Blue & Gold

Spot on, Hip Zip. I'm expecting to see Zeke struggle at first, be underwhelming during our first trip through the MAC East, but then start to click during our second round of MAC East games. Hey, he may be underwhelming all year, who really knows? He will, undoubtedly, eventually be a great player for us, but we will want to exercise patience.Additionally, I wouldn't get too worried over Zeke not having any blocks during our first day of scrimmages. Zeke may have (and I'm sure probably did) alterred a handful of shots without officially blocking one. If Zeke can alter shots, and get into the heads of the other team, that'll be as effective - if not as sexy - as blocking the shots.

So what teams represent Akron in the NBA and the NFL?I totally agree with not associating cities and not rooting for another college in Columbus. But when it comes to pro sports, i think it is natural for people in NEO to root for cleveland teams.You're right, it is. My attitude is really just sour grapes. I am simply beyond fed up with the Cleveland television media's COMPLETE ignorance of anything Akron that it's really given me a distaste for the city-up-north as a whole. Also supremely frustrating - and this is Akron's own fault - is the fact that the Zips have had such a perfect opportunity over the last 10 years of total Brown's suckiness in which to capture the hearts of NEO football fans in general, and Akron football fans in particular, and we, unfortunately, haven't done squat to capitalize on the opportunuty. Ahhh! Painful, hot button issue with me. Where's the number for my shrink?! Lol

Did you get any details about the stadium?

It's time we stopped associating Akron with Cleveland, period. Cleveland sucks. Pittsburgh sucks. Columbus sucks. This is Akron, baby!The other day I saw a great t-shirt @ the Rubber City Clothing Co. Simply says,"F*ck you, I'm from Akron." I like it.(However, yeah, as long as our homeboy LBJ plays for the Cavs, I'll say, "Go Cavs!")

IMHO what we need to do is three-fold. 1. Open every season at home against a D-1AA school. NO MORE OPENING UP @ PENN STATE, WISCONSIN, or OSU (I know, already too late for next year.) As a longtime Zips fan, I know, unfortunately, that oftentimes the most exciting time of the Zips football season is the month BEFORE our 1st game. I'm SICK of first game beat downs. We need to fill the Info, on a warm fall day, and lay the beating down, not vice-versa.2. Schedule ONLY BCS conference schools that will give us 1-for-1 / home & home deals. This will, naturally, lower the level of BCS conference schools which we play, i.e., NO MORE Penn States (for crying out loud) or any Top 10 programs - at least for a while. More Minnesotas, Colorados, Northwesterns & Syracuses, thank you very much. And...3. Win the absolutely freakingly atrocious football conference that is the MAC. It should be SO EASY to be the next Boise State coming out of this conference. A mediocre D-1 team would go undefeated in this conference. Why can't it be us? It should be us. And, after some major shake ups at season's end (yeah, I believe we should wait until the season is complete), I still believe it will be us. With a schedule consisting of a D-1AA, two mid-level BCS schools and the MAC (lol) man, why shouldn't we average 9 wins per season, if not more? We do that consistently for a few years and the Info will be the place to be.Hope springs eternal.

Really too bad about Ronnie. Maybe we should simply start rooting for him to merely get healthy and live a normal life? His injuries seem to be chronic. We need to be keeping him in our prayers.Any word on how Nitro & Sweich played?

I'd love to see Zeke portrayed as a 7' elf! Lol.

Elton on Dylan & ZekeChicagoHoops.comCrown Mag (Canadian hoops)Quote: [Dylan] "Has drawn interest from Michigan, USC, Washington State, Stanford, St Johns, Fordham and an offer from Akron."

Ditto. I couldn't find much either. He is definitely a 1-guard though, not a 2-G, as the thread title states.

True, true. During the Huggins era at Cincinnatti, one never heard a peep about Columbus State basketball.

Fellas, the point of this thread is supposed to be how big the arena should be, not where it should be.

I think we've finally found a RB; DeVo's looking good. DeVo's really distinguished himself and he's looking stronger as the game goes on.Btw, I believe I saw Dale Martin limping off the field again earlier in the game.

Yes, let me clarify. Nice move, Zipsrifle, making NIU feel welcomed and wishing them a good match - though I do hope we shut them out.Columbus State? NEVER!!!

Amen, Brother skip-zip! No sitting on the fence here!

And, it's my understanding, that the new QB would be utilized to simply help practices run more smoothly - not for potential game PT.

"If Sewell comes back from injury our D-line should be pretty good next year."Wait, am I missing something? How badly was Sewell hurt?Also, I don't get as bent out of shape as some about us running the 3-3-5. I really like a 4-3, with 4 big-uglies on the line. But I have no problem with the 3-4 either. And, frankly, I can't really see much difference between our 3-3-5 and a 3-4. We usually seem to have 7 bodies in the box. I'm no defensive coordinator, but what we run generally looks a lot like 3 DL with 4 LBs. And with our talent & depth @ LB I'm fine with that.

Thanks vmd! Has anyone seen the new LBJ23 jerseys we're gonna be rockin' this season? If they have them displayed @ Saturday's meet the team night, could someone get some pics & post 'em?

A truly difficult balance to achieve. Especially in America, where everyone is accustomed to having their own car, and parking right in front of the store/restaurant they're frequenting. That's another reason I'm quite amped about all the dorms going up - UA being adjacent to downtown is giving downtown establishments thousands of potential customers right next door.

Lol. I'll bet no one's ever said that about you before, eh, Zipmeister?

RUMPLEMINTZ is usually quite humorous, and, as is the case with our beloved Zipmeister, you can't really take anything he says very seriously. However, RUMPLEMINTZ was quite off the mark in this case.I always look forward to STZ's commentary. And if a passionate Zips fan can't call the Zips' coach an idiot on a Zips sportstalk forum, who on earth can and where on earth can you?!I know ZNO members would never call a student athlete an idiot (except for incredibly well-deserving cases such as Jacq's) but the coaching staff is more than fair game for our angst and criticism.I think JD seems like a great guy. However, as head coach at UA the handwriting is indeed on the wall. I won't feel sorry for him though. He'll be employed somewhere next year making around 5x what I do. Lol.

I voted 10,000. From a previous ZNO posting (so I don't know how credible the infomation is) I hear that the city is leaning toward an 8,000-seat arena. Also, the new downtown Toledo facility which the U recently toured is an 8,000-seat structure. BUT... I think we should aim higher than that. I hope UA goes at the new arena with the same mindset with which they built the Info. The Info is not a MAC stadium and I don't think our new basketball facility should be a typical MAC arena either.The arena that O-Sports designed is a 12,000-seat structure. O-Sports Akron Arena Link(click "indoor" and then click "akron arena")Go Zips!Btw, as I designed the poll, I figured that the majority of the votes would be for B,C or D. But I added options A and F as buffers. And they very well could be viable options. We may have some ZNO members who would vote for an amazingly plush, cutting edge, all-the-bells-&-whistles 6,500 seat arena that we could regularly fill to capacity. As well, we may have some ZNO members who would say, hey, if we're gonna build an arena, let's shoot for the stars with a 15,000-seat structure.

Again, it's always fun and enlightening if everyone pitches in their $0.02 as to why they voted as they did.

<br />Exactly, Rasor mentioned rumors of two additional visitors. If those visitors were there, this was a very big excursion.<br /><br />Here's hoping it all works out... Playing at the First Energy "Power House" doesn't sound too bad to me.<br /><br /> <img src="style_emoticons/default/cheers.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="cheers.gif" /> <img src="style_emoticons/default/cheers.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="cheers.gif" /><br /><br /><br /><br />Oooh, The First Energy Arena, a.k.a. The "Power House"! I like that a lot!!!

Lol. Those are some BIG, BIG changes, alright! Lol.The headline in today's Beacon says, "Zips try out new stategy to prepare for Bobcats". Whatever. JD's merely talking about "good-on-good" practices, which JD's been talking about and implementing for at least a couple years now.I'm afraid JD just doesn't have anything left up his sleeve.

I think the handwriting is on the wall. I don't think there's anything JD can do to keep the job after this season. The ONLY chance he's got is if we sweep the MAC East, play in the MACC game and a bowl game.IMHO I don't see this happening. Tough, tough year.