Spin

You guys must have two different visions of what a campus should look like. I see Can't's buildings butted up to main roads, separated by parking lots, and I see a less blighted less urban Cleveland State. I see Akron's walking corridors, park settings, everything self contained, IMO it's more relaxed. Granted the long walk from the perimeter parking to a classroom in the center of campus can be a real pain in subzero wind chill conditions. But stopping by the ballpark and catching a few innings of baseball, soccer practice, or working out between classes is very relaxing IMO. If you're in a highly stressful program it's a definite plus. That's just my impressions of Can't, from going to games and going to fire school there awhile back. Maybe they're off base, but you know how first impressions can be...

My point is, we leave money on the table when a Saturday night game sells out on Tuesday morning. We need more CAPACITY. Then, address the woeful merchandise program. The people I sat with in the MAC and the NCAA were affluent people. They were soccer fans. They wore jerseys (for other teams of course) and talked about ManU and all that. And the ones who could get tickets before the sell-out sat on the frozen ground. I know there's only two college sports that break even, at precious few schools if you knew the truth. But this is a different situation here. We had the only profitable indoor soccer team. The only profitable arena football team. And we know what happened to those leagues. I saw the Cleveland Caps break USL attendance records, before the league mandated they play on grass, and lead a nomadic existance begging for high schools to let them use the stadium a couple times a season. The first of two financially successful USL teams the league botched. The Aeros broke attendance records and is often the best selling minor league merchandise. This market could be the exception. If for no other reason, giving these fans a comfortable seat and humane restrooms would go a long way to breaking the stigma Buchtel High has. I applaud the much needed upgrades. But we're screwing ourselves if we don't have more seats when it's all said and done. IMHO.

Maybe they should add up all of the money they left on the table last year when all of those games sold out on Tuesday because of inadequate seating. Imagine how many tickets they could have sold if they had twice as many seats. Or more. For crying out loud I've seen 19,000 fans at indoor soccer games before, some paying for SRO. Not to mention the very weak inventory of Zips wear they have for sale in their used Winnebago trailer, they park next to the portable outhouse. How much money did they leave on the table just in those games (OSU, MAC tourney, and NCAA tourney)? What a bass ackward bunch of clowns. Build a 30,000 seat football stadium for a team that has a hard time drawing 3,000, and put a national powerhouse soccer program (smack dab in the middle of a soccer hotbed) on a crap field with less seats than a local high school football program draws for JV games. End of rant. Thanks for letting me vent.

I'm not convinced that the difference in level of competition is that big a problem to split Div 1A into 2 or more sub-divisions. If you look at other sports with performance disparities, like Formula One racing or Major League baseball, a disadvantaged team (Virgin/Baltimore Orioles) has to play against the richest teams (McLaren and Ferrari/Yankees and Red Sox) day in and day out. The disparity between a MAC team and a top 40 team may be bigger, BUT they don't HAVE to play tOSC or USC unless they want to ($$$$$). They can play all of their games against schools with the same relative level (conference games) or much worse (non-con games in basketball). IMHO all that moving down a subdivision would do is attach an even bigger "minor league" stigma to Akron sports, and take away revenue. To look at it another way, why should the NCAA give Akron a handicap, since it can't build a competitive program? For a school it's size and also bing in a football hotbed, the right person should be able to make this program into something exciting. Akron has 30,000 students, give or take. And that number goes up faster than the parking decks can. Boise State has 18,900. TCU 8,700. Oregon 37,000. Nebraska 22,000. There's only one reason Akron hasn't been able to follow in their footsteps (or a closer example, Cincinnati). And it has nothing to do with the Top 40 schools being 20 times bigger... Good discussion.

Nah, instead of fighting flood control and wondering through almost 3000 posts to find one that may or may not be remotely related to my question, I'll hold out for someone to actually answer the question. How would a team of UA's size and budget playing in a MAC-type conference of similar sized and budgeted teams benefit from dropping down to Division 1A.5? What would they have there that they don't have now in Division 1A? Isn't it more fun to go to bowl games? To play the Big Ten school every year? For a Toledo to knock off a Michigan every now and then? A WMU to beat an Illinois AND Iowa? It is for the accountants...

So, explain to me, other than a National Champion (which the BCS does a horrible job at anyway) what is the difference between having Division IA split up, and having Division IA "mid-major" conferences with mid-major schools, like Akron and the MAC? Exactly what's the difference? So you take the lower half of Division 1A, in football you play for a conference win and a shot at a bowl game. You already got that. Except mid-majors can't play a big time school for a big payday, a big part of the budget at many schools. In basketball and soccer, you lose your chances at playing in the NCAA IA tournament. Butler, Gonzaga, Siena, Cornell, Northern Iowa, no longer can make the Dance. Akron soccer can no longer play in the NCAA Div I Championship. I just don't see what that would accomplish.

They must not pay much attention to the soccer program.

Explain that to the Akron Aeros, one of the most popular teams in minor league baseball (despite not being AAA). Explain that to the Cleveland Force, while in Summit County they were the ONLY profitable soccer franchise in North America at that time. Maybe the most profitable of all time. Now, compare that to the Ted Stepien Cavs, who lost 67 games and drew 1500 people to games. Akron-Canton is STARVED for a well marketed winner. And they won't walk across the street to see CRAP if it was free.

BEcause Seattle is even more dreary (drearyer?) than northeast Ohio, and the jerseys help you see the players.

MAC all the way. There are too many natural rivalries, too many schools that are an easy road trip away. And despite the hype, C-USA is little more than MAC South. As far as football goes. Basketball, that's a different animal. IMO you make a name for yourself in the NCAA tournament by going rounds. With a 65 team tournament, you follow the path of least resistance to get there. The MAC. Now with a 96 team tournament, I might look at the RPI that you could build up in C-USA. KD would be forced into scheduling schools with a higher RPI than we're playing, and they would automatically come here. A decent RPI will get you in a 96 team tourney. I would still stick with the MAC. Just take the easier road to the automatic bid and don't sweat the selection politics. Keep the rivalries. Build yourself into a powerhouse, and then move into a REAL conference. Like Cincinnati. Afterall, what has the lateral move to the C-USA done for Marshall? USF?

+1+1+1

If you're going to do that, then you can't go by conferences. You have to do it by school. When the top 4 or 5 MAC schools can play with the bottom 4 or 5 Big Ten schools, why should the Indiana's and the Colorado's and the Vanderbilts play in a "super division" with the USC's and the Alabamas and the tOSU's? And why should TCU and Boise State be excluded, just because they come from a less powerful conference? According to Sagarin Ratings, Central Michigan finishes 5th in the Big Ten. Just because Washington State is in a powerhouse conference, doesn't mean they could win half of their games in the MAC.

Good idea. I always liked two different solid colors on home jerseys.

That's what I thought. As bad as PN looked at times, and there still was no time for MR to get in??? This is incomprehensible. They have the store on the SW corner, and a stand in the west wing, and they're selling crap OUT OF A TRAILER??? They have garbage bags over the windows of the store??? And they only had a handful of items in the trailer. I know they have a VERY limited number of items to sell anyway, but for crying out loud I've seen Division 3 schools that had a bigger inventory and a decent place to buy it. They leave so much money on the table it's incomprehensible. It was 40' yesterday, think of the merchandise they could have sold, if they had it. What a joke. My wife went to Akron 4 years, I've gone three, my oldest son is finishing up his first year. We've been to football games, soccer games, basketball games, baseball games. And still my 16 year old athlete son couldn't believe it yesterday when I said Akron was Division I. Other than being Big 10 fodder every year in football, how would he know? Someone needs to wake up. Sorry, just felt like giving the dead horse a couple more licks yesterday.

This morning ESPN Mobile Web has last night's score, ugly as it may be. They also list Romeo Travis as being the leading scorer and rebounder, and Dru Joyce leading in assists.If only...

Those are great shots, but this is Akron.Do you really think Summit Lake is that scenic?

Who cares if they win or not if we can't see the games?I mean seriously. If they don't care, why should I?Look, John Carroll is on TV, maybe I'll just WATCH THEM.

I think they should win every game too, and I also think if you can't follow the rules then you sit. Playing sports is a privilege.I would rather sacrifice one regular season game if it meant getting everybody on the same page so the team can improve. If you let things go, they're not going to win many regular season games anymore. Let alone the games when the nation is watching.

Wrong.The only thing that matters is who wins the MAC Championship Game. Use the regular season to teach these kids that they have to toe the line, play by the rules, and be coached by the coach, so that they will be there for the team (and fans) in those final couple of minutes in Cleveland in March. Because THAT'S what really matters...Not to compare him to any Zips players, but AI might give the Cavs a couple more W's, but what happens to team chemistry in the finals? How many Super Bowl rings does TO have? Ocho Sicko?

Just the university. It doesn't really matter for the city to have one, as almost everyone has cable anyway, and the Cleveland news programs have stepped up their Akron-Canton coverage. Especially with the end of channel 23 news about 15 years ago.Why can a Lorain County Community College student sit at home and watch class on their TV but we can't? Are they that much more technically advanced at LCCC? Is Elyria that much further advanced than Akron?Why can I sit and watch Baldwin Wallace D3 sports, if I ever got the urge to watch BW sports, EVERY WEEK but only get a handful of Akron games all year? Not to mention the local high school sports? High school volleyball is on right now... There's a lot the U could do with a TV station. And they have the degree programs and the studios to run it. Not to mention several distance learning studios.IMHO the U and the sports programs are missing out.

Oh no, didn't mean that in a bad way. I was just always curious whether I could call myself a "supporter" of the athletics programs compared to other supporters. Being a student.

Someone asked about press releases. Yes they do get sent out. I recieve them on the sports I'm interested in. If you are interested, Sign up here

Not to mention seeing Baldwin Freakin Wallace and Mount U on TV every week. BW!!!! While the Zips have 4 basketball games on TV ALL SEASON??? Maybe five if the Bracketbuster game gets on a real network.Nothing says "big time" quite like not being on TV while local D3 teams are on all the time.

Sounds good in theory, but you have the Akron Aeros breaking attendance records, with the Cleveland stations pimping the Indians. The Force sold out the Coliseum despite being ignored and laughed at by the sports media.So what do these teams have that the Zips don't? How can the Aeros average 4900 fans at 71 home games, against "big name programs" like the New Hampshire Fisher Cats and the New Britain Rock Cats? With sometimes 6-7 home games in a week? Or the Force playing world power Baltimore Blast in front of 18,000?I don't think it's the Cleveland media holding us back...