Spin

At the half-way point Source:http://www.espn.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/33148/chris-bassitt

Do they still have a program?

I think a big problem with the Zips is the city of Akron is drawn into the Cleveland television market, and force-fed a continuous stream of Browns/Indians?Cavs propoganda (come spend money on us). Akron is the largest city in the US without it's own television news. In this multimedia generation Akron has become a suburb. I've never been to Ft. Worth or St. Paul, but I wonder if they have the same identity crisis. Or Bowling Green for that matter. A few miles away, we also have the marketing machine of the NFL and the Pittsburgh Steelers at play. I never figured out why there are so many Steelers fans in Canton. When I started working there, I realized if you live south or east of Canton, the Steelers are your home team. Add to that the marketing machine and the legacy of Ohio State being the state's official college team does not help. When you're shamed at your own D1 school for not being a Buckeye Honk, you understand why the students look down on their own university. The Zips have an identity crisis. I don't know how to get past that.

Terry who?

Are we figuring in the corporate sponsorships into the annual cost of the stadium? That was part of the reason the U decided to build new, instead of (completely) rebuild the crumbling 68 year old Rubber Bowl.

I'd go home-and-home with YSU if that's what it took to get the rivalry going. A 48 mile road trip every other year? Hit the restaurants and/or casino on the way back. Sign me up.

The number of Pittsburgh fans almost outnumbered the Zips fans a few years back...

Being about 100 miles away, there would be more visitor's fans than from schools 350+

Someone brought up dropping back to FCS awhile back, would they save a lot of money with 22 less scholarships, figuring in the higher travel costs?

I bet Tom Arth and Chris Sabo are having second thoughts now. And if you think Jim Groce is having trouble keeping players now... Well, someone has to pay for the crimes of the previous generation.

Those amenities could be shared with the ball parks and soccer field. Having everything clustered on campus opens a lot of opportunities to make the events a destination, where they would be in place for track, softball, soccer, and baseball. Decent rest rooms. What about a place for food trucks? Maybe place things to do near the entrance of the Team Shop. Draw more people into there. Most minor league baseball fans don't care whether the team is AA, A, independent league. Or what those mean. They go for an affordable day outside at a decent facility with a choice of foods. And maybe one day being able to say "I saw them play back when...". Schedule several games/events at once to make it worthwhile. Charge admission to ball games. IMO that would help attendance. Make it more "something to do" than going to watch a game or event.

Chris Bassitt pitched five scoreless innings against the Rangers to take the win in his first start of the season. He gave up 2 hits.

Bob has been officially hired by Chris Sabo as part of his recruiting staff.

CLE could do better...

^ that's what I was hoping when I heard CS was named head coach. A big name and it seems a really good guy.

https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/akron-canton-news/univ-of-akron-suing-over-catastrophic-failure-at-stadium I wondered if they were ever going to address this. I thought they would close the grassy knoll until this got fixed but it just kept getting worse every year.

I missed a big part of the first half. I thought the teams were pretty even today. The difference seemed to be missed chances in their box, and some big time saves by their goalie. It was a hard fought game, with some post-game discussion to wrap it up.

There was what, three weeks left in the season?

FCS program map

IF most of the MAC goes along, especially the Ohio-based programs. There are only 2 in-state FCS programs at the moment, Daytona and YSU. And they're in different conferences. Dayton's conference (Pioneer) travels to Florida and California. Youngstown States (MIssouri Valley) travels to three schools in the Dakotas. The closest teams in the OVC are in Kentucky. IF Akron awards the allowed 85 full scholarships for football, they could drop 20 schollys. But wind up with more overnight long distance travel, and the loss of potential bowl revenue. And with the opponents being further away, we would see a drop in visiting team ticket sales. It's a tough call.

I don't think so. The USFL, WLAF/NFL-E, Arena Football, all have tried it. Next up XFL2. Football s just so expensive. The teams have to pay 40-50 players, equip them, fly them to games, put them in hotels, charter buses, training equipment, they have to pull a serious gate from the start to stay afloat. There's an alphabet soup of failed minor and major league football leagues that didn't have to sell spring-time football.

OK who here is surprised? There are rumors that they're going to rename the league the American Polytechnic League. So the league (sorry, "association") runs out of money. IN WEEK TWO. This Dumdum guy offers to invest $250,000,000 in the league over a period of time, if he had a say in the league operations. The league gave him a "say", they made him majority owner of the whole league. Now, he threatens (promises?) to shut it down if the players union doesn't sign a contract with the AAF. In the next two days. You can't make this crap up.

I am serious. And don't call me Shirley. Bedump tissssssss.

Cleveland State is a neighbor, but being in a different athletic conference, it seems we know little about it. What programs are it notable for? How would it fit in with Akron/Kent/YSU/NEO in a more unified state college system?