last night when you guys finally got on the air. Your preparation efforts show in the way you move the interviews along. I like that. Something occurred to me as I listened................first off, I like Joe and Steve. My only criticism is that Steve needs to clean his glasses more often , or take off the shades at the bowl. Too many mistakes because he can't see numbers. Despite that I like both those guys (and love Joey P). Anyway, the thing that occurred to me is that these guys live and die with the teams they cover . As bad as we all feel when the Zips get cracked, these two feel it also, and have to live closer to it than we do...........exponentially more painful I'm guessing. Worse yet, their careers are pinned on the success of the teams.............ouch. My heart goes out to them this year. We should have done a hell of a lot better. That was our year in sports.......wasted opportunities down the kibo. They deserved better.............that's all.

Just a thanks, GZ.............we'll see how the Rep reports it tomorrow.

Really nice article.........well written, factual and seemingly as complete as a story like that can be at this point in time............ I wish all of them well, and guarantee I'll catch at least the Wayne State game this year. Good Luck Guys if you read this

Here they are: http://nfleurope.com/claymores/news/2004/c...res_roster.html http://nfleurope.com/galaxy/news/2004/galaxy_roster.html http://nfleurope.com/thunder/news/2004/thunder_roster.html Ryan's in Scotland, Conrad and Big Griz in "da faderlund" Good Luck to all of them...........

That whole thing's bogus............. Anthony Davis behind those other guys at 37? No frikin way. The whole list sucks...........some chick must have done it...........maybe it's Andy's girl

That's it.........gauntlet's on the turf..........taking a vote on a ZipNation Founder? One of the Porky's 7? I protest. 15 yards on all of you sluggies for piling on (sept Doc ) No more pantie reports..........no quality product reviews, no more news off the road out of the yellow Pinto . That's it.............and BTW, we're reaching for new depths here lately aren't we? Cutting out one of your own, and cannaballizing a buddie? Geesch.......... And FYI..........little man................OLZIP was needed to do battle about 6 months back with those aholes on the bbs..............and BTW, at least I fessed up........not like you ........a cat with two handles......... #1 the dudie and #2 ZIPMAN That's right everybody, the truth be known, the dude is the obnoxious, notorious MAN. There, you've been unmasked for the rest of the boyz. Take that! And what the hell..............I've been busy lately and haven't been able to contribute to your daily dose for mental health...............but I'll be back.......... And how come everybody hates...........................? Geesch...........

My bad.......... That's what you get for being in a hurry..........I was just blowing thru everything and popped up the board and burped a post without giving it much thought. To Blue Raider Pride..........I lived in Franklin and worked in M/boro from 81 to 85 and used to run on the MTSU campus........drove that old 2 lane 96 back and forth twice a day. M'boro to Franklin was 2 twelve ouncers (for Cap'n benefit)........you already know that. I had a big long Sopranos rant to drop on the board, but since it's 5 plus days late, we'll just let it go for this week...............there is just one thing I want to point out.....the way Adrianna is spilling her guts out to the Feds, I'm really really afraid any Sunday now she's gunna git capped. That would really suck because she really knows how to make a pair of black boycut panties look good I've been on a helacious work run but now see the end of the tunnel........so I'll be able to share my wisdom with you sluggies a little more frequently starting this weekend. And I still haven't given that schedule the serious Pastie analysis...........however, as an NIU Alum, I do like the fact we will finally be going to DeKalb.