Zips use fast start in second half cruise past Bobcats
This is one boring-ass article. Three decades (as long as I've been following UA) of tripe like this sure doesn't help with attendance.
Concerning the lesser energy surrounding the OU contest, I'm with another poster who wondered whether it has to do with the fact Cooper doesn't play for OU anymore. There was a cumulative effect there for a while: 1. Cooper was a player you loved to hate, 2. OU had just gone to the Sweet Sixteen, 3. We had our best team in UA history and had cracked the Top 25, 4. Akron and OU were clearly the 2 best teams in the league.
I know televised news and newspapers are largely becoming dinosaurs of a previous (my) generation. But Cleveland's news channels (when those were a sincerely big deal - for younger folks think Anchor Man) never gave Akron any coverage. That is formative to a community's psyche. Add to that the fact our very own Akron Beacon Journal doesn't even give the Zips so much coverage as The Canton Repository gives to a few local high schools and you've got a couple of generations of Summit County residents who simply don't think they should care about the Zips. If you read the Canton Repository you'd think Stark county high school football was the greatest thing since sliced bread; if you read the ABJ you generally get the vibe of concerning UA athletics. Decades of this will be formative to a community.
There is a problem in Akron. Akronites/Summit Countians have been conditioned to not think anything really good can come from Akron or be happening in Akron (LeBron James being the lone exception). I went to EJ Thomas Hall last night to see the freaking Prague Philharmonic Orchestra (who were, of course, amazing btw) and there were so few people there EJ had to close the balcony. How embarrassing is that?
But here's the thing, if you watched Cleveland news or read the ABJ, would you have even known the Prague Philharmonic was in town last night?
Encouraging article by Crain's Cleveland