Blue & Gold

Zips Notebook by George Thomas.

I think an arena between 8,000 -10,000-seats is appropriate. Of course this is just my uneducated opinion. The U will have much consulting on this issue, probably receiving much input from the Big East, if, in fact, they are in discussions with the conference.

Marla Ridenour chimes in on Zips' at-large resume. But I don't appreciate the last sentence of her story!

Awesome! Thanks, Big Zip!

Miami postgame wrap from George Thomas. Someone had commented about Charlie Coles saying something to Quincy. Well, according to the article, it sounds as though Charlie may have been frustrated because Q so effectively shut down Miami's 3-ball.

How did the interview go, Scott?

So, can anyone report how this went?

Those were basically my thoughts a few posts back. I think the high tech gear, quite counter-intuitively, may actually increase the liklihood of serious injury.

I think the jerseys are fine. Whatever. You do whatcha gotta do.

Actually, I'd love to hear their comments. Unless they're dropping perpetual F-bombs, why mute them?

I was able to watch some of the game online tonight. Tree's matchup with Mavunga is what stood out to me. He went toe-to-toe with possibly the single best player in the league - freshman -vs- senior - and did just fine. The sky is the limit for Tree. Also, though I was planning on coming tonight, as I've previously stated, I don't invite friends or take guests to the Miami game anymore. As we all know, Miami plays a boring brand of basketball. W's are important, but none-the-less, a night of basketball is supposed to be an entertaining evening. I've been personally embarrassed by those ugly Miami games too many times. Bye, bye, Charlie! Oh, and btw, I really like Miami's 6'8" F Jon Harris. He's from Twinsburg & I was able to see him play in the Summit -vs- Stark County All-Star Game a couple years back against Josh Egner. He was the best player on the floor that night. He's smooth with the ball, 6'8" and can hit the three off a stop-n-pop. If Charlie Coles retires, I wonder if Jon would be interested in transfering to UA?

Unfortunately they've yet to pull off a live feed without a hitch. And I wonder if whoever is in charge of hitting the un-mute button after time outs is embarrassed with their effort? Do we have middle school students running the A/V equipment?

Here's a counter-inuitive thought. Could the advanced padding/helmets that players now wear actually be the cause of the problem? I'll explain my thought. When players wore less sophisticated padding (ala, JoePa's leather helmets, whatever) I highly doubt players were engaging in the collisions they are nowadays. They just couldn't. They'd kill themselves and they probably knew it. At the very least they were probably hitting more with their shoulders than with the crowns of their heads. Take rugby as the prime example. Everyone thinks rugby players must be so outrageously tough because they don't wear any padding. But what people don't realize is that there actually aren't that many severe injuries in rugby precisely because the players don't engage in collisions like they do in American football. They just can't - they'd kill themselves. Today's football players, contrarily, feel invincible with the advanced helmets that they wear. But, invincible they are not.

My sincere apologies, but I can no longer make tonight's engagement. I now have to do a counseling session tonight. My job is like that; much pops up unexpectedly. It's why I'm not a basketball season ticket holder. I have to miss far too many games. George, when you read this, I just want to say that I appreciate the job you've been doing. Go Zips!

I hope you're right about the W, but not the process. However, you probably are. I don't invite friends to the Miami game anymore, precisely because of what you noted about Miami's style of play.

I agree. This article in the ABJ is a relatively big step in getting the ball rolling. The U is going to have to publicly demonstrate the need for a new arena, above and beyond the simple fact that their diehard fans simply want a new facility. This article gets the ball rolling publicly - though there are surely many steps in the process. I just hope they don't take a decade to talk it over, like the article states they did for the football stadium.

The way in which we've been using the term is in regards to labeling the average, uninterested-in-Akron athletics area resident. You are describing who we on ZNO refer to as diehard Zips fans.

I love Cincy. Great town. But I'm sure glad you're in Akron now! Go Zips!

Zips Focussed on Finishing Strong. George Thomas for the ABJ.

That'd be a nice rivalry game. I know WVU's coach doesn't like UA and WVU plays really physically (dirty/ugly) against us. Kentucky was a member a few years ago. Where'd they go? C-USA?

Hopefully like free thinking Akronites who have not given into the Cleveland brainwashing of "Cleveland+". Hopefully like people who realize LeBron works out with our basketball team over the summer. Hopefully like folks who realize LBJ is friends with our team and tight friends with KD. Hopefully as people who appreciate he got us a basketball contract with Nike (Nike couldn't have cared less about us when he got that for UA). Hopefully as people who appreciate his involvement with the children of the Akron Public Schools. Hopefully as people who appreciate the parks he's renovated around the inner-city. Hopefully as people who appreciate the basketball camp he hosts on campus & the AA Tourney he puts his name on to bring a thousand basketball-playing students to UA every year (though the NCAA stepped in on that one). Hopefully as Akronites who appreciates LBJ name dropping AKRON on the nation's radar every chance he gets. Hopefully as people who recognize a potential big-fish donor. Hopefully as Akronites who actually have a shred of self respect and don't happily and eagerly bend over for Cleveland.

To that downer, another quote, UA officials spent a decade studying the aging Rubber Bowl, located about seven miles from campus, before concluding it would cost almost as much to remodel it as to build a new facility. It took them a decade to come to that conclusion?!?! Good grief.

Two interesting quotes: The fledgling study has been under close wraps. Even UA President Luis Proenza has not seen the initial recommendations, Curtis said. Nor has Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic, who said Monday he is disappointed that UA officials are studying the future arena without input from other government agencies or the business community. So it definitely appears the U is wanting to work unilaterally on this project. Also, In the meantime, UA basketball coach Keith Dambrot said he would welcome a facility that is "fan-friendly, team-friendly, in the sense of you want your fans right on the floor so they could really be into the game." A new arena would enhance the program, Dambrot said, and aid in recruiting. What I've put in bold is KD's way of stating that he really doesn't want an ice-arena-compatible facility, but wants a basketball-specific arena (which could also be used for concerts). This would, however, rule out hockey, ice capades & monster trucks. But we've discussed this before and come to the general conclusion that if we were to build a hockey facility, we'd be better off to have a nice, intimate, 1000-1500-seat layout for hockey. Not a 10,000-seat multi-purpose arena. This is direcrly contrary to the desires of the mayor. But I do think moving in this direction is beat for the future of both UA basketball and (potentially, eventually) UA hockey as well.

James A. Rhodes Arena study.

Huge game tonight! (I guess they're all huge from here on out.) I want to see the Zips jump on them quickly, build a sizeable lead and let Miami know, right from the opening tip, that they have absolutely no shot at upsetting the Zippers tonight.