tbozeglav

last wordI had to... lol

Aside from a couple of guys working on the north endzone facility, the place looks dead...

No clue... all I know is that I just noticed that, at least on the west stands, they've installed the support posts to the lower seating areas for the bleacher seats.

Ask and ye shall receive...

How would you like it; burnt or extra crispy?I could throw something together... not gonna guarantee it'd be a mona lisa or anything...

NU is a Big10 team. Big10 teams have a huge market, regardless. The Big10 is one of the NCAA's children (SEC, Big12, PAC10, and Big East are the others) while everyone else is like the illegitimate child in the family. The NCAA has to make sure there are enough teams from its favorite conferences in the playoffs. Thats it exactly... I did hear however they are currently looking for any and all sources of money so that they can at least get something going. Hell, if they open up a Z-Fund thing for the project, I'll throw $100 towards the new facility. The soccer team needs it and rightfully deserves it.

Like I had mentioned in another thread, rumor has it (and based on the source its gotta be reliable) that they are getting things going to get a new soccer stadium or at least a new playing surface. On a related side note, the rumor also has it that they'd modify the west fence so the rowdies could stand behind both goals.

does that mean the apocalypse is soon coming?

About damn time...I wouldn't be surprised to see bulldozers and backhoes lining up prepare to tear that sh!thole down within the next week.

I don't understand how you people can sit there and expect JD to produce an 8+ win season when he hasn't even given us a winning, let alone .500, season in the last 3 years. In fact, in the last 5 years, the most wins he's put up is 7 wins. Honestly, considering how bad we have been the last 3 years, a 7-5 season is a big improvement, hence why its the minimum record he needs to get in order to save his job. I think an 8-4 season is possible, but anything more than that is entirely unrealistic. I believe with the new stadium, wins at home are going to be especially important. If he pulls another home record like he did this year, even with a winning record, he'll be gone. Right now we need success at home. Yes, road victories are great and we have been doing a good job with them lately (save for our last 2 road bombs), but winning at home is what matters more to the fans.

I could probably shoot an email over to Willy to see if he could throw something together to get the word out. The problem with that date is that the previous week is exam week and many students will be heading home for break before then. It'll be harder to get a lot of students to be there for that game for that reason alone. However, I don't see there being NO students as I am sure some students who live off campus are having parties that weekend and will still be down here for the game.

The whole lighting design has been something I have wondered about as well... I have seen renderings where there will be 5 banks of lights on the east side to renderings where the entire stadium would be lit up but 4 giant poles with lights on them. Honestly, I think it would look best if there were lights all along the top of the press tower (like they have at Browns Stadium) and then 5 poles on the east side.The confusion I am getting is from the renderings officially on the website and the 3d virtual tour....

I voted to not fire him.Simply put, considering the number of coaches who have been canned in the MAC this year and the number of coaches in general throughout the NCAA that have been canned, it's not a good time for UA to get rid of JD. I am not saying JD is a good coach, but that if we were to get rid of him, it would make it next to impossible for us to get a good replacement. I believe that JD should be the coach next year, but that anything less than a winning season and a bowl game is reason for him to go. Like others have pointed out, he has showed improvement since he started here, but I think it is time we move forward as a program and begin demanding success overall than small spurts of success. If JD cannot provide us with a successful season next year, especially in the new stadium, it's time for him to go as that would show he doesn't have it in him to take the program to the next level where we become a consistent power in the MAC. I want Akron to be contending for MAC championships every year, but I don't think JD is the man that will do it. We need to bite the bullet for one more season and see if he's got anything left in him. Next season is do-or-die for him and I hope he knows that there's a fire raging under his a$$. Hopefully that will spur DC changes so we aren't subjected to the horror that is the 3-3-5.

I only have this to say:F*** the NCAA, F*** the Big 10, F*** Northwestern...... bastards are what they are.The Bus ride to and from was the most epic experience ever. Willie is the man and Bus#2 was where the party was at. I had a great time. I am royally PISSED we were screwed over like this, but the bus ride made up for the loss. By far the best road trip I have ever been on. Also, Willie let us in on some rumors that are going around the higher-ups in regards to the Jack and it shows they want to make the changes necessary to prevent this from happening again.So tonight, I will have a cold one to rightfully close the season. I will toast to the ROWDIES and other Fans who made the trip to make Northwestern's "Mistake on the Lake" the mobile Jack. But most importantly, I will toast to Caleb and the guys on the team for their great season they gave us. Here's to them and here's to making next year a larger success than this year... minus the NCAA screwing...

I think whats stands out more about that statement is that we brought 3 buses of students to OSU when they had to entice students to come to a home soccer game. So much for the Big10 having a dedicated fanbase. I cannot wait to see the look on people's eyes at Northwestern when we have 2 (maybe even 3) buses of fans/students show up and take over their stadium. This is going to be a ton of fun

It would be the ultimate irony if the game was snowed out.I just noticed that Northwestern's soccer field uses a FieldTurf playing surface, much like the one used at SVSM, so I get the feeling that the game won't be delayed in any way....

i cannot help but shake my head at the meltdown of this team... we were doing well coming into these last games and were proving the critics wrong and what do we do? we drop the last 2 winnable games and now the critics have every reason to say we are a flop.I think JD and his coaches are on the hotseat now... he won't get fired, but I think its time the AD lit a fire under his a$$

game is at 2pm, i think, so the match should be over by 4, no later than 5, meaning we would be getting back to akron no later than midnight.I may go because, as a student, it's a free trip. Just gonna suck having to leave at 4am to make it to Akron and stopping at my dorm to get some gear, but I think this is going to be well worth it.

Seriously? I JUST posted the same thing (in principle) in the other thread... not that it matters and I could care less, just pointing it outI fail to see why the University would consider putting turf down for both soccer and football when there is already a soccer facility separate of the football stadium. Yes it would solve the problem, but having separate facilities for each sport gives our athletic department a better overall look.I just think its time a new soccer stadium/facility comes into existence.

Here's the link to the page on Northwestern's athletics page:http://nusports.cstv.com/sports/m-soccer/s.../112608aab.htmlApparently they think they "earned the chance to play another contest at Lakeside Field."Last I checked we're the higher seed meaning they earn nothing but another chance to lose to a higher-seeded opponent...

I really hope what has transpired over the last 48 hours really gets things moving to get the soccer team a facility they need and deserve. I am not saying the University is at fault, but it is plainly obvious that the soccer team needs facilities that are more accommodating to the weather extremes we experience here in NE Ohio over the course of the soccer season. We have gone for 80-some degree day games to sub-freezing and snow night games in the same season. Now, I know we aren't the only ones who must deal with these extremes weather conditions, but I think it's time the University takes a good look at a program that has been a consistent winner and a great asset to the community and realize it's time they spent some money on a successful program. I know that there has been talk of a new stadium, but I think it's time they move from talking about one to actually getting to building one. I firmly believe that if the University wants to continue having a successful soccer program, they are going to have to spend some money on a new playing surface so that in the future this does not happen again. Now, whether or not it should be turf or grass is beyond me. I don't know how many college programs have turf home fields (aside from those that are dual purpose football and soccer stadiums) and whether or not its a suitable playing surface for collegiate soccer, but if turf is too expensive, why not spend money on an advanced drainage system? For example, back at my alma mater (high school...) they had a softball field put in years back. That field could probably take a couple inches of rain and it'd still be playable within an hour after it stopped raining, and they don't even have a tarp for the infield. Now, I know soccer is entirely different in the way it wears on the playing surface, but if you install a system that minimizes the amount of residual water under the sod, you don't have the problem of the entire field getting turfed by the cleats...Honestly, I really hope the NCAA revisits this. However, I also hope the University revisits the soccer stadium plans and gets on them as soon as they can. I can tell you without a doubt that it'd be worth every penny in the long run.

After I saw this bullcrap that we call the NCAA's decision, I did a lot of thinking about the situation we are in and I have come to a couple realizations.#1The NCAA hates us as do all the big-conference teams. We are a mid-major team who has a student section that has a passion for creating a homefield advantage. Since we aren't a large market team or in a conference that's any "good", we get shat on day after day by the NCAA.#2 (and this is the main point I am here to present)We had this coming. It really was inevitable that we'd get bitten in the a$$ somehow, but this "injustice" originates with ourselves. Before any of you jump on me for taking the NCAAs side (which I am not, I still think they made a poor decision), you all need to stand back and look at the grand scheme of things.What is the reason this decision was made? Our grass field was entirely farked by a large snowfall, then melting, rain, fluctuating temps from above to below freezing, etc. These are about the worst conditions one could ask for right now for a playing field. However, we put ourselves in this kind of a situation. We are a school located in NE Ohio where it notoriously snows like it has. The cold temps and the high amounts of precip cause the field to just become... muck. The question becomes why hasn't the University invested in an artificial turf field for the soccer stadium or even an advanced sub-field drainage system. The later of the two is a viable solution and I know those can be highly effective at keeping a field dry. However, I also wonder if this is the straw that breaks the camel's back and gets the University rolling to get the new soccer stadium in. I know that it seems somewhat idiotic to build two new stadiums, but if you're spending as much as they are on a mediocre football team, why can't they spend some money on a top-10 soccer program to provide state-of-the-art facilities? If the University would have thought ahead and saw how successful the program was and the support it needs to win a championship, they would have already had the facilities in place that would have prevented the very thing that has happened today. Had the U spent the money to give the soccer program a cutting edge playing surface, grass or turf, we wouldn't be sitting here bitching about the NCAA screwed us over. The real people at fault right now are ourselves (not you guys, but the University) for not providing the soccer program with the facilities they need to win championships. No other program at UA has had as much success as our soccer program and yet here we are using a severely outdated stadium (if you want to even call it that) and now are being forced to give up home field advantage because we weren't able to provide a playing surface that would be playable at any time.Just think about it... Yes, the NCAA screwed us by not letting us play at SVSM, but we wouldn't even be in this position if we would have had the foresight and planning to provide our team with a facility that could host the NCAA tournament even in the kinds of weather we are getting into at this time of year.If you have made it through this rant, I thank you. I just felt compelled to explain the other side of things so that hopefully we as a fanbase can have a clearer understanding of the situation before going off the deep end. Like all of you, I too am pissed off at the NCAA, but I am also pissed at the U for putting us in this situation in the first place.Again, thanks to any who beared with me through this rant.

I cannot begin to explain how pissed off I am to hear about this. Here were are thinking we were finally going to get into the NCAA touney without getting screwed too badly and now we have to go to a f!cking lower-seeded's field because the NCAA claims in 4 days our field isn't suitable. Somehow the NCAA has developed a crystal ball technology and can predict the future.I honestly can tell you without a doubt the NCAA is out to screw Akron in any and all ways possible. Apparently because we are in a mid-major conference and not in one of the top-dog conferences, they couldn't give two shits if we fielded the best team to ever grace the surface of this planet.I whole heartedly support a protest of some sort by the team. They should not be letting this go by without anything being said or done. This is a disgrace to the program, a disgrace to the community, and a disgrace to the sport in itself. F*CK THE NCAA, F*CK THE BIG TEN, F*CK THEM ALL...

There isn't any room directly behind the north endzone. You'd either be on the field or in the parking lot 20 feet behind the goal, the later of the two requiring you to exit the complex to be there. A far as being anywhere near the north endzone, the ROWDIES could do the same thing they do at the Jack and stand at the corner of the field, in this case the northwestern corner where the main entrance is to the stadium.

There is.From a message I got on Facebook from Willy, they are supposedly plowing the sidewalk behind the southern endzone for the ROWDIES to stand at and heckle the goalie.