ctmjbowes@sbcglobal.net

I've also become a HUGE fan of OBC. The entire back half of the restaurant, which I think of as Damon's domain, can go away for all I care. The magic of the place is at the bar and in the tables and booths by the bar. The beer is always fresh and delicious, they serve a TRUE cask conditioned and hand-drawn ale at least once every month, they support the local brewing club, they support Akron sports, they happily fill growlers with fresh brew on tap. Damn I love that place. I've been hitting it at least once a week for a while now and don't miss Damon's even a little, and am very pleased that the Verich's will continue to grow one of our fine local brewing establishments.GO BEER!GO OBC!GO CITY OF AKRON!GO UA!GO ZIPS!SeeTeeZip

?He agreed with his post so much he wanted to see it twice.He was simply re-confirming the genius of my post. :D GO ZIIIIPPPPPPSSSSS!STZ

2009 Can't State Commemorative Collector Season Tix:

Come on big man! Just get these kids on the InfoSumma construction site. If that, along with the field house and recent NFL successes from Akron, doesn't seal the deal with many of the kids who visit, I'll be very surprised.GO ZZZZZIIIIIPPPPSSSS!SeeTeeZipper

FWIW, when I bought season tix last Summer it was done as a package for 2008 and 2009 combined. The process included buying online and then talking to someone on the telephone to ensure that I had seats next to another buyer who was doing the same. My understanding (could be wrong) was that at some point in the Spring or Summer, after people have bought packages and construction is at an appropriate stage, there will be a day when we will be invited to the stadium to choose our actual seats. It's been several months since I thought about the process so I may be getting some of this wrong.Whatever the process turns out to be, the prospective buyer experience should be MUCH better than what you went through MDZip. The only excuse I can offer is that it's break time and some of the phones that are supposed to be staffed to help you and answer questions are empty with the students and staff being away. Please stick with it, because the new stadium should be worth the trouble!GO ZIPS!GO CITY OF AKRON!GO OBC!SeeTeeZip

LeFevour looks like a little kid out there. I've only seen him a couple times now, once against Sad Sack State and last night. Both times he was NOT impressive, especially under any kind of pressure. I didn't check, but is CMU going to be on UA's schedule in 2009?STZ

Not only are the charges described similar to what other universities charge for miscellaneous items, considering where this city and region would be without the university, it's ALL money more than well spent. It's well spent for the families sending their kids to UA, it's good for the citizens of the city and the surrounding area, and I shudder to think what this place would be without UA. Thank goodness for UA and its growth and vitality in these difficult times. GO ZIPS!GO INFOSUMMA!GO OBC!STZ

It's been a blast playing with all the other Zips fans on the boards, and thanks to the moderators for keeping gas in the tanks! Merry ChristmasHappy HolidaysHappy FestivusHappy HannukahHAAPPPPPYYYY NEEEEWWWWW INFOSUMMA YYEEEAAARRRR! :rock: STZ

I agree with your points JohnnyZip. Certainly it is plausible to believe that at least a few potential recruits will take notice of the number of black head coaches are now at work in the MAC. GO ZIPS!SeeTeeZipperaka OBC Mug #89

Will attendance cause an irritating rash and require treatment from a doctor? GO ZIPS!SeeTeeItchy

Welcome JohnD. Like MDZip, I'm more of an old timer, having graduated in 1988. You've chosen a wonderful university and will be arriving at a very dynamic time in the history of the school. You'll never know the joy (he said sarcastically) of watching football at the Rubber Bowl. You'll have great amenities and things to do on campus and in the downtown area, you'll be working within a top notch department. Have a great time and enjoy! GO ZIPS!SeeTeeZip

That's because Keith is a native Akronite, not a Youngstowner or other varietal outsider, Cap'n Like KD, I grew up with everyone around me calling our university Akron U. In fact, I can't remember ever hearing anyone call it by that long, drawn out name in an actual conversation.However...in official publication, like that Cali paper, someone should tell the author it's THE University of Akron. In fact, let's remind all the folks down Bucknut way about that also. What I really hate is when I tell someone I'm from Ohio, and they respond, "Oh, you're a Buckeye". Aaaaaaahhh! Mele kalikimaka from ka pae 'aina 'o Hawai'i nei to all the Akron U fans in the audience. You do realize this is the Buckeye State...Right?We get it. You like Ohio State and Akron. Some people disagree with you. Let's get over it now.That's not it at all. You are not being objective. Not everthing is sports related. When someone says you are a Buckeye from Ohio, they don't even need to be a sports fans.I have to agree with BuckZip on this one. I've known lots of people who meant nothing to do with sports when calling someone from Ohio a Buckeye. The Buckeye is the state tree yes?GO ZIPS!SeeTeeZip

AMEN kid. Especially with the incredible prevalence of digital media in 2008, there is really no reason to not get on the field as early and for as many plays as possible during your collegiate career. If you have the talent to excel, not only are you just as likely to be scouted and/or drafted by playing at a mid-major, you're likely to have MUCH more fun actually playing and not spending half, or more, of your college career standing on the sideline. I suppose it's probably ego, LOTS of lies from major college recruiters "smoking" the kids into believing that they'll play more than the recruiters know they will, and sometimes parents pushing their kids to play for the "big boys". In any case, many, many of these kids would be FAR better served to play at the mid-majors than they are by sitting on their asses at the mega-football-factories.GO ZIPS!SeeTeeZip

As much as Nate has struck me as a player to be taken for granted, I'm rooting for him to hit that 1,000. He's a skinny, geeky kid but man does he work hard out there. We all know that the end of his UA career is the end of his career. Here's hoping that he eeks out every drop of competition and potential he has in the rest of the season.Go Nate! Go Zips!SeeTeeZipper

It's Rainin' Bain.BUMP

....and off goes some nobody named Hoke, to coach a team that nobody cares about, at a university that nobody living there (even right in San Diego) cares about, never to be heard from again. He'll make a little more money at SDSU, most of which will be eaten up in a place where a nice home in a nice neighborhood can't be had for less than 800k-1m. He'll earn much less national exposure than he had this year at Testicle Tech, and will be mired in mediocrity for several years, after which he will be forced out and have to take a job at a tiny school to rehabilitate his career.Check in on some of the Aztec boards, check in on what fans are saying at espn.com. SDSU cannot recruit to save its life. They don't draw worth a damn. San Diego is not a place that generates interest in, well much of anything for locals, beyond partying and going to the beach, maybe running and other individual sports. San Diego is the universal home of ME. What is some crappy college football team going to do for ME? Apathy reigns in San Diego. If you've ever lived there or near there, you know what I'm talking about. If not, you just don't get it. It's the kind of place where any of us (rabid fans of some hard-luck program) would be considered flat-out losers. It's a cultural thing. It's a different world in SoCal, and San Diego is the center of the universe for those who will run 10 ultramarathons a year, but wouldn't be caught dead paying to watch college football, unless it's USC or UCLA. For those of you talking about Marshall Faulk, he was not the next anything when he went to SDSU. Every program gets lucky, and Faulk was a particularly lucky pick up for SDSU. Hoke was clearly not treated with respect at Sad Sack State, which I find satisfying because I didn't like that team, loved it when they lost to UB. He jumped too early. He should have sucked it up for another year or two when a better program would have come calling, waited at least for a Utah, a Boise, a program that would stand a good chance of success going forward. There is zero reason to assume he'll succeed at SDSU. Think about it. Why would there be ANY assumption that he will magically be able to recruit the blue chippers from SoCal when NONE of the previous coaches who have coached there were able to do so? Is he some sort of long-lost and loved SDSU guy? Nope. Is he familiar with SoCal in a way that others aren't? Nope. To us he is another example of a guy who proved in MAC football that he can get the job done. If you're a blue-chip HS recruit in SoCal, or anywhere out west for that matter, who the eff is Brady Hoke to you? Nobody, that's what. Say again Brady Hoke, what can you do for ME?

Nice work JZ84! :bow: I'll add a little below:HO HO HO! OFF TO INFOSUMMA WE GO!FIRING UP OUR GRILLS FOR TAILGATING DELIGHT!KNOWING THAT OUR ZIPS WILL REIGN VICTORIOUS TONIGHT!ONE FINAL PREGAME BREW AT OBC!AND OFF WE GO TO WATCH A ZIPS VICTORY! :cheers: :cheers:

You're right in one sense GP1. It says what a chickensh__ idiot Hoke really is. I lived on the West Coast for many of the last 20 years, and yes the weather can be wonderful. Before I move on to Hoke though, for those of you who have never lived in a "one season" place, it can be great, but can also get tedious, boring, oppressive. I missed the seasons terribly while I lived out west, and other than February and March here, don't miss west coast weather at all.Now back to Hoke. There is no trading up in going to SDSU to be the head football coach. Of all of the college programs that came to mind for most football fans in that part of the country, SDSU is never mentioned, nobody cares about the program, it's a doormat, a running joke. Let's talk $$$ too. That 700K salary may not even buy him much of an increase in quality of life. It won't buy him much of an increase in exposure, it won't buy relevance to college football. Unless he's from California and just wanted to get closer to home, taking the "step up" (???) to SDSU is not a step up at all.Lastly, coaching is not a profession wherein the weather should dominate your decision-making. Many of the best coaching jobs in the country are in terrible places for weather. You tell me about a football coach who would run to a SDSU to take over the program because the weather is so beautiful, and I'll tell you about a complete d-bag. GO ZIPS!SeeTeeZipInteresting note. I live in a state where I get 2 months of winter, 2 months of fall, 2 months of spring and 6 months of summer. The sun is out almost every day. Everyone is in a constantly good mood for the most part. Ohio is full of good people who are driven insane by the gloomy weather. When the Vitamin D level drops, so does the good mood.$700K is a ton of money anywhere. The guy is going to have a good living in a great place. I'm sure the weekend trips to the beach are probably going to be much more fun than the trips to the corn maze in Muncie during the county wide 4-H championships.Buying relevance in college football? What could be more irrelevant than coaching in the MAC? Could the media in California really pay less attention to SDSU than local media reports on MAC schools? He needs to leave now while the iron is hot.I don't know about "many of the best coaching jobs" being in cold weather states. It seems to me that the SEC, Big 12 and PAC 10 have the best coaching opportunities and almost off of the good schools in those conferences are in warm states like Florida, Texas, California, Georgia, Alabama, etc.This guy is making the right move. San Diego presents an opportunity that the Muncie does not. Kids want to play in warm weather. California is crawling full of good QBs that will fit well into his system. He really found a diamond in the rough with Davis. The midwest really does not product the type of throwing QBs that you see out west. With around 1 in 10 Americans living in California, he stands a better chance of finding another Davis than he does in Muncie."The sun is out almost every day. Everyone is in a constantly good mood for the most part. Ohio is full of good people who are driven insane by the gloomy weather. When the Vitamin D level drops, so does the good mood."Uh, yeah, sure. OK. Not that your assertion is anything more than an extremely GROSS generalization, like much of the rest of your post."Kids want to play in warm weather. California is crawling full of good QBs that will fit well into his system. He really found a diamond in the rough with Davis. The midwest really does not product the type of throwing QBs that you see out west."Wow. So I guess that all of those kids, and professionals, playing anywhere other than the Southwest and the South are deficient, as are those of us who love living in these parts of the country. Another GROSS generalization not backed up by ANY facts presented by you.Sorry fellas, but unless you've lived in California for any length of time (I have, in Northern Cali AND Southern Cali for many years) you just can't appreciate what a joke SDSU is to people out there. It's considered to be nothing more than a not-very-good party school. It's a classic "Surfer U" where parents dread that their kids will go there and become 50-year-old pot-smoking, pot-bellied surfer bums. Their football program is a door mat, and will continue to be. Hoke may get a little more sunshine in his eyes, but he sure as hell hasn't made the type of Urban Myer move many otherwise expected. And lastly, I get a little touchy about the loser mentality that we so often see and hear here. I made the very conscious decision a few years ago to move back here, from the West Coast by way of WDC. This area is hard hit economically. However, this region takes a back seat to nowhere else, in any substantive way. The not-so-subtle suggestion that a guy like Hoke has done well to essentially escape this part of the country, regardless of the details of the actual program he's headed for, simply does not ring true to anybody of any substance, and certainly not to people who love it here.GO ZIPS!SeeTeeZip

I'll second that! +2. Do not miss Pluto at all. STZ

You're right in one sense GP1. It says what a chickensh__ idiot Hoke really is. I lived on the West Coast for many of the last 20 years, and yes the weather can be wonderful. Before I move on to Hoke though, for those of you who have never lived in a "one season" place, it can be great, but can also get tedious, boring, oppressive. I missed the seasons terribly while I lived out west, and other than February and March here, don't miss west coast weather at all.Now back to Hoke. There is no trading up in going to SDSU to be the head football coach. Of all of the college programs that came to mind for most football fans in that part of the country, SDSU is never mentioned, nobody cares about the program, it's a doormat, a running joke. Let's talk $$$ too. That 700K salary may not even buy him much of an increase in quality of life. It won't buy him much of an increase in exposure, it won't buy relevance to college football. Unless he's from California and just wanted to get closer to home, taking the "step up" (???) to SDSU is not a step up at all.Lastly, coaching is not a profession wherein the weather should dominate your decision-making. Many of the best coaching jobs in the country are in terrible places for weather. You tell me about a football coach who would run to a SDSU to take over the program because the weather is so beautiful, and I'll tell you about a complete d-bag. GO ZIPS!SeeTeeZip

True Skip-Zip, but it's still interesting, maybe constructive, to compare match-ups to get some sense for where a team stands early in the season. GO ZIPS!SeeTeeZip

No Gain in the thread about Bain?BUMP to Spring '09.GO ZIPS!SeeTeeZipper

Come on Zips! Let's make the move to InfoSumma together, team, band and fans. I just had a little flush of balmy air, the smell of charcoal grilling, a cold Hoppin Frog in my hand, and getting ready for a game ON CAMPUS. It's going to be a blast! It suddenly feels 10 degrees warmer outside.Live up to expectations team. Let's do it.GO ZIPS!SeeTeeZippppppeeerrrr