Zipmeister

And you guys said UAkronkid was wrong when he called St Francis "MAC caliber." I think St. Francis would have a chance to win the MAC west.

Where's a good yard gnome comment when you need one?

Yes and no. I hire independent sales reps and will issue 1099s. This is very common in my industry. Independent reps are a variable cost. If they sell a lot, the make a lot, but so do you. If they don't sell a lot, you didn't have to pay them much. They can be terminated with 30 days notice. Keep reps at 10% of your cost of sales.LLCYes, Mrs. GP1, the luckiest woman in the world, is an accountant. She is also the Vice President of the company. A good accountant is much more important than a good lawyer.You can incorporate a business on legalzoom.com for about a quarter of what it would cost a lawyer to fill out the same forms. Be careful not to flush money down on unnecessary legal fees. Lawyers are running almost as big of a scam as the Amish.If you have employees, use a payroll service like ADP. One in ten Americans receives their paychecks through ADP. They handle not only the payroll, but the tax deposits, tax filings, direct deposits, payroll reports and W-2s. They take liability for all of the tax deposits and filings. It is a cheap service. Set up a separate payroll account at the bank and your service will tell you how much money to put into it then they will sweep it. Everything is done electronically. Payroll mistakes can be a huge problem for a company because it is so regulated by the government. Be careful and let someone else take the liability. Set up your account with ADP before you open your doors. You don't have to pay for the service unless you use it. You're right, there are a lot of things to screw up. Accept that you will make mistakes. Just don't make BIG mistakes.Remember, if you are good at the corporate hamster wheel stuff, you can always go back if things don't work out. Owning your own business would make you attractive for a corporate job again and you would probably have a better job compared to the one you had before.I have a decent feeling about next year. Many of my contractors have jobs for January and my backlog is pretty big for that month. I think a lot of building owners wanted to do some work in 2009, but they didn't have the budget for it. Now they have been able to get money for 2010 and they are moving forward with projects they should have done two years ago. Inventories are extremely low at manufacturers and the up-tick could spur more raw material orders than expected. I even know some companies that are going to hire the first week in January. They just didn't have the money in the budget for 2009 and if things do pick up, they will not be able to handle the workload with their current staffing levels. Residential contractors have also become very busy all of the sudden as well....good sign. Maybe I'm being too optimistic, but I think better days are ahead sooner rather than later.Yes the Amish are a devious bunch. Why in world would they limit the number of Heat Surges each household can purchase to 2? That's absurd. Sure they are on wheels and you can roll them from one room to another, but wealthy folks should be aloud to buy more than 2 so they don't have to roll them so much. And who do they think they are fooling with that "Buy the cabinet and the heat surge is free" routine?

So when can they raise ticket prices?What if they are good next year and they only charge $10 per GA ticket? Can they raise prices mid season because they are good? Can they go back to season ticket holders and ask for more money to get in the door? Do we refund money at the end of the year if the team isn't any good?I understand what you are saying. The MAC stinks, but twenty dollars is cheap enough.If our AD lowers ticket prices next year and starts the give-a-way deals UofA has historically called "marketing", the guy should be shown the door this time next year. Lowering ticket prices is the lazy man's way of selling them. I don't think that lowering prices is going to turn out more people. What they can do to turn out more people is have games on Saturday when the family can go together instead of weeknights. What they can do is make a good game day experience. What they can do and need to do next year is win more games. What they can do is show some level of competency on the field. What they can do is have as many games at home as early in the season as possible. What they can do is play games at times when someone wants to spend a nice afternoon outside in the fall before the sun goes down along with the temperatures followed by rain. What they can do is have good food at the stadium. What they can do is get the students to turn out for games. What they can do is have clean parking lots and fun tailgating. The problem with lowering the price of any product is the difficulty in raising prices later. It's easy to lower prices, it's hard to raise them.Everyone wants a new stadium. Everyone wants a winner. Everyone wants new facilities. Everyone wants better academic programs. Everyone wants a new soccer stadium. Everyone wants a new basketball arena. Everyone wants to buy out the old coach and pay a new coach a bunch of money. Everyone wants non-revenue producing sports in order to comply with Title IX. Does anyone want to pay for it? The Big Phone Booth needs to be the motor that drives everything else. The potential earning for football is greater than any other sport. Lowering prices is suicide.Quite frankly, I think the football program has done more than it's fair share in driving revenue. It hasn't done much winning, but it drives revenue. What other sport do we have where we play as difficult of an OOC schedule as football (it's killing the program, but driving revenue)? What sport is going to draw the most fans this year? What other sport has the highest sponsorship?So should we put you down for a "no" on lowering ticket prices?

As I recall these gloves were designed by a honest to goodness native American named " Hole in the head where my ear should be."

These would be better if they had some sequins or bead work. Also, fringe along the sleeves would be a sweet touch.

YES, and doesn't he look manly. Ummmm delectable.

A politically correct way of saying non-BCS.Did the yard gnome tell you that?It means that the individual did not initially meet the NCAA standard for eligibility.NCAA eligibility rulesAre you unaware of ESPN's blog on the "non-AQ" conferences? Graham Watson reports on the non-BCS conferences and she, along with the rest of ESPN, calls them the "non-AQ conferences" because the term non-BCS makes the BCS look exclusive (which it is).I checked it out and apparently UAkronkid is correct in this case. Way to go Zach.

A politically correct way of saying non-BCS.OK what does AQ stand for?

"Two non-AQ finalists for Rudy Award"OK what's a non-AQ?

Ditto, but I predict he will come in second. The kid from Missouri also had a drug addicted mother AND she killed his father. The judges in these events really get into that kind of thing.

So, you're saying the CF attitude is spouse-enhanced? I don't know about enhanced, but reinforced is a better word. Her opinions of the MAC are similar to mine. She went to Miami for her undergrad and UofA for MBA so she has seen the MAC from two different views. She has always worked and has held very good job so she looks at things from a pure business standpoint. I own my own business, but she is a better business person than I am. I'd never tell her, but she is much smarter.When I first started to have doubts about Frye, I didn't say a word to anyone. Shortly after that, my wife would make comments like, "If this guy is so good, how come he hasn't won many games in the MAC?" or "This league is terrible. He should have more wins against it." or "Any QB that is worth anything in the MAC wins a championship regardless of what is around him."If anyone remembers, my wife is the one who said after the UofA vs. Miami weeknight game a couple years ago that ended in a final score of something like 3-0, "Being commissioner of the MAC would be like being VP of Marketing for Dollar General. You could convince someone to come to your store once, but once they saw the crap you were selling they wouldn't come back." It's the perfect analogy for how hard the MAC is to sell and why people don't go to MAC games. It doesn't take a football expert to see the MAC is selling crap. I wish I was smart enough to come up with the Dollar General comment.I wish you were smart too.And it sure is hard for Dollar General to keep customers. We'll see where people shop once the economy turns around Einstein. Junk stores always do well when the economy isn't. People hold their noses when they walk through the doors of Dollar General like the do when they walk through the doors of a MAC stadium.You wish your posts were as interesting and as smart as mine. Stay in the back of the bus where you belong. Better yet, cry to the moderators for another sign....sign bitch. Now go back to high school debate club.Did I strike a nerve?Poor, poor GP1.Not at all. See g-spot17, I own you. You have become obsessed with what I post on this board and you try to insult someone who can't be insulted. I can manipulate you to do just about anything I want. Many have tested me before and I'm sure more will in the future. You're in good company because many more than just you have cried to the moderators about my posts. I'm the best poster on this board because I actually have interesting and original thoughts about the Zips, the MAC, sports and society in general. You on the other hand, you probably only have sex in one position because you are so uncreative.... if you can even get it up.GP1, on the other hand, has been having sex in two positions ever since learning how to use the other hand.

How about becoming a member of the PAC 12?from ESPN.comPac-10 will consider expansionDecember, 16, 2009Dec 165:02PM ETEmail Print ShareBy Ted MillerWith potential conference expansion again all the rage, first-year Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott knew the question would be coming.What about Pac-10 expansion?Kirby Lee/Image of Sport/US PresswirePac-10 conference commissioner Larry Scott said he is considering expansion... again."Expansion is something we will take a look at," Scott said Wednesday.For expansion enthusiasts that will sound like a more open-minded approach than long-time commissioner Tom Hansen, whom Scott replaced over the summer.But don't make plans for a Pac-10 Championship Game just yet.Yes, expansion is something Scott will look at with a "fresh set of eyes" -- his phrase -- and the timing makes sense because the conference television contracts expire after the 2011-12 academic year.But this is nothing new -- he said the same in July before Pac-10 media day -- and the same reasoning and sentiments that school and conference administrators have used to resist calls for expansion in the past remain entrenched, so nothing is imminent."There's a pretty high hurdle for us, academically, athletically, geographically," Scott said. "We're hard-pressed to really see how you improve upon the structure of the Pac-10 as it is with five sets of natural rivals in four states."Expansion is a subject that has repeatedly come up since the mid-90s when the conference courted Texas and Colorado before they joined the new Big 12, but the Big Ten's public declaration this week that it is considering adding a member to reach the 12-program threshold necessary to split into divisions and hold a championship game, makes the issue relevant again.If the the Big Ten joins the Big 12, ACC and SEC as a 12-team conference that would leave the Pac-10 and eight-team Big East looking, well, smaller.Scott said that bigger doesn't necessarily mean better, particularly in terms of revenue per program. If adding teams means a potentially smaller slice of the conference revenue pie, it will be hard to sell expansion to the membership.The first issue is the small pool of potential candidates. The teams most often mentioned -- mostly by fans -- are Utah, BYU, Boise State, Akron, San Diego State, Colorado, Fresno State, Nevada, UNLV and TCU.A couple of those are intriguing possibilities, but a couple wouldn't even be considered.Programs need to be an academic and athletic match. That means admission standards and research accreditation are issues. On the athletic side, it's not just about football. How strong is the entire athletic department? Recall the Pac-10 is the "Conference of Champions" and Olympic and women's sports are part of that foundation.Then there's the biggest issue: Money. If the Pac-10 were to expand, it wants that expansion to mean more of it. There's widespread concern that a number of the potential candidates don't come from markets that will increase revenue.Bringing in Utah and Colorado might be a winner (Salt Lake City and Denver markets), and at least one Pac-10 athletic director said that's the most likely scenario. Of course, prying Colorado away from the Big 12 might not be easy.TCU, perhaps? There are issues -- distance being an obvious one -- but Pac-10 coaches would salivate over a bigger potential recruiting footprint in Texas.What Scott has or will shortly realize: There are no slam-dunk solutions that will make everyone cheer.There will be enthusiasts for expansion and there will be skeptics. What's clear is there should be a renewed sense of urgency over the matter because Scott expects the new TV deals to be long-term contracts.That might mean expansion or not by 2012."The most logical time for that is when you're going to sell your media rights," Scott said. "This is essentially the shop window, so this would be a very natural time to consider it, if we are going to consider it."

I hope you are wrong about Missouri. Missouri sided with the south in the Civil War and their troops engaged in some of the most despicable acts of violence in the history of warfare. They were an uncivilized, backward people then and they still are today as their ancestors remain in the genes of modern day Missourians. A northern conference should turn their backs on such a lowly people and say NO to Missouri.I say good day!That's nothing. They didn't get flush toilets in Missouri until 1996

It's nice to be nice to the nice. Let's hire the entire ND coaching staff: they did such a bang up job there.

If you read the earlier posts closer you'd see that posters were merely saying that if the Big East took someone from the C-USA or elsewhere, it would open up possibilities for Akron.If you read Zone's comment more closely you will see he is merely saying that if the Big Ten and Big East each decide to double in size this would have no effect on Akron's possibilities. Unfortunately, he is correct in this regard.

I believe I have it. There are few universities in the world with a bigger name than Our Lady of the Lake University. It is located south and west of the current Bigger 10 footprint and in a BIG market, San Antonio.

Oh well if the fan base is split 50/50, never mind.

Are you saying Akron is worse than the second best team in Northern Ohio. Those are fighting words in my book you traitor?

Really interesting speculation going on here, most of which is based on the possibility of Mizzou leaving the Big 12 to join the Big(er) 10. Only problem, there's NO WAY Mizzou would leave the Big 12, especially to join the Big 10. But keep up the good work. I think you guys are only a couple of wild eyed, hair-brained assumptions away from getting Akron into the Big 12 South.

Sagarin isn't a poll. It's a computer rating system. Jeff rates, among other things, 347 college football and basketball teams. Interestingly our final 2009 football rating of 134 doesn't look half bad (just don't limit your comparison to FBS schools only) compared to the current bball rating of 178.

the sunbelt is the conference mac schools match up with best...schedule home/home with that conference..at least it is competetive and its not a I-AA joke...Actually the conference that matches up best with the MAC is the (FCS) Colonial, which is rated higher than the Sun Belt. Ask folks from Temple whether Villanova was any good.

30 slots down, but still a solid number 2 in Northern Ohio according to Sagarin.Team National RanktOSU 15Dayton 46Cinn 52Xavier 60Wright St. 94Ke.nt 139Ohio 146Miami 161 Zips 178YSU 218CSU 226BG 229Toledo 306

Aren't you the guy that told us that Stoops was negotiating salary for his staff Wolford is getting the same deal as Stoops was set to get. The truth will come out in the coming days. I talked with someone personally VERY close to Mark and the Friday, OHSAA State Title Weekend, he was set to become the head coach here. Then he got the call down to Tallahassee to interview for the FSU DC job, and the rest is history.pm if you want to know who that person was.PLEASE keep us updated on this situation e. Most of the folks on this site are unwilling to admit it, but we live for news about the battlen flock at ysu.

Pass on PSU and Wisky in the same year.Give me Western Kentucky in our brand new stadium instead of an ass whooping in front of 70k.We should play at least 6 at home each year. Seven would be nice but we didn't build a stadium to sit idle.Ideally, yes. But, realistically, find a program comparable to Akron's that plays 7 home games a year. Even 6 might be tough to find in some cases.Ideally, I agree..I really would rather play another non-BCS FBS team than play at Browns Stadium. But I'm trying to mix what seems to be somewhat realistic when looking at the needs of fans, AD, coaches and team.Other than the Penn State game in Cleveland I think we should put you in charge of scheduling.