Blue & Gold

Here is an article from today's ABJ concerning the brand new Ohio Brewing Co. located in the former Oneil's building.http://www.ohio.com/news/top_stories/18825169.htmlAnd here's an article from today's ABJ concerning Brubaker's Pub reopening in the new student housing development on S. Main St.http://www.ohio.com/news/top_stories/18825154.htmlDowntown is definitely turning into the place to be! Imagine the energy once The Info opens and once we build our new Akron Arena!

You raise an interesting point. I think the slightly smaller size of The Info as compared w/ The Rubber Bowl will enhance attendance. I'm showing my age, but I remember when Jacob's Field (Progressive Field, whatever) first opened. One of the add campaigns during the winter before the 1st year at The Jake showed a big bowl filled with ping pong balls. Then a man would pour the bowl of ping pong balls into a smaller bowl only holding about 1/2 the capacity of the first bowl. The bowl quickly filled w/ balls and then the rest of the balls went rolling all over the table. Then the man simply said something to the effect, "Better get your season tickets early!"NEO fans are fickle though. I remember going to old Municiple Stadium in Cleveland w/ my dad. There'd be maybe 3000 of us at the Indians' game. The first year at The Jake you could still walk up to the gate on gameday and get good seats. I remember my first game at The Jake during that first season - it was cold, drizzly, and the Indians lost something like 14-0 to the Texas Rangers. Then the Indians really started to win - and that's when they started selling The Jake out. So I think The Info will be extremely important for attendance sake and the advancement of the program - it'll attract the hordes of fair weather fans - but JD's still gotta win to keep butts in the seats.

Thanks for the link! And, Zeke's Mom, we welcome YOU to the Zip's family just as much as we do the Big Guy himself! The article states that Zeke made a verbal commitment a couple of weeks ago and made it known publically yesterday. Did he actually commit during the week of the King James AAU tourney?

Sweeeeeeeeeet!!!! Welcome to the family, Zeke!!! You're gonna be the big man on campus! At 7'0", I suppose that's a given. We're all looking forward to meeting you, cheering for you, supporting you no matter what, watching you continue your development, and going dancing in the NCAA!The coaches around the MAC had to change their shorts when they heard this news! They tremble at the sound of Zeke's name! And, of course, they FEAR THE ROO!

Aaaaaah! This is a LOOOOONG 3 hours!!!

Here is a story in today's ABJ (5/7/08) concerning the possible cooperation/alliance between UA, Summa, Akron General, Akron Children's Hospital and NEOUCOM.http://www.ohio.com/news/top_stories/18717949.htmlVery promising w/ lots of upside!

Here's a story from today's ABJ concerning just that...http://www.ohio.com/news/top_stories/18717949.html

If you look toward the left hand side of the screen in camera #3 (looking north towards the fieldhouse) I believe that you can see the northern wall of the western grandstand which slopes down to the playing surface.

Hey Gamechanger! Wow! Thanks for that above link! :blink: That's one thing about KD and our coaching staff that I love and am really proud of - we, naturally, have also had recruits that haven't developed and produced like we all were hoping. But KD and the staff still love them and never say ANYTHING but positives about them and the staff always seem to go out of their way to make sure that all the players - from the starting five to the walk-ons - know that they are an important part of the team and that they are wanted just as much as anyone else. I think that is a large part of why the team chemistry at Akron is so special. You'll see a group of players walking around the mall together - and there will be 3 starters, 2 bench players and 3 walk-ons in the group, all hanging out, laughing, no egos, all best of friends. It's totally cool. You can tell they're just one big family.I didn't know that LeBron held a camp at UA. I knew about the King James AAU Classic, but LBJ also has a skills camp on campus?Go Zips! Go Zeke!

St. Pete is beautiful! I'd be all for that!

Aha! Well now we know who the player was mentioned on another thread. Thanks, because we were left hanging! Have fun in Califonia!

Hey GoZips, Are you still alive?! Come out, come out where ever you are! It's been 2 weeks now! Who is the player you saw on campus? Bro, even if you aren't entirely sure that's okay, but don't just leave us hanging after a comment like that - especially in the slow months between b-ball & football!

Here's a nice article from the Buchtelite concerning the strip of buildings fronting the canal next to the Civic Theater. http://media.www.buchtelite.com/media/stor...tmlemailedition

When KD spoke at the Canton Hall of Fame Luncheon Club he mentioned an imminent announcement concerning Zips' basketball and Nike/LeBron. At the banquet was there any talk of this at all?

I was able to make the first half of the noon game today ($10 for 1/2 of basketball! - Go Zeke! You can tell we want you, bro!) and I was pretty darned impressed! First of all, I come up his rib cage. Secondly, he really is a game-changer (just like his mother's screen name, whom, by the way, I had the pleasure of meeting - very sweet, caring, vocal, funny lady) as the opposing team really seemed to play with much more confidence when Zeke was not on the floor. Without Zeke on the P-Storm team, I'd guess the other team would have won easily. They just seemed much more athletic than the P-Storm. But with Zeke out there it really distrupted what the other team wanted to do; frustrated their big men quite a bit, and seemed to give the P-Storm players more confidence on both O and D. I did not get to meet Zeke, but I like his demeanor. You can just tell that he's a really nice "kid." And he plays with confidence. He's an awfully tough player now; in another year or two, he's going to be a monster. His mother is terrific! I can tell right now that she would become best friends with the McKnights. She's funny, vocal, encouraging and patient - just like the McKnight's parents (especially their father) if you've ever watched him cheer for his boys. It's really something special. Some parents get on their kids; some encourage their kids - Zeke's mom is an encourager.As an aside, AAU basketball is DARN good! There were a TON of excellent players there today. Good grief, I've never seen so much height walking around the Rec Center - there were 6'-7"ers all over the place! This brand of basketball (while I suppose the teams don't practice together as much as the teams do in high school) seems to be athletically FAR superior to high school ball. The Rec Center was chock-full of serious ballers today! Thanks LeBron!And to the Marshall's, I hope you guys really enjoy your weekend in Akron! Do we live in a great country, or what?! Basketball during the day; Dominoe's pizza at night; life is good!

Does anyone know whether there are any plans in the works to honor Jason Taylor in any way at, or around The Info?

You observation could not be more spot on. I had a friend who attended OSU during their freshman & sophomore years and then finished up their degree at UA. She used to laugh and call UA students "whiners" when they'd complain about parking. I guess at OSU if you get a parking space less than a 20 minute's walk from your class you generally consider yourself pretty lucky! The parking's not bad at all! Maybe it's just that the only perspective of parking and walking that many of the students have is limited to either their experiences at former high schools or the shopping malls? That kinda sounds like a smart-a$$ comment, but i'm not intending to sound that way. I really mean it - I think most of the students are just accustomed to parking 50 yards from the entrance to their high school, 30 yards from the entrance to a shopping mall or 25 feet from the entrance to Starbucks. In reality, a 10-minute's walk to class is nothing!

Oooooh! I like that!

Concerning points 2 & 5:#2 - "Eat 'em up, Eat 'em up, go Zips go" UGH!, I HATE that song! It literally embarrasses me. Whenever I bring friends to the game I always try to make smalltalk with them while the band is playing that stupid song so that my friends won't realize how painfully lame it is. Unfortunately, many of my friends are skeptical about coming to a Zips' football game in the first place. Then they hear that song and I just want to crawl under a bleacher! Unfortunately, Hang On Sloopy is terrific. We definitely need something, ANYTHING!, new.#5 - I'm with you on the whole flag girl thing. How LAME! They have no place on a university-level marching band. They're even considered to be rather LAME on the high school level - where the administration is just concerned with the respective kids' self esteem and with helping to give the kids an identity and sense of belonging by getting the kids involved in something. This isn't high school; this is grown up world now. It's just LAME. Get 'em outta here!MORE MILITARY MARCHES!!! COOL MILITARY DRUM CORPS RHYTHMS!!! Unfortunately, OSU's band also has probably the coolest drum corps rhythm I've ever heard. It probably has a name, I don't know, but they play it as they're marching in and then start off their fight song with it. I hate OSU but even I can't help but get goosebumps when I hear that!

Dude! You're giving me goose bumps just reading this!!! I'm so pumped for The Info to open RIGHT NOW!!!

Thanks Honestly, I'm hoping both Can't State and Akron amp up our football programs to the level of our basketball programs! If we could both do that, wow, could you imagine the intensity of those football games?! That would be one sick, sick rivalry!!! And that's what makes it all so much fun!

We were before the announcement of this recruiting class. I can see UA winning a National Championship in the next 3-10 years.www.collegesoccernews.com usually ranks recruiting classes, but doesn't have a related post yet.Nice that someone is thinking along the same wavelength as Caleb (and I!). But I happen to believe your time span is too long. I'll be surprised if we don't win a title in the next three years, with our talent.It will be very interresting to see how Akron is ranked in the pre-season. I think the coaches may put Akron top-5, but more reasonable is around #10. A team this young and talented will improve as season advances, and could be a real contender by November -- but I hate to put too much pressure on the kids' shoulders so early. Especially Coach Porter. Now let's get that stadium built for our champs! You hit upon a subject that was slightly off-topic, so I did not mention it above, but that is the new soccer stadium. Do you think this class will put some healthy, but real, pressure on the trustees to move up the timetable for construction of a new soccer stadium? To get a class like this, do you think Caleb is talking to these recruits about a new stadium? And where would the stadium be? I don't think there is room for a stadium where the pitch is presently located.

I love the true gold and blue. The yellow sucks. Fortunately, I think the marketing department feels the same way.Unfortunately, I don't like the new logo system. I know we paid some $$$ to have someone design the new logos & fonts, but I just don't care for them. The "A w/ kangaroo head" logo does nothing for me. It looks neither like an A nor like a kangaroo head. Especially from any distance whatsoever. If someone points out that it's supposed to be an "A", you can say, "Oh, okay, I kinda see it now." But the kangaroo head simply looks like a donkey. And again, from any distance whatsoever it just looks like a blob. I don't care much for the font package either. Someone else pointed out that it doesn't look good on baseball uniforms. I agree. But the problem is not that the uniforms say "Zips," instead of saying "Akron." The problem is the font in which "Zips" is written. With that font "Akron," would not look good either. I'm more traditional, I guess. I'm much more into either cursive or block lettering - the traditional college athletics look, or major league baseball, or most NFL teams.The current logo & font scheme is more minor league-ish than a traditional college design. For instance, the Cleveland Gladiators probably wish they could use our font. The Cleveland Browns? Uh, no way; they would never want it.I also miss the old cartoonish Zippy that used to be on uniforms and merchandise - you remember, the one with Zippy running sideways, looking at the camera and holding up his index finger to say "Number 1!" It was perfect. It was cartoonish and old school and didn't take itself too seriously. Like the nickname Zips does, it doesn't take itself too seriously - as someone mentioned above, it's so bad that it's great, or something like that.But, whatever. I'm cool with anything as long as they keep the TRUE GOLD. NO YELLOW!!!!!!

Wow, this is huge! I can't believe it, but I'd honestly say that Akron is honest-to-God one of the elite soccer programs in the country now! That's amazing! This is enormous because I would venture to say that soccer is probably the 3rd most popular collegiate sport, albeit presently coming in an incredibly long distance behind #1 football and #2 basketball.

I totally agree with you LAzipfan. Merging with Can't makes much more sense than merging with CSU. Also the two universities are extremely too close to each other (geographically) and a lot of resources can be shared. I also like the idea of a 50,000 enrollment and may be 8000 average attendance at home bball games. Whew... from a purely rational perspective it could be done. Then again, theoretically, anything can potentially be done. However, from an emotive perspective, wow, there's a lot of bad blood between these two institutions and their alumni - it'd take a full generation to get used to a merger the likes of this! What would the name of the school be?