KNCLZip

Just came across email.....not sure if or how this affects the game.Subject: UNIVERSITY CLOSING AT 3 P.M. TODAYImportance: HighWe just received word from the Provost’s Office that the University is closing at 3 p.m. today. Therefore, classes will not be held from 3:00 p.m. on. Offices will close at 3:00 p.m. for employees and students. As for tomorrow, please check the snow line (330-972-SNOW), radio, and television later this evening or in the morning as a decision will be made later as conditions warrant. Thank you.

I like the Weather Channel's forecast from this morning better....just an inch or two. The local TV stations are making much more dire predictions....If it is bad, though, and UA closes, I wonder if they would reschedule the game. Not that closing UA is that likely....

Wow....how many days of school are they going to miss for an in-state game? Barring bad weather, couldn't they leave Tuesday morning and still get here in plenty of time? Even if they're traveling tonight, that seems like an extra night's hotel and stuff that isn't totally necessary.

Would they postpone the game, especially if OU's travel would be dangerous?

School official calls foul on hecklersJust amazing. The t-shirt thing is one thing, but ejecting students for doing "Airball"? Puh-leeze! I doubt it will happen, but if this kind of thing ever happens at UA, all h-e-double hockey sticks would break out. I think that everyone can agree on that.

It's growing pains; things will only get better. Throwing around comments like calling people assholes is no good. The leaders obviously want to do whatever they can and will take care of things.The band doesn't belong in the lower seats. Let the band stay in the upper arena. That's got to be an Athletic Department decision versus an AK-Rowdies one, but the AD needs to get with it and stop changing things during the first full year of their regime. The Roo Zoo name being implemented by the new gang was so-so; moving the students at the Rubber Bowl was not very good (and not allowing anyone to walk around the walkway at the south end of the field, instead making them climb the steps, walk around the upper walkway, and then walk all the way back down was very stupid too), and moving the band to the lower seats at the JAR is poor. The AD has to cooperate here.....

The Myspace profile and Facebook groups are also good places to put info. One problem right now is that the email list is so incomplete that lots of people aren't hearing about stuff. The lack of a web site, considering that there was one last year, is really sad. If UA hadn't changed web providers for gozips.com this year, the web site would still be up. How something like that can happen is beyond me, but there's lots of problems with the new gozips.com and this is just one of them.

One thing that I think needs to be definitely done is to revive the web site. The AK_Rowdies link on the gozips.com home page leads to a page about spirit groups that doesn't even mention the AK-Rowdies and only mentions the Rubber Bowl, blowing off the JAR. (How many months now and gozips.com is still not "done" yet?!?!? That's inexcusable!) Typing in www.ak-rowdies.com (which used to work and directed you to a page on the gozips.cstv.com) now sends you to a generic CSTV error page. If information about t-shirts, etc. could be posted on the web with links to the AK-Rowdies leaders' email addresses and stuff, with whatever address the stuff is at linked from www.ak-rowdies.com, then life would be a whole lot easier!! I'll even volunteer space on my departmental web site to redirect to if that will help.According to last night's Rowdy, they're planning a meeting on the 18th. Hopefully all this can get straightened out then and folks like RowdyZip's friend will give the leaders a break and rejoin the excitement on the 19th. The AK-Rowdies members and RowdyZip's friend want the same thing when you get down to it; it's unfortunate that details got in the way but hopefully he'll get his t-shirt and be back for the doubleheader.

This year's shirts are harder to color-match than navy blue ones; there are lots of different shades of gold that you can get a t-shirt in. I have several Zips t-shirts in gold that I've bought at the JAR team shop and they wouldn't match this year's Rowdies shirt. It definitely would look better to have everyone in the same color than in seven shades of gold. Navy blue might be easier to pull off but I don't think that asking that people wear the particular shirt is too big an imposition. When we're playing conference games, everyone will know what to do and we'll have no problem filling up the floor seats.It will only take a couple times with the rule being enforced strictly for people to fall into line. It's a lot easier to be strict starting off and possibly loosen up later on than to try to become more strict as the season progresses.I wish RowdyZip's friend would have stayed at the game; Section 5 is there for overflow and for AK-Rowdies who don't have their t-shirt on. It's too bad that he turned around and left. Maybe he did not know about that since I assume he wasn't at the initial meeting (where this was discussed) since he didn't have a t-shirt.I'm pretty sure that the AK-Rowdies leadership cares about the Zips and wants nothing more than for students to support the Zips. I'm sure they appreciate constructive feedback; the key is to create light, not heat.

Watch Eric Mansfield weeknights at 6:30 & 10 p.m. on Time Warner Cable 23Akron Canton 23I really never have watched. The Akron-Canton News is now on cable only, not broadcast TV. Urbanpreppie's correct that in the past things might have worked out to make Akron-Canton its own TV market, but according to the FCC (who identifies markets because of rules dealing with ownership of stations in the same market, etc.) Akron is part of the Cleveland-Akron-Canton market. Back when channel 23 was an ABC station, WEWS constantly lobbied ABC to drop affiliation with WAKC (WAKR) since it was siphoning ABC viewers. If there were only a couple more Akron-Canton TV stations, it could have become its own market with a set of network affiliates. That opportunity's passed now...Btw, when ABC releases regional college football coverage maps, they still show WAKC Akron.....10 years after the station dropped ABC affiliation!

travel.state.gov linkAs early as January 1, 2008, ALL persons, including U.S. citizens, traveling between the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda by land or sea (including ferries), may be required to present a valid passport or other documents as determined by the Department of Homeland Security. While recent legislative changes permit a later deadline, the Departments of State and Homeland Security are working to meet all requirements as soon as possible. Ample advance notice will be provided to enable the public to obtain passports or passport cards for land/sea entries.

This recording of the game that folks have....can I get a copy from anyone? Thanks....

Certainly the ultimate responsibility falls to the athletic department when the buck stops, but I do find it interesting that the athletic department could organize a trip with little notice that went off very well, while the Alumni Association had more time to organize the bowl trip yet screwed it up so badly. I wish there was better oversight there, because it was a real black eye for UA as a whole.Hopefully we won't see the outside provider jack prices up in subsequent years, especially for students. The free/cheap rides and tickets for students (made possible by sponsors) really helped draw crowds for the last 2 games of 2005. I'd hate to see our fickle fanbace decimated by a perceived large increase in price. I guess that's what worries me most....

Don't forget that the Athletic Department's bus trip to the MAC Championship Game was well-done and the buses left in plenty of time (noon for the 7:30 kickoff). The Alumni Association decided that leaving at 10:30 for a 4pm kickoff was plenty of time, even though I called and emailed several times warning them that they were setting up a disaster, and look what happened. They alienated a lot of people who missed the kickoff, when they could have gotten people there early, allowed them to enjoy the pregame party, schmoozed people for donations/ZAC memberships, etc., and will never get the chance to make that first impression again. I was very disappointed and wouldn't ever go on an Alumni Association organized trip again. Now a bus trip organized by the Athletic Department I would do. What I worry about is that the outside vendor might try to soak people since they need to make their own cut of the profit.....Fans are fickle and what seems like a small price increase might drive a lot away.

I wonder if the old content is lost for good now....think the final version of the new site will have any stories, stats, etc. in the archives? The Team Shop online is "coming soon"....too bad they didn't have the new site completely ready to go when they unplugged the old one. The AK-Rowdies link also leads to a page that has no information. I know they say August, but they should have this stuff up now. They could have tried to have some of this stuff ready in the interim version anyway.US Airways did a similar thing with pulling the plug on the previous web site and implementing their new web site before it was really ready, and their customers were pretty mad. At least gozips.com isn't selling airline tickets and stuff.....The new site wastes a lot of space on the right side of the screen. And the abbreviations are wacky....MSOC? BSB? Just spell it out.....Mac-sports.com also moved (as noted above), and I can't click on any sport links because the pop-out menus of sports disappear when I move the mouse pointer over them! What a mess.....

They just finished a massive renovation of the interior of Leigh Hall a couple years ago, including new distance education facilities, classrooms, offices, etc. Unfortunately they didn't change the exterior at all. Leigh Hall isn't going anywhere for at least another few dozen years. (Too bad they didn't redo the exterior in red brick or something.....the interior of the building is now very nice. The exterior is straight out of the past...)

Her article was taken, exactly as she wrote it, and published in the paper. The paper listed the author as "Staff report". She is not on the staff of the Buchtellite. Therefore, the staff is taking credit for a piece of writing that a non-staff member wrote. That is plagiarism...I don't know why anyone would struggle to see that... When I was an undergraduate at Delaware taking English 307, the class on News Writing and Editiing, it was standard practice for the student newspaper (The Review) to byline stories by members of the class as "Staff Reporter". This even though when you wrote an article, you were not allowed to say when interviewing people that you were reporting for The Review unless you were assigned the story by an editor, i.e., the class assignments to write a feature story, etc, involved interviewing people, but you had to tell them that you were an E307 student who would try to freelance the story to The Review. One time a student in my dorm came in having just been beaten up and mugged for his groceries across the street, and I called the campus news editor immediately, and she put me on the story officially. Then I could ask witnesses, the police, roommates, etc. for interviews and say I was "with The Review". But either way, it has to be understood that if you submit it for publication, it becomes property of the newspaper. It's standard journalistic practice not to report on yourself without explicitly stating as such. That's just part of journalism! Sharon Reed's "Body of Work" piece involved the reporter as part of the story, but explicity, so it falls into a different category. Unfortunately for her, it seems like the Buchtelite is more in the right than the author here.

If Toledo was such a bad team, explain this:Akron 69Toledo 77 Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while..... So when a 12 seed beats a 5 in the NCAAs, does that mean that the 12 is the better team, or just that the 12 seed found a way to beat a superior opponent that day?If Toledo were a better team, why were the Zips invited to the NIT and not Toledo?

I love Fear the Roo......I think the timing was fine. With the great fall we had, it was the ideal time for it.I couldn't keep the Fear the Roo posters hanging in the windows of KNCL facing Polymer....apparently people like them too much to leave alone.

The standards of evidence in criminal court vs. civil court vs. a university hearing can vary. Due process is required in all cases, but the evidence standard can vary from "beyond a reasonable doubt" to "more likely than not" or beyond. Fair? Maybe not......Proenza's email on Wednesday outlined some actions he plans to take:Review of Law Enforcement Policies and PracticesWhile neither I nor other University officers were made aware of the criminal background of the confidential informant, we did agree to a joint operation with the Summit County Drug Unit because of reports of illegal drug activity in and around our residence halls in 2002. The 20-month investigation resulted in 18 arrests and significantly curtailed drug activity on campus. The drug unit selected and supervised a confidential informant who was placed in a residence hall for about two months of that investigation.The questions raised by many of you about the appropriateness of the confidential informant’s presence there are important ones that merit full consideration. Therefore, I have directed an analysis of all cooperative agreements with law enforcement agencies and any relevant policies or practices to ensure that current and future law enforcement tactics are appropriate for a University environment.Review of Student Disciplinary ProcessFurther, in response to a variety of concerns, I am calling for a thorough assessment of University regulations governing the student disciplinary process.Review of Employee ActionsFinally, this experience has called to my attention some employee actions that must be examined in order to improve both our processes and attention to detail and service. Therefore, I have initiated a comprehensive review of the processing of all aspects of this case to identify target areas for attention and improvement.This whole thing is very unfortunate and I hope it doesn't undo all the positve attention UA has gotten recently.

Hey, long-time lurker here. I was among the "guests" on the board during some of the away games including the two NIT games this past week. There's not a better place to get info during the game.....It was a great season and the best is yet to come. The Zips made a great effort in the NIT and I'm proud of them. I can't wait.....on Wednesday I can pick up my gold game jersey. Although I like the shorts too.....I wish they would have sold those too.

Long-time lurker, first time poster here......The uniforms are fine as is. It would be nice if they would leave the white AND blue jerseys alone since it seems that we go with white when we have a choice, like us being the "home" team at the Motor City Bowl and wearing white. Why change the uniforms we wear in big-time appearances like bowls or games in Columbus or Madison? Plus, my jersey is the current white variety and I'd like to stay current. We don't need to make changes every year. We're growing in profile and should keep some continuity in our appearance. The Thanksgiving throwbacks were great and it would be nice to see those once in a while, but keep the primary jersey, both home and away, the same as now!