Spin

I don't always put words together properly. My English teachers loved me. Not. Actually IMO the expectations of baseball and football are very similar. Mid-majors neither have the budgets/conference/legacy to contend for hot prospects or national championships, and both sports have a large number of starters/players. And we have crap weather for a big chunk of both seasons, which also makes recruiting and attendance a challenge. Then add the programs have been historically bad (and baseball got the boot).

Being competitive in the MAC, make and do well in the MAC tournament, and not embarrass the university like the Spuds did. Im personally looking at 2024 or 2025.

You post W/L records of Ohio baseball teams when you know it’s not a level playing field. You ignore the fact Zips baseball had an absentee head coach 7 months of the year. The two MAC sports are more alike than you want to admit. The MAC will never have a team in the College World Series, or a football team in the College Football National Championship. We all know that. Only you expect baseball to play on the same level as Wake Forest and LSU.

Newsflash. The teams in the bottom half of the conference standings have worse records than the top half. And don't draw as many quality opponents. And MAC teams as a whole are not as good as teams in the south. Then there's "Spuds" who we hired to build the program and didn't. We know. We know. It's a good thing we don't hold football (2-10) to the same standards.

That enrollment spike we had a few years ago was people going to college with lots of government student loans. A lot of them will never get paid back with students quitting or getting degrees with no demand. I tore down those high voltage transformers you see on phone poles for scrap with a guy who had a Masters in Political Economics and there he was, doing that glamorous job. Bathing in PCB oil, cutting and lifting, spreading sand in the empty cans so the scrap yards would take them. Those loans were very helpful to people like me, who filled a position that was very much in need (and doubling the money I took home to my family). But there should be a payback clause if you drop out or work toward a degree that's not needed. I want to believe the huge enrollment drop was colleges trying to get that under control. I wouldn't bet money on that.

Almost 50% of MAC baseball teams have a winning record in conference. As expected. Yes Ohio baseball teams are at a disadvantage in overall win/loss records. But how is that different from football where we play B10 and other FBS powers every year, often National Championship contenders? We are on a different level than them, but we play them to pay the bills. In baseball we play the championship contenders for half a season because it's not snowing there. In football a winning MAC record and a MACC win or bowl game trip is the goal. Some hold baseball to a different level.

The low quality students make money for the University, for however long they hang on or stay interested. It's the unpaid student loans that come out of our pockets.

IMO the same thing would happen with MAC football if it played half of its games against football superpowers. Instead of 1 or 2 football games against ranked teams, imagine 4 or 5...

Ken Carman seemed genuinely excited about Ali Ali coming back…

That was from my seat in the upper deck. It doesn’t show all the people in the lower deck. I should have shot a couple in the lower section. It was not a bad crowd at all…

I remember the Zips games there, it seemed like every time I went there they were playing against a Tennessee Something opponent. I went to a couple Cleveland Force games at the Rubber Bowl, when Bart Wolstein owned the team. He was looking into the outdoor leagues (ASL, NASL) but figured out there were in as much trouble as the indoor leagues. Before that there were other exhibition games, at least one with the Jacksonville Teamen. I don't know if they were ASL or NASL at the time. I went with a church youth group, it was my first exposure to the world's game.

Most of the fans were in the lower stands, a few of us were in the upper. And the Kaulig Companies Lounge was open for fans to check out and join. I didn't go in there, but I'd bet it was full.

Nice sweep @NIU this weekend 4/28 19-7 4/29 game 1 11-9 4/29 game 2 8-4 The Zips are 9-15. Currently 9th in the MAC, with 7 conference games left at this point they can finish just about anywhere in the conference. I can see us finishing midpack.

I’ll gladly take that one back. One of the punters laid a punt down on the 2 yard line like putting a baby to bed.

Not many people braving the upper deck today. Defense looks good, the O is starting to connect. About what you see in an early scrimmage. Special teams? I’m not going there.

Chris is currently 3-2 with a 4.82 ERA and 1.25 WHIP. He went 6 1/3 innings against the ChiSox allowing 2 runs on 3 hits, earning the win. Bassitt tied the major league lead in quality starts this season before exiting the game with lower back tightness. Fortunately, it doesn't sound like the righty will miss any time. He has allowed two or fewer earned runs in four consecutive starts lowing his ERA to 4.82. After allowing nine earned runs in his first start, the former Met has very much settled into his groove. The Toledo native is scheduled to start versus the Mariners on Sunday in Toronto.

We’re on our third lightening delay at Kent. Maybe they should pick a new nickname…

Good question. IMO it depends on whether the university wants to rent it out to others or not. And if they do, are they interested in a full size floor or would a basketball sized floor space do? Would the students be interested in ice skating? Indoor soccer? I think those are the questions that need answered. Is someone interested in putting a "pro" sports team in Akron? I don't think the current administration would consider a new arena. But we can dream...

I've been to a bunch of Canton Invaders soccer games, Canton Legends football games, and Canton Charge basketball games. Nothing fancy or gaudy. It seemed like we were within 100' of food stands and the exit. Especially when the parking deck on the roof was open. I thought about it every time I drove through Akron to get to Canton to go to games.

Good article on the injury and the prognosis

Chris Bassitt is 1-1 10.61 after two starts with Toronto. He had a rough debut with the Canadian team,, giving up 9 earned runs on 10 hits, taking the loss to St. Louis. His second start was much better, giving up 2 earned runs on 2 hits to take the win against the Angels. His next start is scheduled for April 13 against Spencer Turnbull and the Detroit Tigers.

Windows 10 on a Lenovo Legion gamer laptop.

There were a couple cancellations with non-con opponents (notably Marshall, for obvious reasons) that were replaced with nearby in-conference programs. This young team (two seniors) with a new coaching staff can use the experience.

I reported the problems some (all?) of us are having loading gozips.com when trying to access the site with a PC. I left a message with the athletics dept. and with Learfield.

I wish I could get this pic to come out better, but with the website not working properly with ANY browser I try, this is the best I could do. And that was with much wailing and gnashing of teeth. I'm glad I didn't go through Akron's IT program... LOL!!