Spin

It'll never happen. Because then the BCS would have to justify all the political crap it does...

How long before LeBron injures his elbow and ruins the whole championship run. I bet the Indians lose 150 games this year. Oh woe is us!!!

"Are you delusional and paranoid or are you just an immature, antagonistic troll?" "one creepy scank" "lazy fat asses" "an escapee from a local mental institution" "What a frigging BAFOON!" "The Center for Counseling (which by the way, a few on here desperately need to visit)" "like the little brat you are" Are you still in the third grade? Because that's the latest in life that one thinks another is intelligent for using such debate tactics. "I am by far the most knowledgeable of the UA campus. You are obviously ignorant of that as well." Chest thumping too, I'm impressed!!! We've moved up to 5th grade now. Maybe you are knowledgeable, but your insults and put downs just give the impression that you're really childish... "Oh come on, I'm as big a rival against K.E.N.T. as much as the next guy, but you've got to be kidding when you put down their beautiful campus. They have a great looking campus. Its rural setting gives it a huge advantage." "On the contrary, most of the buildings are surrounded by acres of grass and trees. It is a classic rural and beautiful campus" Here you assume that everybody wants to attend a "rural" campus.That everybody's idea of a perfect educational setting matches yours. Sorry to deflate your ego a little, but that is simply not true. And to be accurate, Can't is not a rural campus, it's a small town campus. Big difference. .. "There is no way one can legitimately claim that the UA campus requires them to walk a long way from a parking facility to the center of campus. UA is not that big of a campus when you compare it to others like K.E.N.T. " Walk with me one day with the load of books and equipment and uniforms I carry. In high winds and subzero weather. "While UA has a nice campus, it is still a dinky little campus". So, you say we shouldn't criticize Can't, then criticize Akron over and over again for having everything in one place. Again you are assuming everybody wants to attend a campus with "beautiful parks and trees and statues of squirrels" between where you are and where you're going. There are several advantages to having everything right there, I gave a couple that you ignored... 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. Then, you jump on the Roo Express. "The Roo Express is hardly necessary and only exists as a marketing ploy and spin." You obviously don't take into account the spread out residential areas, Polsky building, Quaker Square, the lively bars and restaurants you claim UA doesn't have, the entertainment downtown (professional baseball, concerts, festivals, art), and everywhere else. Not the least has been mentioned by someone else, urban life does bring with it security concerns. True, Akron fans and students don't have to crowd into a bus to go to football games, but during the week the Roo Express is a highly used link. And you thought nobody would notice how you skated around my reply to: "I was a grad student there and most of the buildings are not butted up against main roads." That five lane state highway is just a mirage... "Engaging in silly accusations about the K.E.N.T. campus makes Akron people and UA look small and petty." Never mind the fact you just spent all day doing just that. "and the same goes for the stupid looking Polsky Building." You do realize the Polsky Building is local landmark, and serves a much different purpose than the main campus does. "So, stop showing your blatant ignorance of how the competitive process works." Oh I completely understand how the competitive process works. I do want Akron's campus to improve and become the best in the state, best in the world. But I don't want it to be like Can't. If I liked Can't's atmosphere, I would have gone to Can't. You're comparing apples to oranges, trying to make an inner city campus look like a cow-town college. We need to look at Cleveland State, Youngstown State, Toledo, Ohio State, Pittsburgh. That's our comparison, other urban campuses. Not Can't. You need to get past the fact that Akron students had a choice between the two, and chose Akron. Can't students had a choice and chose Can't. Not everybody thinks like you, or acts like you (thank God). Not everybody shares your vision of what a college campus should be like. If we dislike the rural setting, actually a small town setting if you wanted to be accurate, as much as you seem to loath the urban setting, well that's just our opinion. And all the insults and chest thumping in the world isn't going to change that.

I get your obvious pride in Cant State, that's probably admirable among Cant alimni. But when you come into a Zip forum, don't take anything anyone says seriously if you don't agree, and have to resort to blatant insults to hide your ignorance of U of A's campus, any reply is a waste of our time.

I missed 15

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?