Zipmeister

The success at Cincinnati has been pretty simple to explain.First, they have made themselves one of the best teams in a conference that nearly isn't as good as it used to be. They also get BCS money and the great Basketball money from being in the Big East. Cincy joined the Big East in the 2005-2006 season. Around that time, VT, Miami and BC exited the league for the ACC. Good teams remaining were WVU and to some extent Pitt. Every league needs a team that can compete with the top two and Cincy filled that void well...Cincy and WVU will be a great game. The timing of the jump to the BE could not have been better.Secondly, the hiring of Kelly was not as much genius as it was obvious. At the time, Kelly was a star on the rise and he got out of CMU before the black hole that is the MAC could destroy his career. Kelly knows one thing for sure....you need a qb that can run his offense and run it well. Mauk and Pike fit that offense to a T. CK's favorite player at CMU fit it well also. The program Kelly took over wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible either. There was something to work with and our next coach will have something to work with when he gets here. I reamain optimistic about UofA being the best team in a bad conference in the near future.Thirdly, one of the P's of marketing is product. What is Cincy selling? Winning is now one of the things. Good players are easy to sell. Oh, and by the way, ConferenceDOA is not one of the things they are selling. Being at the BCS level opens up the door for huge paydays and national coverage. A school at least goes from being being the Tuesday or Wednesday night game to prime time on Thursday and then tonight is another BE game on ESPN. Nobody in Cincy wants to go watch Tulsa, Marshall, Tulane or any of the other pieces of crap C-DOA is selling. I don't see the difference in Tulsa or Central Michigan as far as my interest level.Where is UofA? Well, we need to become the best team in a bad conference. I believe we can. Second, we need a guy like Kelly who can come in next year, win immediately and then move on to his payday. The talent is there. The problem UofA has is they are in the MAC and it is where they belong. The MAC is a bad conference and the only move we can make is to a league like C-DOA which is what we would be upon crashing in that league.Here is where reality sets in and it's more than just saying, "Enough is enough". I hate to use Rosa Parks as an example because the struggles of minority groups in the 1950s pales in comparison to the struggles of UofA football, but here it goes. Rosa Parks just wasn't some lady who sat on the bus and said no. That day was carefully orchestrated by civil rights groups. The country was at a point where people were beginning to see the world and minority groups differently. Blacks served and fought in the Army in WWII and the Korean War yet they were still held back by a large part of society. Over time, blacks realized they had a lot of power in society and exercised it through marches, boycotts, etc. They may not have had a lot of money, but they had justice and morality on their side.What does the Rosa Parks analogy mean for the MAC. Change happened because people were listening, and not just black people. Who is listening to the MAC? There is a better chance of ZipsWin! missing a home MBB game than the country beginning to care about the MAC. People cared about the injustice black people were experiencing. Nobody cares about he injustice the MAC is experiencing. Not only does the country not care, but I'm at the point where I don't even think the NCAA cares about the MAC. Why should anyone care? College football as it is now is exciting for the public, making money for the big schools which is exactly the way the NCAA wants it and making money for the networks which is exactly what the NCAA wants also.Can the MAC boycott and what would they boycott? The MAC is the prostitute of the NCAA along with the other Tier 3 conferences. MAC schools have to accept paydays from BCS schools because they need the money. Even if they boycotted, nobody would care and the BCS schools would just dip down into I-AA schools for their non-conference games. Nobody at tOSU cares of they win three games against Akron, Can't, OU or YSU, Indiana State, Eastern Illinois. The stadium will be filled regardless. Enough is enough alright. Sometimes a doctor has to cut off a leg in order to save the patient. It's time for the MAC to move to I-AA if it wants to stay alive. "Growing" by adding more bad teams to an already bad league is not the answer. Jumping to conferences like C-DOA is not the answer and I have no idea why the Big East would want a MAC team to join their league.I wish it was different, but wishing again takes me back to something my mother once told me, "Make a wish or s#!t in your hat. See which one fills up first." 20+ years is enough. It's time to live in the world of reality.Your Rosa Parks analogy will be appropriate when people start watching the MAC because they are too tired to switch the TV away from a MAC game. I have actually talked to Rosa (no joke) and according to her there was no orchestration by civil rights groups behind her bus incident. She told me she was just to tired to move to the back of the bus.

a two star and a one star probably doesn't qualify as a recruiting upgrade.

Sounds like if we got both we would have a miniature version of UK's King (Rick Robey) and Kong (Manchester High product, Mike Phillips) show.

If we get a #13 (typical for a MAC champ), then that assumes that Butler would be a #4....and that's not gonna happen. And I would truly root against that. We can't be letting Horizon teams get high seeds.How do you recommend that we prevent Horizon teams from getting high seeds? If your plan works we should probably try it out on other conferences as well.

A fairly insightful piece. Would have appreciated hearing his reason for picking NIU 1st in the West.

I voted for something else. I think anyone from this league ( http://www.afl.com.au/ ) would fit great with a Fear the Roo culture.

Try a hot compress to reduce the swelling.

...and you've proven it with your post 'Meister.Here's the shocker to you my friend. Bottom's up! I'm rubber, your glue. Whatever you say bounces off me and sticks on you.

Bad news and good news for stz: you're only young once, but you can be stupid forever.

The what?Come on gpuno, get with the flow. It would behoove you to check them out at http://kenpom.com/rate.php and you will see they currently have Akron tied for the number 1 ranking.

Give me a couple of hits off of whatever dreal is smokin.And in reply to: "On a related note, is Bain's UA career officially over?"Yes, as of two years ago.

I think the Zips will win by 14. I had help on this one. Turns out the Mayans predicted this, so I have to go with their prediction.

Well as best I can tell one of their most important cities still stands, unlike any of that modern Aztec construction.Wow, never, ever imagined I might see Mayan vs. Aztec (well maybe if it was San Diego St) smack talk on this board. Never know what you're going to see in ZNO. It's a "New World" baby. Next you will be telling me the Mayans were superior to the Incans. You Mayan apologists frost my buns. I hope we aren't straying too far off topic.

But getting ND merely on the schedule and getting them to play Akron on the road are two totally different things. Really think they'd ever do that?Yes I do and I think it will be October 12, 2013.Well I know that can't be accurate, the Mayans said that the earth would end in 2012, so, I'm thinking 10/13/2012. Though the Mayan calendar also showed us playing OSU at the Q on 12/15/2011 so take that for what it's worth.Well if they said it it must be true. How is that whole Mayan Empire thing working out? Remember October 12, 2013.

To be fair they should use the women's rpi rather than the men's rpi to select teams for the womens d1 tourney.

But getting ND merely on the schedule and getting them to play Akron on the road are two totally different things. Really think they'd ever do that?Yes I do and I think it will be October 12, 2013.

Yes, because we have Monster Feet.

I stand corrected. I forgot A-10 football decided to go by the name Colonial Athletic Association a few years ago.Not trying to be jerking on this but the CAA is not in any way the former A-10 conference. The teams in the CAA are their own conference for all sports. Schools such as James Madison, William and Mary, Richmond, George Mason, and Delaware make up the conference. The A-10 dropped football as a conference. Schools that have programs joined as affliates with other conferences. Currently the CAA is loaded with schools at the top of I-AA(3 in the top 5) and would be a good place to start the search.Well you succeeded anyway. IN EFFECT, what I stated is the absolute truth (see wiki link below.....got to A-10 football near the bottom of the link). CAA FOOTBALL is essentially the former A-10 FOOTBALL conference. Perhaps you should do a little research before you open your mouth next time.LinkJohnny, Johnny, Johnny.You can't believe everything you read on the Internet. That's how World War I got started.

Big deal...I was one of the top 2011 prospects in the state of Ohio back in 1984. I think I #2004?Close. A review of the official records for that year reveals that you were 2004 in the next to last week of 1984. BUT, in the final 1984 ranking you fell to 2006, being passed by Virgil Gunch, third string point guard for Division V power Pleasant City, and Pearl Smith, a young lady pressed into service for Byesville Consolidated High School after two of the six boys at the school were injured in a metal shop accident.

This is not true nor is the campus built on an old cemetery.

I noticed that too. None of the offensive players have registered any sacks and only a few have made tackles (after interceptions). In the good old days you could count on someone on the sidelines tripping up an opposing ball carrier as he ran too close to our sideline.

Apparently you did not see the Capt's recent prediction that we will finish the year 7-5. This implies several wins including one we have already lost. Must be a forfeit for ineligible players or something. On a related note, while we haven't won a game since Morgan State, they haven't lost one since then. Little did we realize at the time that that game would be the turning point for both teams.

What's better than quarterback?

I think you have them in the correct order. Yes, go with that.

I think if you ask DrZ this question he will agree that if someone is doing this to an Akron player it should be a foul, but if anyone is doing it to an osu player it is ok.