Spin

They are playing fall ball. The only way you'd know is if you checked Twitter, which I don't have a habit of doing very often. I'm more a Facebook guy, but there's no updates there since July.

I brought up on another thread how much fun it was to watch the Akron Rubberducks win the Eastern League championship a few weeks ago. The crowd went crazy, was still there an hour after the game was over. We'll never forget it. There's something to be said about staying in your lane. I wouldn't look out my window if the Ducks were playing the NY Yankees across from my house. I'm starting to feel the same way about the Zips. I'd love to see the Zips play top level ball. But with the budget crunches the past few years and the layoffs, the dropped athletic programs, I don't see the University pulling that off.

We keep hiring coaches who would do well if Akron was playing at their appropriate level. By appropriate, I mean other programs with the same resources UA has. Im not an elitist. I enjoyed watching the Rubber Ducks win the league championship (that many here would laugh at) a lot more than watching the cheapass Indians try to compete in MLB. Those of us who were at that game will never forget it. YMMV. It was entertaining to see the Canton Charge play in their league. I don’t want to see them play the Lakers. It is what it is.

About halfway through the first half and the Zips are up 2-0. Or should I say two Zip.

It would be an OVC reunion.

Specifically, they wanted the B10 Network in major media centers so they could drive up advertising rates. If the MAC had a cable network, I imagine it would go something like this...

Or an overactive spell checker

I was on the road back from a nice vacation in Pigeon Forge and streamed the game in the third quarter. They started giving up penalties and points, fell way behind, then had one player line up offsides. THREE TIMES. I then realized I need a vacation from the Zips, not work. Went back to listening to tunes…

I run into this all the time, even within my family. Akron is a place to get your education, which isn't always highly regarded. When I attended there the number of students wearing OSU gear was incredible. Even the staff would talk about Bucknuts football. Putting the stadium on campus didn't cause a blip. They may be lifelong fans of their alma mater high school, but not the college they chose.

I should have said “shouldn’t”. It’s not a good look.

We can’t hold high school games there. The artificial turf at their stadiums is in better shape the the Info’s.

I see the university going this route. I can’t picture them paying two football coaches with the budget problems we’re seeing (and the ones we’re not). Football (and Title IX) is a huge drain on the university, and gives it a black eye. And who’s to say the next coach who decides to take on the rebuild for what we can pay is worth a crap either? TB had the clout and the desire to take on the challenge, but lost interest for some reason. Where’s the next TB dad gum it?

We did under Coach Rembielek, but apparently the Zips are not with Coach Sabo.

Chris' final stats: He got into two more games before the season ended: JT's final numbers: Brubaker

If you want to look for some glimmer of hope, it's 40 miles north. It took the NFL franchise >25 years to finally find a man who could put it all together and run a no-nonsense gameplan. And a scouting director and GM who knew real talent from flashes and could-a-beens. HOLY CRAP we've been through some awful football in NEOhio...

I have to admit I was wrong about being patient with Son of iCoach, "his recruits are still underclassmen", blah blah blah. He's finishing the job AJ Milwee started.

What in the hell is he smiling about?

I got nothing…

I disagree on some points in that college athletics DO promote the schools to prospective student. Would Ohio State be so popular if it weren't for the football team? That students don't subconsciously see that as a more successful school because the sports programs are successful? Or that they see themselves partying in the streets before and after (and during) the football games? And seeing the students on TV having such a good time at the games? You know it does. At the same time sports have the opposite effect on prospective students when the teams perennially suck. With apologies to the other Zips programs, football is pounded into everyone's brain in this region. Soccer is growing in popularity every day, and college basketball is as well, but neither is not quite on the same level as football in the post industrial blue collar regions. Ohio State saw record enrollment figures again this year. Akron? Not so much. We had our chance with Coach Bowden, for whatever reason he changed course and here we are again. With a fragment of the budget we had, and a university in financial crisis. If only...

Looking through the program’s history it’s interesting to see many (most?) of the best attended games in the program’s history were: 1. At the Rubber Bowl 2. Against Div 1-AA opponents and 3. During ACME-Click games Which shows it doesn’t take “top level” opponents to get Football Country excited, and the program drew best when professionals were marketing the games…

Because it was cheaper than rebuilding the Rubber Bowl, including the naming rights. There weren’t exactly corporations waiting in like to have their name plastered all over the decaying Bowl.

I couldn’t care less who knew. I want my alma mater’s athletics to play at a high level, but at a level it can financially be competitive in today’s college sports landscape. I don’t want to see my home-village high school football team playing St. Ed’s. That doesn’t interest me at all. I don’t want to see the Zips soccer team playing Manchester United. I’ll watch one or the other. But against each other? Not interested. YMMV

You do realize the economics of big time college football are completely different from college basketball and soccer. That’s why there’s an FCS. It’s Division 1, but it’s not for the delusional fans who think we can keep up with schools with $109,000,000.00 plus athletics budgets. That’s almost ten times what Akron has to spend. To look at it another way, tOSU gets almost 10 times as much of the state tax we pay than Akron does. And probably way more than 10 times as much TV and radio revenue. Can the Zips be competitive in FBS? With the right coach, and the right number of scholarships, it is possible. We’ve seen it. Even with the multiple budget cuts the last 10-15 years. But it takes the right people running the program. And that takes the right $pay$ for the staff. Or catching lightning in a bottle and hire a future superstar coach before the rest of college football notices him. That’s reality for probably 90-95 FBS football programs. If you want to preach the virtues of staying FCS and complain every week how bad we suck, go find us a cheap coaching legend (and don’t let him hire Milwe)

Last week I watched the Akron Rubberducks win the Eastern League championship. No, it wasn’t the World Series. It wasn’t against the Dodgers. But nobody there gave two shits. We all had a LOT more fun than if we watched them try to play the Yankees. Yes there are elitist fans who scoff at anything not MLB. Their loss…

Because losing to FBS Iowa State was so much fun?