Aaron

The MAC bracket indicates a championship game Sunday noon, with a replay Sunday 3:30 if necessary. However, if both Akron and Can't win to make it to the final game, shouldn't it be 3 games? Doesn't look like the game schedule allows for that. Is there a 'total runs' tiebreaker after two games or something similar?

I haven't liked the MAC format of 4 teams on each side of the bracket playing down to one winner, instead of a true 8 team double elimination. As it stands now, Zips will potentially play the Buffalo / Miami winner twice tomorrow (if Akron loses the first game). After that, you play the winner of the other side of the bracket potentially twice. The MAC bracket is fairly standard for the first few games, but it's the last few that seems a little odd.

I'm sure it's a misprint - they always pencil in the number 1 seed from the tournament (WMU) as the conference winner when they don't expect anything from the conference champion (and don't feel like doing any conference research). Wouldn't be surprised if it was updated to WMU instead of EMU later today.

You should add hustle belt to that list - it's been pretty good this season.

Of course. Also, the NHL and NBA have large television deals, so you don't have to be at the arena to follow local teams, which makes the fan interest even greater than the attendance. I'm actually interested to see what percentage of sellout games there are (total) in MLB, NHL, and NBA.

Nice read. I agree that Soccer is rarely anybody's "favorite" sport in the US. The one thing soccer does well is get butts in the seats at their matches - in attendance figures per game they rank 3rd in the US - under the NFL and MLB, but above the NHL and NBA.

I am very thankful that Toledo is a home game this year. Hopefully the team can 'turn the corner' and make this a 14-2 Akron team against a 16-0 Toledo team (perhaps 15-1 after Toledo's trip to Kansas). That would be a fantastic MAC game, and an even sweeter win for the Zips. MAC basketball in the National spotlight Mid-January would be a nice change.

I noticed in the last ZipsLine from TW that the University is set to announce a "New Strategic Direction" with regards to sports on Monday. Has anybody heard rumors about what will be announced? Are we adding/dropping sports? Moving some sports to a new conference? I'm very curious on this one.

Sean, Probably best not to drudge up too many old threads, especially when everybody was already pissed off during the iCoach years. There are many great band supporters on the threads, lots of Ohio's Pride alums, KKY and TBS members as well. In recent history (last couple years), the band criticism has been constructive or comparitive - those aren't bad things. There was an adjustment period going from the Rubber Bowl to Infocision to get good sound. Dr. Karriker took change requests into consideration, and modified things slightly to make them better for everyone. I for one believe our band is awesome, definitely one of the best sounding in the MAC. I am 100% ok with us being a marching band on a limited budget (for now), not a dancing band or a big-budget crew. If the band ever does get a bigger budget, I think some of the things that Ohio State's band did in drill this year looked amazing, and would have sounded even better with a nice woodwind section to go with all that brass.

Music Education majors have to do two years (or at least used to). Everybody else in the band are volunteers. With the game being the day after Thanksgiving, it may have been a voluntary performance? Not sure. Were you referring to band size Friday, or band size this year?

I believe that Akron can and will beat every team with a losing record that we play this year. So far, we're 2-0, and will play two more teams with a losing record - Can't and UMass. If Akron takes care of business against them, ends up 4-8, then this season made good progress in my book. The Zips schedule this year has once again been absolutely BRUTAL, but the team is at least entertaining to watch again and gives you the feeling that they can come out and pull an upset on any other team any given Saturday. FWIW, Northern Illinois is currently ranked #3 in Sagarin's "Pure ELO" BCS computer numbers (W/L only, ignores score margins). Should make for some interesting rankings.

I'm planning on making the drive south as long as I can get out of work on time. It'll depend on the bridge traffic for me - getting back to the US on a Friday can be brutal. I'll be wearing a fear the roo hoodie and the scarf, doubt you'll have much trouble finding me among the buffalo crowd.

In that case, I'd make the call, but wouldn't expect OSU to accept - they are already playing Northern Illinois on 9/12. If N. Ill. falls through (as the article you linked indicated) it would be a nice matchup - less expenditure for Akron to get to their ATM game means more money to place elsewhere, and Akron's players under a GOOD coach should be really fired up to play Ohio State. I'd like to see Bowden coach against OSU in the 'shoe, if for no other reason then to get the bad memory of Ianello's stunt there out of my head.

I agree - LSU and OSU in the same month seems a little ridiculous for ANY team, let alone Akron. That's just not the way college football is scheduled (yet).

You're a little late to the game - they're in the final 4, return leg. Today at 2:45 you have Real Madrid vs. Borussia Dortmund (Dortmund leads 4-1) Tomorrow at 2:45 is FC Barca vs. Bayern Munich (Bayern leads 4-0) Final is on May 25th at Wembley (London).

I vote 'No' on being drafted, but primarily because of his position. I think Cody Zeller entering the draft probably pushed Zeke down from a late 2nd round to out of it. I fully expect Zeke to be signed to the NBA D-League this summer, and on a team next year if the improvement he showed at Akron continues.

So the coaches and AP poll agree that the Zips are #37. Not bad.

Maybe I'm wrong, but if the list of games posted here is correct: http://espnbracketbusters.com/site/about/tv-schedule?id=12 It would mean that Akron, Ohio, and Buffalo all will get TV games?

The plan as I understand it was 2 wins this year, and 4 next year. I'll give the team Miami as 'win' #2 this year, but I will not be satisfied with less than 4 REAL wins next year.

I was looking at Top Drawer Soccer - sorry I identified the polls wrong. I'm surprised there's such a big difference.

This is especially true since I'd give Washington a decent shot at upsetting Creighton. Those teams are both way too highly ranked to meet this early. Creighton was #8 and Washington #10 in the last coaches poll. Just focus on beating Michigan. The way Michigan came to life late in the last game scares me a little, since that's exactly the same point in the game we have been likely to give up goals in the past.

I apologize if I missed this elsewhere, but why isn't Tulsa hosting their 'home' game? I realize it has been set from the time the bracket came out, but I was curious as to why that is. Also, I want to make sure that whatever reason they are using to deny Tulsa a home game cannot be applied to Akron in the future!

It's a credit to our defense that we're only down 7 right now.

Why are we chucking up SO MANY 3 pt shots? There's a possibility to get inside. Leads to a 4+ min scoring drought. Ugh.

Exactly. Why did it take 22 years to get an on-campus stadium? Why did the Rubber Bowl go 20 years between needed renovations? Why did the University just give up on it for the last 12 years of its existence? Moderate football success, instead of being nurtured to something greater, was instead stifled. Do you think the same attitude exists now? We will need to find some moderate success first to see where it NOW leads. Hasn't enough changed in the past few years to warrant an attempt at moderate success in FBS, and we as fans can hope it will be nurtured and supported into something greater this time around?