ctmjbowes@sbcglobal.net

JD's line since spring has been "Rodgers is going to play" I have translated that as he is going to come into games as he has been doing. I like the change of pace until he comes in and fumbles or gets picked looking at one receiver. I have yet to see him look at a second receiver and throw it to him. Maybe it's just due to lack of experience. We will see. I would guess that if Rodgers started a game right now the offense would get very predictable, that's why I am for using him as a change of pace.I have become VERY afraid of Jacq's staring down Bowser on pass plays. I believe that defensive coaches are going to start to focus on that and jump Bowser's routes.

I prefer to think of it as the coaches thinking that they have seen Jacq's ceiling, want more, and are giving Rodgers shots at game experience to see what he can do. He is far more athletic than Jacq and I think that if he shows flushes or if the O performs more effectively with him he'll be eased into the starting job. I believe that the staff is giving him opportunities to take that starting job. It's now up to him to make it happen. STZ

I voted for #1, because:at Mich: Huge attention-getter to start the season; damn it we're going to get one of these very soon. "NAME" game big time.vs. Norfolk State: Bring another sacrificial lamb to the Info. It's our version of Big Ten powers feasting on the MAC. Come in and be crushed. Bye.vs. Minnesota: Winnable Big10 game; do a one and one or some such, bring 'em to the INFO to be humiliated. "NAME" game.at Louisville: Another "NAME" game, in that Appalachian hell known as Ken-make-out-with-your-sister-tucky that should be winnable some years.That is a good looking schedule that Joe Sixpack will look at and think is "major". Good stuff.STZ

Dude, that is blood thirsty and I LOVE IT. :gun: :gun: :gun:

I want to see more #5 at QB this week. I want to see more of the impressive D that we've been lucky enough to watch so far. I want the O-line to get their heads out of their posteriors and dominate. I want to see some more Dale Martin, only earlier in the game. I want to see kicking. I want to see a sellout crowd on another beautiful day for football. I want to watch the line play and say to myself "man, these Zips have the size, speed and intensity to hang with the big boys and to beat 'em." I want to see Bowser and his fro making it happen out there. I want to see a Zips victory. I don't care the margin, but will predict a fairly tight and low scoring game, which of course means a shootout that gets decided in the fourth quarter.I want to walk away from the Info, again, thinking how cool it is to have REAL D-1 football and an energized campus a few minutes from my front door.GO ZIPS! BEAT THE Big11!STZ

How are ticket sales looking for the game? Is it possible that it has become clear to the department that Saturday is going to be a sellout and don't want to oversell? Let THAT one settle on your brain for a second...the thought that UA football tickets could not only sell out, but that the university could have to deal with demand for tickets for once. Reminds me of a few scalpers I saw outside the INFO this weekend. I love it. Scalping UA football tickets!GO ZIPS!STZ

I take it as a GREAT sign that there appear to be more posters on the boards the last couple days, and I think I'm noticing a few new ones too. The INFO pays off already for the nation. BOO YEAH BABY.At this point, I'm already looking forward like crazy to Indiana Saturday!So this is what major college football home game anticipation is like? Never really felt it before. I like it. I like it a LOT.GO ZIPS!STZ

THANK YOU Zip Watcher. Just when I was ready to label you the ZN board prude and marm, you completely redeemed yourself. I love political talk as much as anybody, but I love being able to come to ZN and just talk about UA and our Zippers.STZ If a politician is a Republican, they get a pass from their own party on things like cheating on a wife or soliciting sex in an airport bathroom. I don't think a beer bong will hurt his career.Rasor has all he needs to be a successful politician in northern Summit County suburbs. First, I believe he goes to The Chapel. The Chapel, like many new Christian churches, is as much cult-like social club as it is a place of worship. It falls right into the Republican's playbook of "us vs. them". "Us" means those that believe what we do and belong to our little group. "Them" means....well, I'm not certain they even know what it means. These churches also serve as recruiting tools for the modern day Republican party which has become more liberal than FDR with guys like Bush 43 and follows the intellectual lead of lightweights like Sean Hannity and neo-conservatives (code word for big government liberals). There was once a time when great thinkers of small government like William F. Buckley were the intellectual leaders of the Republican party (Buckley would have vomited out his bong water on neo-conservatives). Now, high school graduates and Sunday Christians have taken over that role. I honestly don't believe many modern day Republicans believe the childishly legalistic theology they are forced to spew for political purposes, which makes the party thoughtless and pandering to the most intellectually vacant, shrill masses. In a lot of ways, it makes them dangerous. The Republican Party has turned itself into a cartoon of itself. Like a lot of good cartoons, it is both funny and uncomfortable to watch......like South Park.Secondly, he writes about sports in an area where people love sports.I think this politician is a good guy. I hope he doesn't use his chance in politics to force others to behave and act as he may believe they should based upon his religious beliefs. Instead, he should think about freedom and what that means. Freedom is for everyone all the time. Not just when it is word that helps someone get elected.Let freedom ring!Go Zips!All,There's a place for politics .. and if you MUST do it at ZN.O .. do it in THE OFF TOPIC FORUM .. please do NOT do it in the midst of a sports discussion.Thanks & Go Zips!!! B) B)

Yeah, #92 was out there, but your avatar is fitting because he sure as hell looked like he needed a doctor yesterday. A couple of us watching him play noticed that he moved very gingerly (if that's possible for a man his size) and it looked like he was hurting (back). I should be happy as hell to have seen Bain out there, but I found myself wincing most of the time I watched him. He was still getting a decent push but it looked like his ability to run once the plays developed was not there at all. To play with back pain the way he appears to be doing is amazing.

With the state of the running game, we need to get him back and at least see what he can do with reps. I hate to say that so far, I've been underwhelmed with Allen and Shuford. Martin looked good yesterday but that was much later in the game as we ground down the Bears. I think this team will need to learn, in actual game play, what we have in DeVoe. GO ZIPS!STZ

1) Great win overall. 2) This is subjective, but I just like the way the offense looks when Rogers is playing. He's more athletic, quicker, to my eye that transfers to the entire offense when the ball is snapped. I would like to see more of him in there.3) I think Bain was in there in the 2nd half (#92) but man he looked like he was in agony. It sure looked like he was having a hard time even standing up straight without pain. Anyone who has ever had back pain knows how excruciating it must be for a huge lineman to block in that condition. I found myself wincing...4) Who knows whether he would have been as effective in the first half, but when Dale Martin ran the ball it was a breath of fresh air.5) I agree with all who are disappointed in the O-line and the kicking game. That's it. I am very excited and worried about next week. It's hard to be down on the Zips after a 41 point shut out, and I loved the D yesterday, but a better opponent will capitalize on some of our weaknesses. JD has to improve the team in those areas. Indiana is some sort of crazy must-win for the Zips, IMO.STZ

I was a little pissed that in the third quarter, as the golden sun had waxed enough so that our seats were in cool soothing shade, I was caught between the field being much too bright without my sunglasses, or being a tad too dark with them on. Ha!Actually, everything has finally changed for UA. On the campus and in the areas around campus there existed an energy unlike I've felt there before. Wonderful. I will agree with others who said that today was surreal. Ladies and gentlemen, our little commuter school is coming of age.Wonderful.GO ZIPS!STZ

I'll be there with my Zips kazooI'll wish I could guzzle some Roo BrewI'll be pumped at the sight of 30,000 at the ZooI'll cheer when we leave Morgan State black and blueI'll be giddy when I piss in the non-trough looI'll be happy when one of our kickers sends it straight throughAs Morgan State runs onto the field I'll lustily booFinal score: UA 48MS 3

I'm going:Nitanny Lions: 41Syracuse: 10I was at the Akron/Syracuse game last year, and Akron's win there was no fluke. I think both teams are better this year, but as I'm hoping that the Zips are better-er than Syracuse, and since Penn State will be throwing that crushing front 7 at the Orangepeople, which has to fluster PG Paulus, and lastly because I'm a Zips fan, I'm looking for the Nittany Lions to beat up on Syracuse a little more than they did UA.How's THAT for a prediction AND a run-on sentence?GO ZIPS!STZ

Yeah, OK, I'll bite. What the hell are you talking about? I love the Zips as much as the next ZN addict, but you as an almighty mod must know how many active members exist here. Do you really think that if every active ZN poster takes a kazoo to the Info and buzzes zippity doodah the entire game that it will make ANY difference? Are you serious? As if the ambassadorial actions of a couple dozen posters are going to have even a fraction of the impact of the PAID staff? Please tell me you're not that delusional.I don't know about you but I happily paid very good money to go to this game and I expect a grade A D-1 college football experience. Is that asking to "be catered to"? Is this or is this not an ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCT? You're acting as if I'm going to be surly, or refuse to cheer. My avatar is not Lee Adams for crying out loud. I assure you, in fact I promise you, and just you Zip Watcher, that will not be the case. But don't try to tell me that the onus is somehow on a few dozen ZN posters to make Saturday great. That's just nonsense. You can react blindly and happily to whatever happens, no matter what, Saturday. As for me, I have expectations. :wall: After your first post, I elected not to reply .. but seeing how you've completely missed my point, I thought I'd follow up.Your comments are noted. Clearly we can't have big disasters happen at the Info and hope to impress the casual fan. But you keep saying to the Zips Staff to do it right .. my point to you is: As the diehard FANS, we also can help make sure that those conversations on Monday are positive .. and that those little images you mention above are good ones. As you said above .. the experience is about far more than the facility. The surrounding fans can add or detract from the environment and experience.We can choose to be ambassadors for the Zips and try to make a positive impact on the entire situation .. or we can take the approach of asking to be catered to and searching for something to complain about and someone to blame for whatever we think isn't perfect the first time out.A pretty simple choice, IMHO. B) Go Zips!

Sorry to disagree, spinning-golden-skull-and-bones. We've all been to the Info, some of us several times already, and what I was talking about was not the facility. It's the Bomb, as they say. The game day experience is about far more than the facility. It's how well the traffic chutes work out, it's how many parking attendants are on duty and how well they handle the parking duties, it's how well concessions are done, it's the tailgating, etc. etc. etc. There are thousands of little images, interactions and memories that will be generated for every attending fan this Saturday. On Monday morning, are local NE Ohians going to be all a-twitter about how kick ass the game at the Info was, or are they going to be negative about the overall game day experience? If you think that UA can not screw this up, you're wrong.Come on Zips and staff, DO IT RIGHT! DO IT TO IT. STZ

To hel_ with the MAC. This year begins our future of MAC domination in multiple sports, which coincides with the inaugural year for the Info, renewed talk of a new arena for KD& Co., and an energized campus. The MAC is going to be left in our rear view mirror very soon. I've said it about 50 times in recent days in these forums (unacknowledged by the way...thanks ZN) that I find it incredible (as in unbelievable, unlikely, no way jose) that UA spent SO much money on a football stadium that FAR outclasses the others in the MAC, and does not have an eye toward transcending the MAC. Proenza and Wistrcill cannot possibly be planning to keep this program in the MAC. If so, they could have spent far less on the Info and still had a first-rate MAC stadium. If the plan is to stay in the MAC long term, they just WAY over spent on this facility. Now let's hope that JD can back up my big talk, and win some games!GO ZIPS!STZ

Every beating heart in that stadium should count toward the attendance figure. That includes rodents, guide dogs, pidgeons, etc.GO ZIPS!STZ

Not to be antagonistic about our role, but in actual fact we are fans but we're still also paying patrons. There are plenty of UA staff, graduate students and concessionaires who are compensated to make the game day experience great. The police, the maintenance crew, the larger UA staff, the coaches and players, they're all being compensated to work this Saturday. As paying patrons we have every right to hope and expect that those who are paid to make game day "function" will do their very best to make that happen.Sorry, but no I don't plan to be happy if the concessions are done poorly, or if there are terrible lines where there shouldn't be. If the game day experience is severely lacking, it won't be the fault of anyone here. It'll be the fault of the university. Damn, I hope this weekend comes off well. I have NO expectations of the actual fans themselves and will be friendly, warm and enthusiastic about the game and the teams. But if UA blows these next two weeks and makes that terrible mistake of a bad first impression, many of those apathetic fans who show for the novelty of the Info will never come back. Worse yet, they'll trash UA, the Zips and the Info for years to come. One shot. This season is UA's chance to make a splash. It starts in a couple days. Damn it, do it to it UA!I'll be in the local area, downtown, at tailgates, at the Info, and my "jobs" this weekend will be to lift 12-ounce curls, eat like a pig and cheer my team. GO ZIPS!STZ

If UA REALLY wants to ensure great treatment of visitors this weekend, they only need hire the can-do, positive winners who regularly post responses on Ohio.com stories. They'll ensure that fans keep on coming back. They'll win them over with kindness!Once you've been greeted warmly by Old Man Grump, Betamax and their crew, you never forget it.GO ZIPS!STZ

Now just imagine the cacophony in the stadium if the administration had decided to SELL BEER inside. Holy moley, now THAT would be something to be a part of. GO ZIPS!STZ

If Singletary is a cancer, awesome. I hope he stays on the team, gets involved in ugliness, pulling his teammates in with him, and destroys the team. CAN'T get much better than that eh?GO ZIPS!STZ

He started out on D right? Some players, especially highly recruited ones, might decide to cop an attitude with the coaching staff if moved not once, but twice like that. Great for him, and the team concept, that he apparently will play wherever he's needed. Here's hoping it will pay off for him.GO ZIPS!STZ

What else are forums for, other than to provide places for senseless arguments? Why don't we all agree to agree on everything, and every thread will be exactly one post long. Sounds like a winner to me. Oh, and we'll also agree THAT JUPITERTOO IS A TROLL. :D GO ZIPS!STZ

Here's the only FACT that matters where you're concerned, Jupitertoo. You.are.a.troll. Read that slowly several times, and savor it. :laugh_up: If you would stick to the facts (In know, it's hard), I wrote that Akron's athletics budget is not in the league's top five, nor is its football budget. There's no question Akron is spending out the wazoo on facilities, but those are capital budget items, and they're based on a lot of debt. For the sake of Ohio taxpayers, I hope the university can get its debt load back into slightly better balance. You might recall that the university's bonds were downgraded due to debt load last year.As to comparing Akron's "spend" versus other schools, please remember that other MAC schools were building/enhancing on-campus stadia and arenas for years while Akron was still at the $1 relic over near the municipal airport. So there's some catching up to do, no doubt. Geez, even EMU, with a horrendous program, has spent big-time on football and basketball upgrades over the past 5-6 years. Too bad their teams haven't reaped the benefits.But please, if you want me to be polite (and I'm trying), don't misstate the facts or claim I said something I didn't.