Blue & Gold

Since I'm the winner, whats my prize Bob Barker? I also was able to purchase two lower-level half-court seats. It was GREAT! I had a blast. I'm thinking about splurging for two lower-level season tickets next year.

If the news conference includes Tressel, then it's doubtful he's being let go, right?

It does sound like there is more to the story. When I heard OSU players were trading memorabilia for tats, that just didn't sound right. First of all, tats don't cost that much, secondly, a tat doesn't seem to be an even trade for memorabilia, and thirdly, an OSU player could easily get a tat done for free. I'm guessing they traded memorabilia for tats and a ton of cash. Then you have to ask, does the owner of a tat parlor make a ton of cash? Probably not. The parlor is probably a front for some other unlawful business; typical pay-in-cash, no receipts business. Shady. The US Attorney probably stumbled upon the memorabilia while investigating this money-laundering establishement.

That would be great! And, yes, Death Penalty to Columbus State football!!!

Good point. We won't get blue chippers here, but can KD coach the type of player to get to the sweet 16 like Waters did in '01 with Ken+ with no blue chippers? I want to stand in the ESPN Zone in Times Square and watch my team play in a sweet 16 game instead of watching Ken+ play with every NY fan there rooting for Ken+. I've never been so jealous of a Ken+ team in my life. If KD is the guy to do that great. How long should I wait?.... Is it wrong to want that? So to answer the original post, not satisfied, not complacent. GP1's analogy of Coach Cowher is a good one. I have had the same thoughts even though it's not apples to apples. I've always said that, as a Zips fan, I could die happy if our basketball team got to the Sweet 16 and our football program garnered a Top 25 ranking (25, 24, 23-ish). Of course, it would be great if those weren't one-time occurrences.

You noticed the same trend I observed.

Wow!!! That NewsChannel 5 story was 1 minute, 45 seconds in length!!! Coming out of Cleveland that is absolutely unprecedented news coverage for anything Akron-related!!!

I looked through this entire section and I don't see a single person really complaining. I think all of the comments have been fair and reasonable. The questions Big Zip started this section with were fair and could be asked at any point the last couple of seasons. Patience? This is his 7th season. He's the highest paid coach in the Athletic Department. Nobody thinks he should be let go. That sounds like we are being patient. With the exception of a small non-blinded minority, this board is a little too apologetic for the underperformance of the program as of late. This is Division I college basketball, not Walsh (although you wouldn't know that from our schedule). This is how people talk about programs at this level. Speaking of Walsh, they have an excellent young coach in Jeff Young. No pun intended, Zipmeister.

+1 I said before this season began that I was already more excited about next year. This year we're still a relatively un-athletic team. True, when we have Zeke, Quincy & AA on the floor we are more athletic than we've been since the Romeo Travis days. But not until next year will we be able to put additional athletes on the floor to supplement those three. Next year we'll most likely be the most athletic team in the MAC. Whether or not our athletes will be able to put the ball in the hoop remains to be seen. But the very real change in KD's philosophy (I appreciate his open-mindedness & seeming flexibility) has me very excited. This year I'm just cheering for this team to do the best that they can. I think if we're honest with ourselves we'd admit that, even if we do run the MACC table this week & make the NCAA tourney, unless we collectively go into unconscious-hot mode, we're going to get mauled by a team with athletes who can pressure our guards into poor 3-point shooting.

Well, you guys were absolutely correct. Though, of course, we want to win every game and we wanted to beat Ohio and we wanted to beat K.e.n.t, man, our side of the bracket is a much easier road to the championship game. Buffalo, K.e.n.t & Ohio are all on the opposite side of the bracket. If all goes well, our toughest opponents should be Miami and WMU. I'd much prefer to play those two than any of the previously mentioned three. If we just play our game we should definitely be playing in yet another MAC Championship game.

While watching the replay, the female ESPN commentator said there was no foul there. If I remember correctly, Zeke didn't even make contact with the Can't State player, let alone enough contact to warrant a foul call. And, in all honesty, that was the turning point in the game. Greene really struggles against Zeke, but not while Zeke's on the bench.

I did slightly edit my post. Instead of calling GT a "loser" (I shouldn't have done that) I referred to him as a person with a "loser-complex/mentality". But my re-post didn't post. I may have been banned from posting on the Varsity Letters blog? Jeez. I was literally one of the only people who ever commented about anything on that blog.

He removed my post. I thought he might. I'm glad I copied and pasted it to this thread. I may slightly edit and re-post it again.

good for him for showing some school pride. who cares? he's an alumni showing support for his school. +1 That was pretty cool of him. I'm glad he's so passionate. Great rivalry.

I actually think they gave up versus OU. It looked like they were looking to high-tail it out of the Convo even before halftime. (Perhaps KD sensed that as well and thus, as GP1 pointed out, called those late time-outs so the team couldn't just run off into the locker room?) I'm afraid that if the going gets tough @ Can't they may do the same. Can't is an athletic team who can pressure our guards and guard the 3-point line, generally not a good combo for us. Our team really seems to be composed of a bunch of friendly, upstanding guys that the community (not to mention their parents) can & should be proud of. However, they've really got to be able to flip a little bad-ass-switch once the game starts. So get angry, Zips! Get mean! Get aggressive! Look to abuse somebody out there! Beat that hippie-school down! Go Zips!

That guy truly is an ass, and perfectly illustrates the very real and deep image/self-image problem Akron has. Get over there and leave a reply to let him know we have higher aspirations for our city and university than he does. I just added a reply. I'll paste it here (the quote is from one of George Thomas' earlier replies): "The reality is I have a better chance of gaining super powers than the University of Akron football program does of becoming any type of national football power." This is exactly the loser mentality that universities such as Boise State, Hawaii, TCU, Utah, Brigham Young, Eastern Carolina, UCF and any other non-traditional power very likely also had to overcome. It's just sad that a loser like this has a voice at our local paper. This wrongful, damaging, and self-loathing perspective – that the Akron area and it's university are hopeless losers – has now been shown to be the underlying presupposition from which his articles will all spring. This comment betrays a very serious and troubling disposition against the University of Akron. Our city desperately, and may I repeat, desperately, needs less people like George Thomas and more people like Caleb Porter; people who firmly believe that Akron can excel and that the Akron area can cultivate and experience success. Please do the Akron area a favor, George, and move away… again. Go Akron! Go Zips!

This link is to the Ohio.com Varsity Letters blog, where the ABJ keeps tabs on potential scholarship recipients. This response, from ABJ sports columnist George M. Thomas, regarding two Buchtel football players, perfectly illustrates the very real trouble Akron has in both being taken seriously and in taking ourselves seriously. Akron has a deep inferiority complex. Linky What disheartens me most is that this is coming from an ABJ reporter. I know, I know, I'm showing my age when I'm concerned about the printed media, but, in the past, the printed media has been very influential in shaping a regions self-identity. It is very troubling when our city's own chosen voices don't believe in us. Our city needs more Caleb Porters.

Four of us are heading over against my better judgement. Many a wretched drives home from that place over the years. I wonder if CK made the trek to Athens. If so, can't wait to read his take - long way to go for that mess. Last week I was planning on making the drive down tonight, but I came down with the flu a couple of days ago so didn't make the trip. Man, am I glad I got the flu!

This is like every other Zips game against a more athletic team. Our offense completely breaks down. Typical. Second half prediction: pass-pass-pass-pass-pass-pass-pass-pass-launch a contested 3.

The teams didn't shake hands before tip-off. I love it!

Just checked the OU url, and they have a link up to "listen" to the game but not to "watch" the game. Hope this doesn't mean a radio feed only. The video feed usually comes up by game time. I'm sure it will be up. The link to watch is up now.

I'm a Zips fan, please schedule times that are best for me and other Zip fans. I don't give two squirts about Columbus. 3 pm games are best. Gives us maximum time for pre and post game tailgating. You might get a 100+ more fans by scheduling around Columbus games, not thousands. +1 I don't tailgate, but the 3:00 kick-off gives my friends and I the best time slot to hit the downtown restaurants both before and after the game! It really makes an entire-day event out of the Zips' game. And I get to show off the revitalizaions of both downtown and campus.

Gold is sweet... when it's gold. Not yellow.

Exactly. This is spot on. I think many of us have dreams of a meaningful late-season rivalry game w/ K.e.n.t; last game of the year, MAC East title & trip to Detroit for the MAC Championship game on the line, bowl implications. But after being an avid Zips fan for 20 years now, and still waiting for that scenario to materialize... Our best crowds are certainly when we play them right-off-the-bat in the MAC.

Interesting stat on Brett McKnight, per ABJ website. Games played: 117 Career starts: 19 I was surprised to see that Brett has only been in the starting five 19 times in his UA career.