ZachTheZip

The latest RPI as of Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2006Remaining OOC schedule:Nevada #51 +2Loyola Marymount #49 +7Youngstown State #209 +20Duquesne #326 +1Net change: +30MAC conference:Can't State #75 +44Buffalo #92 +0WMU #104 -26Ohio #111 +11Toledo #121 -17Miami #151 +23Akron #170 +25Ball State #226 -19CMU #260 -7Bowling Green #288 +2NIU #290 +6EMU #298 +4Net change: +46Can't State's RPI jumped 44 spots even with a loss to Duke simply due to the boost in strength of schedule. Imagine how much we can improve with a win over Nevada or Loyola Marymount.

Gaaahh! That messageboard is impossible to read with out getting a headache. It seems like everywhere we go, people make fun of us with remarks like "what the hell is a Zip?" and "their mascot is a kangaroo? That's stupid". It drives me mad. You don't see them making fun of other teams with weird nicknames/mascots like the Cornhuskers or Crimson Tide. What the hell are those supposed to be? Anyways, good find Captain. The fans over there are pretty confident of a win, but they forget that this game is at the JAR, and nobody comes into the JAR and gets a win except for the Zips.

If the new marketing guys are trying so hard, then why haven't we seen anything like, oh I don't know... results? Where are the advertisements? Where are the billboards and TV commercials that were everywhere last year? Did they cut funding so much that all we can afford is a "Fear the Roo" jingle that isn't all that fearful? Does the Athletic department have so little money that they must sell the student section for a measly $6,000 (if they are lucky)? Please, I know people are reading this who can answer me, so WHERE ARE THE ADVERTISEMENTS SO PEOPLE KNOW THAT ZIPS ATHLETICS EXIST?

I love these kind of games! OK, first let us fire that damn out-of-town consulting firm who clearly has done little to no market research before coming here and screwing things up with apsirations of leaving for greener pastures in a few years. Then, advertise. Then advertise some more. Then advertise some more! Then reset everything to the way they were last year when we had the most successful sports season in school history, because we were obviously doing something right which we are not doing now.

We will show up and support the team. We will just do it from the general admission seats. Basically, the game today is a test to see how well the athletic department listens to its fan base. I hope they realise their stupidity, although if the past is any indicator they will blame it on something unrelated and then try to force on to us something else we don't want.

I am attempting to trace the athletic department's steps back to the beginning of Mack Rhoades time in office to determine what went wrong. Arguably, it could have been when those out-of-towners were hired to "fix" the marketing department after our most successful season ever in Zips athletics. Should we have seen some warning signs that would have told us that the athletic department wants to control everything we do and then blame it on the fans when their plan doesn't work? Here is a list of major blunders commited by the department so far. I shudder to think of what might come next.1.) Requiring a $500 "donation to park near the Rubber Bowl, while eliminating the old tailgate area.2.) Moving the student section for football to the visiting side and sticking it behind a lightpole.3.) Absolutely ZERO visible marketing or advertising other than that one radio commercial.4.) Failure to schedule many good games early in the season to drum up support for both football and mens basketball5.) Selling the basketball student section seats over winter break, even though a good 75% of students are still in the area.Almost all of these things could have been avoided with no problem. The blame ultimately falls on Mack Rhoades, although I hope it is not his fault. Leaders are often surrounded by yes-men who are afraid to tell their boss the truth. Hopefully we will be able to send him a message where his administration has failed.

We will need people there early, not only to claim one of the upper sections for the Rowdies, but also to make sure nobody sits behind the basket in the remaining student section. This is very important because not every Rowdy who might go to the game knows about this yet, and they will want to be behind the basket to be closer to the action. Someone has to make sure that section remains empty throughout the game. It has to be done before the Nevada game, or else we might be even worse off than we are now.

Well, it's been one strange night, to say the least. I will see everybody at around 6:30 tomorrow at the JAR. Wear your AK-Rowdy shirts, or something blue/gold. Tomorow we stand up and say "Were not gonna take it!" Maybe we should name this interrim cheering section something different to distinguish ourselves. Maybe the ZipsNation? If we name ourselves something different, the Athletic department will view it as a sort of rebellion on the part of the students, and knowing their need to control absolutely everything, they will respond quickly to the threat. Tomorrow we will force their hand. Once we see their reaction to this, we will be able to come up with a plan of action.

Let's pick a section...and how can I find that facebook group? There are a couple facebook groups I know of.Represent UA women's basketballAkron ZIPS basketballI support ZIPS basketballZipsnation.org is my daily source for newsAk-RowdyThe last group has the most people in it, but the only admin never does anything anymore, so I can't get him to send out a message to over 3,000 people. There might be more groups, and I am trying to let them all know so they can spread the word.

If they want to play rough, fine. So be it. It's time for a new, less official, more awesome version of the AK-Rowdies. We will have to spread the word about this, and also about where all of the students are going to sit. There will be only two rules in the new section: 1.) Be the loudest section, and 2.) be the loudest section!Anyone is free to join us when we rock the JAR over winter break.

I hope you don't mind that I borrowed that for a Facebook group. This is bad. The next thing you know, the AD will start complaining about the lack of student support. I wonder if the AK-Rowdy board members have been notified? They need to send out e-mails to everyone they can. Tomorrow I am going to be on campus, and I will scout out some sections in General Admission that we could hopefully commandeer if we get enough people there early. I will let everyone know what I find. I will naturally look for the best, most visible seats so we can send a clear message to whomever made this stupid decision.

The latest RPI as of Friday, Dec. 15, 2006Remaining OOC schedule:St. Francis (PA) #284 +29Nevada #53 -5Loyola Marymount #55 +0Youngstown State #229 +13Duquesne #327 -4Net change: +33MAC conference:WMU #78 +28Buffalo #92 +23Toledo #104 -17Can't State #109 +4Ohio #122 -20Miami #174 +6Akron #195 -10Ball State #207 +10CMU #253 +15Bowling Green #290 +28NIU #294 +14EMU #302 +2Net change: +83Our SOS is still extremely low. We are #327, which is only 6 spots higher. We are lucky we didn't fall any worse than 10 points in the RPI.

That would be a solid pickup for Akron. I'm suprised that he sought US out instead of the other way around. You can never have too many good running backs.

If the earlier games this season are any indication, there will be no official line on the game.You would have to look at different stats and other factors to accurately predict who will win tommorow and by how much. The most accurate system is the Sagarin Ratings because they account for margin of victory, while other rating systems do not.Acording to Sagarin Akron is ranked #90, with a PREDICTOR of 74.UIC is ranked #144 with a PREDICTOR of 145.Since the game is at UIC, they automatically get 4.27 points for home-court advantage. That means that the raw line would have Akron win by about 50 points. Adjusted, the line is at Akron -13. This is just using Sagarin's ratings. There are other methods of creating a line as well.

The latest RPI as of Friday, Dec. 15, 2006Here are the RPI ratings for us and our future opponents:Remaining OOC schedule:Illinois-Chicago #210 -7St. Francis (PA) #313 +0Nevada #48 -3Loyola Marymount #55 -2Youngstown State #242 -3Duquesne #323 -1Net change: -16MAC conference:Toledo #87 +6Ohio #102 -4WMU #106 -1Can't State #113 -4Buffalo #115 -1Miami #180 -19Akron #185 -1Ball State #217 -4CMU #268 +9EMU #304 +1NIU #308 -5Bowling Green #318 +3Net change: -20Our SOS ranking is #333 out of 336. A win over Loyola Marymount is just as important as a win over Nevada. The whole conference is doing bad. They play close games with the big boys, but can't pull out a win.

As soon as the Zips hit the big-time when they play Nevada, and once MAC play starts, a whole bunch of student fans will come out of the woodwork. What are they supposed to do when they can't get into the student section because they don't have a specific shirt? Or what if people in the Rowdies invite their friends, but can't sit with them because of the "rules"? We need more fans before we start making up stupid stuff like that. The athletics department really needs to get its head out of its ass and figure out that nobody is showing up to the games and it's their fault, with their lack of marketing/sales. I had the same thing happen to me back in high school. The football program and the men's and women's basketball teams started having consistant success and the administration saw an oppurtunity to flex their administrative muscles. Soon a whole bunch of stupid rules were made up to make our public image "look better", and the whole experience of going to the games lost its magic.I think that we will start seeing tons of complaints about the Rowdies' rules once the community (especially the students) realise just how good their team is, and they start going to the games on a consistant basis. I can't wait to see the AD's response will be when students complain about being informed that it is too late to join the Rowdies, and that they will have to sit somewhere else because of a stupid t-shirt. We all know it will happen eventually, probably around the end of January when the students return from break and MAC play starts.

Actually uakronkid, they've been pounding that one into the ground since it first broke. You can see another thread in the Smack forum.It's mostly the Can't pukes keeping that one alive. Every time the Beacon writes a story, they start another thread. I usually try to avoid the smack forum. Maybe that's why I missed it up until now.

The guys over at the MACbbs have just now found out about the UA scandal involving felons living in the dorms.Bonus: they called us "Akron U" http://www.ncaabbs.com/forums/mac/phpbb/vi...pic.php?t=41544

Thanks skhorbotly.It sounds like the Athletic Department is being pretty overbearing. I am willing to go along with it for now, but if I catch wind of them changing rules and stuff to be more restrictive than they already are, I might just have to create my own cheering section in the GA seats. The only requirements woiuld be that you wear blue/gold and that you help make the section the loudest in the JAR. Alternatively, everyone here going to a game could agree to sit in the same section, and we could compete with the Rowdies, thus making more noise and generating a bit of excitement. Just an idea.

Yeah, I'd love to know what happened too.

Try HERE for messageboards for all schools in the MAC. If you want a unified website, I suggest the MACbbs.

The latest RPI as of Wednsday, Dec. 13, 2006Here are the RPI ratings for us and our future opponents:Remaining OOC schedule:Illinois-Chicago #203 +2St. Francis (PA) #313 -2Nevada #45 -2Loyola Marymount #53 +0Youngstown State #239 +1Duquesne #322 -1Net change: -2MAC conference:Toledo #93 +0Ohio #98 +3WMU #105 +4Can't State #109 +1Buffalo #114 -9Miami #161 +1Akron #184 -5Ball State #213 +1CMU #279 +8NIU #303 +0EMU #305 -4Bowling Green #321 +1Net change: +1

I forgot to add, could somebody bring my questions up for me at the meeting on Wednsday? I have to work

OK, I tried to stay out of this but I have a few questions I want answered.1.) Why can't students who are not AK-Rowdies, or those who missed the sign-up deadline sit in the student section? Just because they don't have a particular shirt on is no excuse to remove someone unless there are people with the shirt who don't have a seat. What if a student (most likely a freshman) gets interested in going to games to root for their school midway through the season? They would not be allowed to cheer with their fellow fans because they were late for the party?2.) This is almost like the first question, but a little different. A good way to fill seats is to have everybody bring a friend. With people not being allowed to sit with the AK-Rowdies unless they have the shirt on, how will the Rowdies be able to bring friends who are students, but not rowdies, to the game? I want to know, because I want to bring some friends to their first UA basketball game, but I also want to sit with the Rowdies, and now I can't just tell them to wear blue/gold. What am I supposed to do? Couldn't you just ask for their Zip cards as proof they are students, or are they going to be banished to the rafter seats?

UIC is #206 in the RPI, and that is a step up for our strength of schedule. We obviously have to win this. Hopefully KD has gotten the team in gear after the last game. We are favored to win, but you never know how things might go on the road.