ZachTheZip

I'm recruiting voters at my work, and talking to many students about it. What's scary is that a lot of students don't even know that this is going on, and have never heard of it. If somebody in the AK-Rowdies is reading this, I think there should be a table in the Union with a bunch of laptops like a Zippy voting station where we can walk students through registration and get as many people involved as possible.And if the ABJ is going to run a story, I'll bet that they put it up on Tuesday.

JD never had a chance of being considered for the CSU job if they looked at his track record here. Every year he has been HC, our record gets worse. Our recruits can't stay eligible, he ignores parts of the team while taking total control of other parts. He hires terrible coordinators. If we don't see some changes in the way of playcalling, we might have a new HC to go along with our new stadium.The recruits flunking is more of a problem with the athletic department as a whole, and I won't get into that here. But you should all know that the budget is the same as it has been for years, with no increases. We have what is quite possibly the smallest athletic budget in D-IA, and also lower than quite a few D-IAA schools, if what I am told is correct.

OSU has one team on their OOC schedule per year that is at their level, usually. They then play three easier teams. Why should we play three teams far beyond our level every year? One money game a year is enough, unless the budget problem in our athletic problem is far worse than anything we could imagine. Think of this: ONE money game against a BCS team we stand no chance against, but pays out very well. Two teams from the C-USA or MWC/WAC. One team like Army or from the Sun-Belt or a 1-AA team. That means on any given year we have a chance of going anywhere from 3-1 to 1-3, butat least we have a chance, unlike our current scheduling process. You want to be bowl eligible? Schedule more winnable games. It doesn't matter who you beat, as long as you have 7 wins. Why beat your team up against juggernauts you can't beat before conference play even starts, just for a paycheck, while destroying your teams bodies and confidence? It makes no sense. OSU would never schedule USC, Texas, and Florida all on the road in the same year. Their AD would be fired on the spot because it's not how you make a winning team.

We're in, but it was damn close. EVERYBODY NEEDS TO VOTE WITH EVERY SCREENNAME THEY HAVE EVERY DAY, PLUS MORE.Zippy will win this thing if it kills me.

I'm not sure on attendance. The Rowdies were loud enough to be heard over the radio a few times, although they didn't do much in the way of chants defensively. It shouldn't matter what the score is, you guys need to be loud and obnoxious every time the other team so much as looks at the ball.

96-49 Final. Bardo and McKnight have proven that they can play solidly for extended minutes. The only player on the entire team not to score was Salee.

87-43 Akron. 3:50 to go. Bardo having his best game ever.

Up 72-28. Both Bardo and McKnight with career highs (although that's not too hard to achieve). We're finally seeing bench players contribute big.

Akron pasting NC Central 61-23 at the half. :blink: I knew NC Central was bad, but they're playing like a HS team.

51-20 with 4 minutes left. Any score less than 110-50 will be a dissapointment.

Zips up 45-16. Bardo and McKnight are finally going to get a chance to see what they can do. Goddard is already in.

McKnight is having a coming out game. he already has matched his career high in the first 10 minutes.

Akron is up 18-9 right now. I wish I could be there.

Dayton just beat #11 Louisville on the road. This team is by far the most difficult one on the schedule. According to RealtimeRPI, after the win, they now have the #10 RPI in the country with their only loss @ George Mason. They have already beat Holy Cross, Toledo, Miami (OH), and SMU. A win there would do wonders to our RPI and to the teams confidence heading into MAC play with Miami being the next game we play after the flyers.

Funny!!!!I don't know if it will keep Akron from becoming Youngstown, but it may slow it down for a year or two.Only the ABJ could sell this story as some big deal for the Mayor. At a minimum, the Mayor should be maintaining the current business base in Akron. The ABJ should only get excited when they start bringing jobs to Akron.On a side note relating to the ABJ, notice my signature line. It references one of the great shows ever on television (HBO). The new season of The Wire will start in a few weeks and it will be the last season. Each season of the program has an underlying theme pertaining to why the urban areas are just broken. This year will be about the media and how it contributes to the fractures in urban areas. The ABJ is a horrible paper that is somewhat responsible for the lack of reporting on the problems in NE Ohio, especially in the city of Akron. Every bit of bashing this board does on the ABJ is justified.GP1, it may be hard to believe, but you are actually underestimating the effect that the ABJ has on the negative aura surrounding the University of Akron. I suggest you read some of the discussions that are held on the Ohio.com messageboards about the stories that are written. There is an incredible hatred of all things UA held by many residents. They don't understand what UA is trying to do by improving facilities and eliminating the ghetto that surrounds campus. they are trained all their lives to believe that UA is hilltop highschool and that it is just a communitty college that people go to when they are too stupid to make it into OSU. Whenever UA announces a plan to improve the campus or accademics, people come rushing from all over the area to bash it as a waste of taxpayers money and they ask the questions like "Why would UA do that? They are an urban campus! They don't need things like trees. Urban campuses serve simple people who don't go to Can't or OSU and shouldn't care whether they have nice things." It's terrible. The amount of hate spewing from the people who benefit from UA keeping this city barely afloat is astounding. They revel in their own ignorance. I'm glad that there's a few voices of reason enough to balance them out.Here's just a few examples, if you can stomach them:Discussion about the stadium upgradesAbout the renters on the stadium siteAbout the $1000000 donation for a new commons behind Buchtel Hall

This is a game to rest your injured and see what your bench players can give you. Put Bardo out there, put McKnight out there, feed the ball to Linhart to see if he can find his confidence.

If either one of them returns next year, he have an instant replacement talent-wise for Jabari leaving. Also, If Rodgers is half as good as advertised, he will still provide an upgrade over last years mess behind center. Plus Andrew Johnson becoming eligible means that we should have an offense to be feared next year. If the playcalling can change to reflect the talent we have on the field, it should be an exciting year to end the Rubber Bowl era.

When it was revealed, they stated that the stadium would pay for itself over a period of time thanks to the luxury boxes being ridiculously expensive, and the ability to host events like HS football and concerts. Selling out the stadium with better competition at home can't hurt. I'm cautiously optimistic about the whole thing, and as a fan who attends most games, anything on campus is better than the Rubber Bowl. If they really wanted to start making money with it, they'd sell beer to entice all the fraternity and sorority kids to the games, but that depends on whether they want to keep their status as a dry campus.

Start a few "Vote for Zippy chants" at saturday's basketball game! Send out some e-mails! 300 vote leads can dissappear in an instant.

http://www.ohio.com/news/top_stories/12238961.htmlZips' stadium to gain building and upgrades Cost climbs with addition of two-story structure, brick facade By Carol Biliczky Beacon Journal staff writerPublished on Friday, Dec 07, 2007 The University of Akron has added bells and whistles to its new stadium, increasing the construction cost from $55 million to $61.5 million.Athletic Director Mack Rhoades said the extras will improve the looks and usability of the long-awaited multipurpose facility southeast of campus.''You get a chance to build a stadium one time,'' Rhoades said. ''We thought these alternatives were very, very important.''In addition to the construction costs, the university will spend $2 million to $3 million to finance the project. That will bring the total cost to about $64 million, said John Case, UA's chief financial officerThe university unveiled the plans for the stadium in August. It will accommodate 30,000 people seated and standing, be used for a wide range of events and will bring football back to campus for the first time in almost 50 years. The Zips now play at the aging Rubber Bowl several miles away.The most visible new add-on might be a 16,800-square-foot facility at the north end of the stadium. The first floor will be for football game-day activities, sports medicine offices and staging areas for special events.The use of the second floor — which will be on the same elevation as Vine Street to the north — hasn'tbeen determined, Rhoades said. ''Potentially we could program that for various sports teams,'' he said.UA administrators added a back side to the scoreboard on the south side of the field facing East Exchange Street. It will display announcements of UA events and messages of advertisers, so it will bring money into the university.Administrators also added premium, movable glass doors to the loges instead of fixed glass panels with open-air hoppers on top. And they chose to cover the east side of the stadium with a brick and stone facade.The latter will improve the look of the facility when viewed from the new, $32.5 million residence hall that will be going up next to it at the same time, said Ted Curtis, UA vice president for capital planning and facilities management.''It will have the same architectural style as the west side of the stadium,'' Curtis said. ''We felt compelled to do this. We felt these items were needed.''The university will pay for the extras by selling more bonds, Rhoades said.In addition, UA is continuing to market naming rights and to sell elements of virtually every square inch of the facility to drum up $30 million of the total cost. Luxury suites seating 16 cost $20,000 a year; loge boxes with four seats, $5,000 a year; and club seats, $1,000 a year, plus much more.Rhoades said about $21 million had been donated or pledged and that he is ''hopeful at this time'' that the university will meet its mark.The largest gift to date, $10 million, came from Gary and Karen Taylor of InfoCision Inc.; the second largest, from Summa Health System, which gave $5 million.The university will pay back the bonds in part with the donations, some of which will be spread over many years, Rhoades said.In the meantime, UA trustees have approved architectural plans but have yet to award any bids.Curtis said the first round of bids — for large, custom-made steel columns and beams and for excavating, grading and foundation work — could be considered at Wednesday's trustee meeting.

Renters near UA in tight spot.About a dozen boarders in two rental homes are caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place as the University of Akron buys homes to clear the way for a new stadium and student housing.Many say they do not have the money for a security deposit and first month's rent for new lodging. So they must stay where they are until UA gives them a promised moving allowance of $1,500 each.Yet UA won't turn over the money until the sales close. So the boarders — adults all — may end up on the streets just days before Christmas.''It gets more confusing by the minute,'' said Jim Watkins, 45, who does siding and roofing work. ''We don't know anything and don't have any answers.'' UA is purchasing many properties on a 12-acre footprint southeast of campus to make way for a $32.5 million residence hall and a stadium which has a price tag that has risen from $55 million to $61.5 million because additional options have been added.The university has filed eminent domain lawsuits in Summit County Probate Court to force four property owners to sell and has come to termswith others.The latter includes Don Mangan of Can't, who has agreed to sell his two rental homes at 346 and 338 Spicer St. for a total of $308,500. The proposed sales go before the Ohio Controlling Board, the state agency that provides oversight of expenditures by public agencies, including universities, on Dec. 17.If the sales are approved, UA and Mangan would close the deals within a few days — possibly by Dec. 21, UA spokesman Paul Herold said.The university is offering $1,500 moving allocations to all residents who are being displaced from properties it acquires. In most cases, they have been UA students.But in Mangan's modest two-story century homes, they are adults in their 40s and up, some of whom have lived there for years. Some do not work.''We understand the unique position these folks are in,'' Herold said. ''We aim to hand them a check as they're moving out, the minute they leave, as soon as we own the property.''The university sent letters to Mangan's tenants this week to clarify the change in ownership, although it can't guarantee when it will take possession.In the meantime, four tenants have not paid their December rent — at least two of whom say they need the money for down payments on other places.The four tenants said Mangan is taking action to evict them before the university takes possession of the properties.Mangan could not be reached for comment.The tenants pay up to $275 a month for furnished bedrooms. They share bathrooms and kitchens with other lodgers, but keep to themselves and often don't know their living companions' last names.Pamela Sines, 42, said her room at 346 Spicer is a step up from her former lodgings — a ''terrible'' one-bedroom apartment. Getting her new home was a ''stroke of luck,'' said the widow and former truck driver.She spotted the house as she was walking to a CVS drugstore, loved the look and ''bugged'' Mangan to find her a spot.But the future doesn't look bright, she said this week. Sines said her only income is $493 a month in disability payments from Social Security for a spinal problem and $36 a month in food stamps. It will be hard to find something as nice on so limited a budget, she said.Thomas Fichter, 60, will be losing a home that is ideally situated to his work as manager of the Ultimate Wash car wash at East Exchange and Spicer streets.He is looking around for something close by because he doesn't own a car.Leaving will not pose a big problem for him, though, as after 14 years at 338 Spicer he has yet to unpack the boxes stacked in his small attic room, where the key piece of furniture is a single bed.Patrick Kolmer, 49, might be in the best shape.He has an open invitation to move into a friend's house in Can't but is sticking around to collect the moving allocation. He also said he has a new job waiting for him in Portage County as a telemarketer.He is blessed, he said, but the other tenants aren't as fortunate.''The fact that we live in a rooming house to begin with pretty much tells you we are no Rockefellers,'' he said.Sines said she has ''no choice except to stay, unless you know a refrigerator box I could move into somewhere.''------------------------------------------------------------------------There's a flamewar started on Ohio.com's messageboard about this. Some people are taking the opportunitty to hate on everything UA stands for, which seems to be the prevailing attitude around the city. Nobody wants UA, but the city will die a slow and painful death without them. All parties are wrong in this case. The tennents who don't pay rent are setting themselves up to be evicted before UA can cut them the $1500 check, The owners are trying to take the money and run. UA is trying to get everyone out of there as fast as possible without regards to what happens to the people afterwards (although to be fair, tose people should have seen this coming for years now).

Some big schools can cover a HC salary on donations alone.You get what you pay for. The average HC salary in NCAA D-I football is over $1,000,000. How can we compete when we can only afford to pay our coach 1/4 of that?

Behind Buchtel Hall... That means tearing down Carrol Hall, which was rumored for a little while. I'm all for it. UA's central campus area is too one-directional. They need to sprawl out to the north and south a bit more.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing johnnyzip84. I know I back off on the voting when Zippy goes up big and I would think the same would hold true for the Dawg voters or at least those who aren't set on making sure Zippy goes down. My future votes this week will be for Hairy Dawg.Hairy Dawg it is. I still think he's the tougher opponent out of him and Goldy, but getting to the finals is more important right now.

Goodyear used to be a huge partner for UA, and is the reason for the polymer building. Lately I have heard that the two are not on good terms, though. Hopefully a partnership can be built again that would benefit both parties.