Blue & Gold

I can't be too self-righteous about expecting better things out of this team than the media did because our WR crew was entirely unknown, our O-Line hadn't jelled yet and I think we were all worried about how Jac would perform. Also, I think the media really suspected our D, and unfortunately they haven't been wildly far off with that prediction.But how could they have picked Miami that high? Tradition? Miami is horrible. And, of course, so is K.e.n.t.

Our b-ball isn't going to be broadcast by 106.9? That's disappointing. And surprising; our basketball program has produced many more exciting moments than our football program over the past couple years.

You cannot listen live during sports broadcasts. At least it has not worked for football for me, it says when you try to that you cant.I believe that in order to listen on the internet you've got to purchas a ZipPass on GoZips.com. Then you listen from the Zips website. It's worth it IMHO. They often have video as well as audio. I believe it cost $60 a year, but I have watched a number of different football and basketball games online.

OSU is a Michigan ripoff...who cares. Having a band in general is a ripoff to whoever started it. It's cool and the only team i know of that did a script "ZIPS".I know that 99.99% of our market would immediately think we're trying to ripoff OSU. I've heard that Michigan did a script "Michigan" and dotted the "i's" before OSU. Is this true? If so, it would be good to have that nugget if info @ our disposal were we to do a script Zips and have to explain that to our friends.

Wow, are we that bad, or is it because its a scrimmage and everyone played? Didnt we beat them by 20 or more last year?If I remember correctly, we beat them by over 40 last year. Man, we've really taken a big step back. Might take a while for this team to come together.I was wrong about last year's score. Last year's final score was 79-55. But I don't think the game was that close. For some reason I thought I remembered us being up by 40 @ one point. I'm probably mistaken.

Wow, are we that bad, or is it because its a scrimmage and everyone played? Didnt we beat them by 20 or more last year?If I remember correctly, we beat them by over 40 last year. Man, we've really taken a big step back. Might take a while for this team to come together.

I just wanted to pop this back up to the top and ask again if someone would/could please take some pics of our new Nike uni's @ the game tonight? Thanks!

Screw the Browns; Go Zips! (Though I can't go to the game, I have to go to a high school choir concert! Ouuuuch!)

This was a good-looking, dominant performance. It was the blowout I've been looking for all year. We were able to get Matt Rodgers some PT as well as the entire 2nd unit O-Line and 3rd string RB. (Good to see Gary Pride out there. I think he'll slide over to take Bruce's spot as a slot receiver after Bruce graduates. It would be very exciting to see what Pride could do "in space.")

I'm fairly certain BostonZip is correct. It is insulation. The exterior brick facing should soon cover all of the yellow foamboard.

Rivals has footage on him. He looks good. He's only 5'11" but he is 230 and looks pretty fast. He consistently cut right through blockers to blow up plays.

I can't make Thursday's scrimmage vs. Walsh. I know that most of you will be in attendance and that I'm sure we'll get some great post-scrimmage write ups, but could someone take their camera and get some pics of our new Nike uniforms? I'm curious to see what they look like.Btw, I was @ the JAR last week and asked @ the team shop if replica jerseys were going to be available. They said that UA didn't sign the contract w/ Nike soon enough to get replica jerseys for this season. Could that have something to do w/ the fact that we're not getting our LBJ23 line jerseys until next season? I guess we're just wearing standard Nike jerseys this season?Anyway, could someone get some pics @ Thursday's scrimmage and post them? Thanks!

Exactly. As has been stated on here before, Zippy is the anti-mascot. Unfortunately, IMHO, Zippy has actually lost a bit of his classic identity over the past couple years. The fact that this question was posed illustrates the fact that Zippy has to be re-explained for many of our younger fans. That's fine - we should be/have been doing this for every incoming freshman class! I'm afraid our alumni may not have done a great job in explaining and passing down Zippy's traditional aura. The controversy over Zippy being a girl is silly. Zippy is a boy. That's a big part of what makes Zippy's wimpiness comical and, frankly, uniquely brilliant. Zippy is supposed to be afraid of the other school's mascots. The only way Zippy is supposed to ever win a "fight" with another mascot is when Zippy ducks and turns away and the other mascot "accidentally" trips on Zippy's tail. I haven't seen that classic Zippy schtick played out w/ another teams' mascot in at least a couple of years now; it used to be an every-game occurance. Here, Zippy's male gender is necessary for the comedy of Zippy's aura to work; if Zippy were a female getting beat up and scared by another teams' mascot, well, needless to say that would just be completely wrong. Call the cops. Yes, Zippy has a pouch but give me a break - Godzilla also lays eggs but no one thinks of Godzilla as being a girl. Likewise w/ Zippy. Zippy's not a real kangaroo folks. Zippy is the anti-mascot because he is clumsy and wimpy; that's the aura of Zippy. Zippy is supposed to walk in tiny little baby steps, head slightly down all the while wringing his hands. It's what Zippy does. He doesn't run around fast & furious w/ his head held high. Zippy is supposed to be non-confrontational and shy and timid and insecure and friendly. The fact that Zippy is the soft and chubby anti-mascot is what is so darn special about him. A rough and tough kangaroo is just stupid. The Fear the Roo campaign is brilliant precisely because it is spot-on tongue-in-cheek. A literal seriousness in this regard would be

True! And, now that I think about it, with a spread offense aren't quicker players generally a better fit for the spread scheme than a slower, less shifty 6'5" receiver anyhow?

Btw, I was walking around the stadium yesterday and they are beginning to put the facing brick on the exterior of the 1st floor of the press tower. It's going to be drop-dead gorgeous! I know Big Ten stadiums are larger, but this facility is going to be the envy of the entire mid-west (and Big East?!)

I'm hoping Goodyear flies the Blimp over The Info for every Zips' game! The Blimp is our community's #1 identity marker and is recognized all over the world.

Now that was a great article! We get far too few human interest stories on the Zips' players from the ABJ. Additionally, it was informative in that I had no idea Getsy was back w/ the team as a grad assistant. Great work Vincent!

Remember, no one has "signed" yet, nothing is certain until signing day in February (and things can change after that, such as kids not qualifying academically, getting into legal trouble, etc.). Don't get too hung up on "multi-star" players. Rivals.com, Scout.com, and others are businesses that feed into fan recruiting mania. You can be a great player, but if you don't go to their camps, you may get ignored. There are plenty of "no star" players that would help most any team, but for one reason or another aren't ranked by them. For example, in my state (I don't live in Ohio) the best running back wasn't even ranked in the Rivals.com "stars" list. Why? He didn't go to their camp. At some point you have to trust the coaching staff. From what I have seen MAC coaches work harder than BCS coaches at recruiting because they have to. Fans can help alert coaches to potential talent, especially fans who live outside the normal recruiting area. Nice info! Thanks for the lowdown!

Ha! I just don't think most of us are excited enough about the coaching of this FB team to summon the energy and commitment required to win one of those online polls. It really took a concentrated effort to help Zippy win.

Thanks for another great recap, GoZips!

Does anyone know if there are any architectural drawings floating around the web somewhere that show the layout of the concourse areas - concession stands, restrooms, etc.?

Hey ZW or GZ, do you, or does anyone know when the next inter-squad scimmage is? I'd really like to make it to one!Thanks!

I am not an OSU fan, and frankly, it is due to jealousy - I turn green with envy and rage everytime OSU is featured on the front page of our local paper, which is about 7 days a week. (So, needless to say, I am not in a healthy state!)However, as much as it pains me to do so, I generally try to keep those sentiments to myself. Currently, I don't think it does much good to try to make life-long OSU fans feel like they must choose between either Akron or OSU. If painted into that corner, I think 99% of greater Akron area sports fans will choose OSU. (Maybe right now, OSU deserves that following - they've been a successful program for nearly 100 years. Here at Akron, we are growing a program.) My hope is that we add to our numbers OSU fans who will also begin to follow the Zips. If, one day, they wake up and say to themselves, "Know what, I actually like the Zips more than the Sucks" great! If not, well... that's okay too; we Zips fans can't be too picky about who our fans are.I remember going to a restaurant a couple of years ago to watch the Zips - NC State game. OSU was on tv after the Zips, so toward the end of the game some OSU fans began filing into the restaurant. Some of them were seated @ the table next to mine. One of them got on his cell phone and called someone, telling them rather excitedly that Akron was actually on tv! Apparently he hadn't heard (again, presently that's okay; it's our reality - we all on this board fish for Zips info, but, currently, we are a rare breed.) When Akron scored the touchdown to beat NC State the OSU fans were cheering, arms raised to the sky, as if OSU had just beaten Michigan for the umpteenth time in a row. So, presently, I think it is probably a strategic error to make lifelong OSU fans feel as if they must completely abandon their love of the Sucks in order to be Zips fans. I'm hoping the next generation - our kids - will be raised PROPERLY and be true to their hometown team. But that's another 20 years away. Right now, I think I'm satisfied with growing the Zips fan base, even if many in that fan base still consider themselves to also be Buckeyes fans.

I don't have any idea. I'll bet there will be some tickets to purchase at the Akron boxoffice, but I have no idea how many. Also, I'd be willing to bet you could get walkup tickets @ Pitt's Peterson Events Center - it's a pretty big joint. It's the nicest basketball arena I've ever seen. It is basketball specific arena - not a multi-purpose arena - so there isn't a bad seat in the house.Also, I'm sure you could get tickets online directly from Pitt & have them waiting for you at will call.

I hesitate to respond to a question about recruiting because there are so many on this board who are much more knowledgeable than I and who seem to always have inside information that I am totally oblivious to. But, having said that, I'm not real excited about our recruiting efforts this year. Rivals.com is really my only source of information, besides Rasor's blog. We only have signed 3 players thus far, and two are pretty small guys 5-9 & 5-10 WR's. Here is the link to the Rivals site:http://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/commi...100&Sport=1However, we have recently gotten so many top caliber players via JUCO and transfer that I'm actually a little more interested if JD has any more of those up his sleave rather than following the high school recruiting so much. We'll see; it's still early in the process. Honestly though, I thought our beautiful new stadium would make recruiting take off seemingly more than it has. Perhaps the recruits have to see the stadium rather than pictures and a hole in the ground?Also, I really do like our last few recruiting classes. I think JD definitely has this program heading in the right direction. I've never seen so much talent on a Zips roster as I currently see. It's quite impressive.