ZachTheZip

Would not at all be surprised if two of those six basketball games on STO are against CSU and YSU... Just saying.. I would actually hope those two are part of the package. It makes sense if you want more viewers from the area to watch on TV (for the lazy people who think Akron is too far a drive from Cleveland or Youngstown).

I agree. Any and all TV is good. The more the better. It makes Zips football even more of an event. I do wish, however, that we had some of the away games televised. Oh, well. It's a start! The problem is that away game broadcasts would have to be produced by the hosting school. It's expensive and most MAC schools aren't willing to put that much effort into it (thankfully we are, a good sign towards separating our athletic department from the rest of the MAC) beyond Ball State who has their own TV station and production crew. This might also become a huge step towards having broadcast-quality ZipsZone streams online.

Our deal is not a bad one, simply because it's our deal. Not every school even has a local TV package, instead just riding their conference's package. Anything beyond the MAC's deal is icing.

Did you even see that Akron just inked an exclusive deal with STO, beyond the MAC package? How exclusive is it? Looks like a few teams are in on the exclusive deal. Eastern Michigan? Buffalo? I'm going to say this as simply as possible for you. The MAC has a deal with STO. Akron has a deal with STO. They provide different games under different contracts. EMU's games and Buffalo's games are provided by the MAC deal. Akron's game against WMU is covered by Akron's exclusive deal, but was listed with the MAC games because STO listed all their games involving MAC teams at once regardless of whose media contract it fell under (that's why they also listed EMU @ Miami, which is covered under Miami's deal). Akron's deal with STO is to broadcast a very specific set of games: Versus WMU in football, Michigan and Creighton in soccer, and six men's and women's basketball games (opponents TBA). All the other games are part of the MAC's deal, which, again, is seperate from Akron's deal that just happens to be on the same network. You wouldn't call the SEC and the PAC-10 being "in on the same exclusive deal" just because they both have contracts with ESPN and sometimes play each other. I believe that the "exclusive" nomenclature for our deal refers more to Akron not being allowed to sign with another station (fox sports, local news channels) to provide additional coverage.

The WMU game is the only football game in our exclusive deal. It's separate from the MAC deal which is what all the other games are under.

Did you even see that Akron just inked an exclusive deal with STO, beyond the MAC package?

I think we'll still see Rodgers in wildcat packages. He may have been the best rusher on the team last season.

Back to the QB situation, does anybody know when practice starts today?

Rivals rates him with three stars.

I don't think that matters any more. Almost every single one of our assistants played, though.

The announcement will probably happen via Twitter.

So looking at 2011, we have two supposed "payday" games. But how much do they pay? OSU just announced they're paying Colorado $1.4 million to play in Columbus right after they play the Zips. Now I know the Buffs are in the BCS and so carry a bigger price tag, but I would hope Akron at the very least get $750k for this game. Anything else and we're getting much less than we could in an age where $1 million paydays are becoming common. Cinci probably pays less since it was part of a series.

If we don't make a bowl game this season, we'll find ourselves on it because the MAC championship season will drop off.

The most important question that hasn't been asked yet: Is this year's team better than last year's team?

There is a whole lot of baseless doubt flying around here today. The optimism is equally baseless.

All of the talk about Nicely being a done deal assumes we have a coach competent enough to make the right call. That's why I'm doubting.

I know alot of Cuse fans are staying north of Akron in Macedonia next to I-271. I've driven through the area and looks pretty nice. Any good late night restaurants around Macedonia that will still serve around 11pm? BTW, so where is "The Valley"? anyone have a street intersection? I googled it and it looked to be pretty far out in the suburbs. Macedonia? There's no way to get to campus from there without driving through major construction. Route 8 is still the fastest way, but you have to go through the Boston Heights speed trap. Macedonia is mostly chain restaurants and strip malls. It's about the most generic suburb that you'll ever see, unless you head off into the national park. As far as the Valley goes, it's still in Akron, but barely. We're used to having to drive to get places. Nothing's really centrally located in Akron, everything is spread out all over so we don't really think about it. It's where most of the complaints come from when people out of town complain that there's nothing to do, because they don't know where to go and wrongly assume that all the good stuff is concentrated downtown like in other cities.

Swensons if you want to experience a different kind of burger, while eating in your car like at a '50s drive-up joint. There are several locations around town. One is right next to the aforementioned Metroburger. But if you want something close to the stadium, your options are pretty limited. When the stadium was built last year, there wasn't much to begin with. It was hoped that in time the regular crowds of people from our games and high school games and concerts (seriously, Akron, get some concerts here) would spur some development in the area. There is a Buffalo Wild Wings across the street. Europe Gyro was mentioned. We have Subway, McDonalds, Penn Station, and Taco Bell right there if you want to stick to fast food chains. Something that's happened recently is a flourishing in the area bridging campus and downtown thanks to a new student apartment complex. There you'll find some of the college bars like the Barley House. There's also a Jimmy Johns sandwich shop, a Brubakers, another Subway, some clubs, th Spaghetti Warehouse, Lock 3 park (some event is always guaranteed to be happening there), and The Ohio Brewing Company among others. That's all along Main Street on either side of Exchange Street. Also, I'm shocked to see that no Chipotles are located in or near Syracuse. Go get some burritos. And a word of caution when navigating downtown Akron. half the streets are one-way. A GPS is strongly recommended lest you find yourself going the wrong way into oncoming traffic.

The jokes write themselves.

Conference schedule announced. If the MAC can release a schedule, surely Akron can release one soon. Big highlight is opening the MAC schedule at home against Can't. Hopefully class is back in session by then.

New place to eat opens up near campus: The Pita Pit

UA's F1 racing team recruiting new members

The new parking garage opens tomorrow. So avoid driving near there at all costs.

Hyvä onni tulevaisuuskoripallo urallasi!

See here. So we have an experienced backup under that plan. Great. As everybody knows, it's more important to have experienced back-ups riding the bench than to have capable starters out on the field. If Rodgers leaving meant that Nicely would improve thanks to more time practicing with the starters and working with the coaches, I would let him go. But now if Nicely doesn't do that well thanks to limited reps in camp you can always put Rodgers out there because, hey look we have an experienced back-up. It's a lose-lose for Nicely; a self-fulfilling prophecy. Leaving Rodgers in the competition only hurts Nicely, who as the starting QB is the most important player on the team. I don't see how anybody can say that that is a good thing.