Spin

The Cleveland Force playing NASL teams there.sorry, couldn't resist

Ada Zip to answer your question about the D League, the games I've seen on TV are poorly attended. It's just not anything close to NBA basketball, unlike minor league baseball and hockey.I've seen more minor league basketball leagues come and go, than anything else...

Have you been to the Canton Civic Center in the past, oh, 30 years?A new arena would have the D-League team BEGGING to come to Akron... That hole makes Thurmon Munson Stadium look like PNC...Personally I say let Canton have the D League. To me minor league hockey is more entertaining than minor league basketball anytime. And the Zips hockey team would have a local place to play.

Why can't baseball have something even remotely as nice as the softball stadium???

Why not, people travelled from West Virginia to Akron (Barberton and Kenmore) looking for work for over a century. The three R's in WV were Readin', Ritin', and Route 21.

In some ways, it does. In most ways, it doesn't. We have a top notch basketball program and a national champion in soccer. We have had pretty good track teams over the years. Other programs have performed well also. We have good facilities. There are positives. Our problem is we built White Elephant Stadium, which I like to refer to as The Big Dialer, and it sits empty because of poor performance on the field. The footbal team casts such a negative light on the rest of the Athletic Department because the games happen at the beginning of the school year, it makes it hard to get marketing traction for a good team like basketball. The University badly needs to get the team winning and people in the seats. The distance between where we are and where we would need to be is like the distance from the Earth to the Moon. While it isn't that far compared to other space bodies, it isn't exactly the easiest place to get to. We are much less like the Beverly Hillbillies Captain Kangaroo described and more like a guy who "built" a rocket and thinks he can fly it to the moon. A sample conversation might be like this: Skeptic: "That's a really nice rocket ship you've got there." UofA: "Thanks. We built it." Skeptic: "Do you know how to fly it?" UofA: "We built it didn't we." Skeptic: "I know you built it, but do you actually know how to fly it?" UofA: "Sure we do. We've seen other people do it before." Skeptic: "I understand that, but have you actually piloted one before?" UofA: "No, but we have a plan to fly it." Skeptic: "Where are you going to fly it to?" UofA: "Where else would we go? The moon." Skeptic: "How are you going to guide the craft to the moon?" UofA: "That's a silly question. Look how big the moon is. We'll just point it in the general direction and light a match." Skeptic: "You mean you don't have a guidance computer? They had guidance computers even in the 1960s when we were exploring space." UofA: "They were fools back then. Look up. If the three kings found Jesus by the light of the north star, we can find the moon by following the moon." Skeptic: "Ya, but the three kings were riding camels and not sitting on top of tons of explosive liquid." UofA: "There is little difference between driving a camel and driving a space craft." Skeptic: "Let's get back to the trip to the moon. Does the pilot have any experience piloting a spacecraft?" UofA: "Of course not, but he has an action plan." Skeptic: "Do you think the plan will work?" UofA: "The plan doesn't really matter, we built the rocket. The rocket alone will do all the work." Skeptic: "So nobody has any experience leading a group of people who could guide a craft to the moon? What about the ground crew?" UofA: "The ground crew is equally inexperienced. That doesn't matter though. We have this rocket and it will do all the work. Light a match and off you go." Skeptic: "Do me a favor. Don't light the match while I am within 100 miles of the rocket." UofA: "Don't worry. Everything will be OK. The rocket will do all the work." Looks like you have a tight handle on MAC athletics...

Is 42 still open? There was also one that was near I71 near Cleveland that you could see from the xpressway. I would try to figure out the movie while driving. Cell phones have replaced that bad idea. You mean 480? Near rt. 10? Yeah it's still open.

Hey, at least you can read the media guides now. For the first time in years... Otherwise same ads, same lack of multimedia, same shit, just a fresh coat of paint. "Learn how to donate"??? Is it really that hard to get the U to take your money?

Magic City is still open, as is the Blue Sky in Wadsworth. Montrose use to put on one heck of a flea market, they made more off that than the drive in. I know a guy who made a living buying estate sale leftovers and selling at the flea market. It was huge. But the land became too valuable.

Why don't we try being competitive in the MAC, win some divisions and a couple more conference championships. Maybe a bowl game against another BCS fodder school. And how about having a team capable of beating a BCS school now and then? I'm sure the people in Toledo enjoy drubbing a Big Ten school every few years. Who knows what they're planning against the remains of tOSU this year... If we pull some of that off, we could be ranked. Ball freakin State was ranked for a time. Don't tell me a MAC school can't pull it off. Go for a BCS title, that's a pipe dream in our lifetime. But it can still be FUN. People will pay to watch that. They set records to see the Aeros, despite the fact they're never going to the World Series. it's still fun to watch a competitive team at any level.

That's cool. But the Compliance Department? That's just a bad idea.

I've thought about posting what I'm about to post for a while. You post made a good segway for me. It isn't just the people who come and go who are the problem. There are lots of people in the Athletic Department who have seen many ADs over the years. I'm not sure that's good for the school. The Athletic Department needs change, and I don't just mean the AD. If you look at the highest levels of the Athletic Department, some of those names have been around for a long time. I'm not so sure that is good for the Department and I'm not sure that is good for those people as well. I would take the following steps if I was Dr. Proenza: 1. Fire the AD. This guy is in over his head. 2. Get some help hiring a new AD. He didn't do a very good job last time and he may need better advice. 3. Require new AD to start searches for positions at highest levels of the Athletic Department. This task can be accomplished with recruiters. Don't let new AD hire his friends. 4. Require existing employees in those positions to re-interview for their jobs and demonstrate they are rowing the boat in the same direction as Dr. Proenza and the new AD. Keep those who are...can those who aren't. Get rid of the rats. I'm sure within the University, there are those who know who the rats are and they should be released. 5. Change culture of Athletic Department by repeating steps 3 & 4 all the way down to kids in work study. A cultural change is badly needed and a culture involves more than just the guy at the top. One guy can't do it alone. EVERYONE needs to be rowing the boat in the same direction. Sharpen your axe Dr. Proenza...and hurry up about it. While you are at it, sharpen one for the new AD as well and tell him to use it liberally. +1

If there were any chance of Akron getting serious about football, I'd be all for staying in the FBS. But other than a fancy looking stadium, cheaper to build than rebuilding the Rubber Blow especially with ssponsors, I see NO committment to become more competitive. I wonder if the U was ever serious about Div I-A, if they ever gave Gerry Faust what he needed to build a serious program. Seriously, if you can't sell football in northeast Ohio, you're in the wrong business. Crimony. There are high school games that outdraw some of the gatherings I've seen at Zips games. They sold out freaking Arena Football games for crying out loud, and broke attendance records. Even when the team won (which seems like a long time ago) they had a hard time making NCAA minimum. Unacceptable.

That's an interesting perspective.

Thanks for the tip off!!!

You guys can tout him for being truthful, is it really wise to piss off the people who pad your wallet with ticket sales, viewership, and most of all, paying exorbinant prices for crap with your name on it? Great idea. I'll shut up and let the love fest continue. Hope y'all fell asleep before the fourth period in that series...

I'm interested to see the Nielsen numbers broke down. I know the finals set seven year records. LBJ interests me, if he wasn't in the finals I probably wouldn't have watched. I'm wondering numbers between Cleveland, Dallas, and Miami markets. I'm interested in Cleveland market this year compared to the last years Cavs final playoff series. Edit: The game peaked with a 20.9 rating from 10:30-10:45 p.m. Eastern. Game 6 netted the highest-rated metered market rating ever for an NBA game in both markets (records through 2002-03) with a 39.8 in Dallas and a 36.2 in Miami. source Still dying to know Cleveland market. I don't have the numbers but the Really Big Show said it was by far the highest ranked market in the country besides Miami and Dallas. 47% maybe? On another topic, if there were no other reason to hate that SOB, last night's response about the people rooting against him is reason enough. He just doesn't get it. I don't think I have seen anyone ruin their brand as quickly and effectively as he has.

Things are a lot different now than they were 24 years ago. Athletes are a lot different. The CP vs. on-campus stadium thing I haven't decided yet. If nobody knows Akron plays baseball, does it matter? What would the cost be of (1) a drainage system, artificial surface, and some real seats compared to (2) Canal Park rental, compared to (3) costs in maintaining the natural surface at the current playground? Would you save money in the long run by renovating Lee Jackson? Attracting students, selling more hot dogs, and benefiting from the "campus atmosphere"? One thing we have seen with the soccer stadium and (to a lesser extent) the softball stadium, is outside fans will come on campus to watch a game.

Maybe the Aeros wanted to have Akron's football coach there, but we didn't have one. Seriously, couldn't they do this in Niles? At least they have a campus in the area.

Great idea. Too bad he has no clue on how to implement it.

That building sure was tough. Over a year since they started tearing it down, and they still don't have it completely gone...

Of course they are not the problem. The coach is. Can't fire the players

I'm sure NFL teams will be falling all over each other to turn their teams over to a quarterback of such character and respectfulness. One more superstar-wannabe to self destruct before getting the big NFL payday. What's Maurice been up to, BTW?

Why would Tressel come here? We have no megamillions supporters for him to send players to get get ERRRRRRRR jobs. He knows as well as anybody that nobody outside a lega$y conference can win. He worked for the concept's biggest supporter. Akron has enough trouble, we don't need that stigma to go along with an empty stadium and a D2 budget/support.

After reading just part of that article, I take back any and every defense of Jim Tressel. I still can't believe that the AD and the Prez had absolutely NO idea anything was going on. All of these drivers had new cars from the same place, where was the largest Compliance Department in college athletics during all this time??? If the NCAA does what's right (and after letting the players play in the $$$$Bowl$Game$$$ last winter I doubt it), Tress is just the first domino to fall.