Spin

Wait, I still have a couple months left...

Thanks for the replies.

LOL, that's must-see entertainment right there... (right there in Athens County).

While compiling the MAC STO schedule for 2012, I found this little gem, "Zips Football with Terry Bowden" which first airs September 1st at 7:30 pm. During August they have a five part mini-series called "Relentless: An Inside Look at Ohio Football". They also cover OAC football games,Ashland U, and weekly shows for Notre Dame and Ohio State. I'll come up with a complete schedule of televised MAC games here soon on STO and the ESPN family. I'm going to need a bigger DVR!!!

Hmmm, CJ Oldham or Pat Forsythe? I think I take my chances with Forsythe...

This is something I've always wanted to know. It's the old chicken/egg thing. Did the university want to go D1 and then went after Gerry Faust? Or did it want Gerry Faust and the only way he would come here is if Akron moved up? I remember it being the second way, that there was a lot of animosity with Jim's fans, and with the basketball program about being forced to move up to D1. But I was out of state at the time, and that was the only news I had heard.

There's all this talk in other places about a feeding frenzy of schools poaching PSU players. Aren't all the other schools maxed out on scholarships? So if they do pick up a player or two, does that send one or two players already commited to that team home? Redshirt them? Or do they "find other" non-athletic scholarships at that school?

Well that's not fair. That would have made us slightly less likely to drop below .500 overall this season.

You make some good points. But, the idea of penalties is not only to penalize those involved, but also to act as a deterrent to anybody who considers this in the future. If you suspend the football program for one year, or even take away their home games, other people in other places are going to think twice about hiding all the shit that goes on. I don't believe for a second that Tress and JoPa are the only coaches to cover up criminal activity. They just got caught. And I don't believe for a minute Gordon Bowtie and Gene Smith knew nothing, that there wasn't a deal for Tress to fall on the sword. In the end it's about ETHICS. Was this an ethics violation to college football. No easy answers.

I disagree, this happened on university property, in PSU football facilities. If they're going to penalize univrsities for what individuals do in car lots or tatoo parlors, they HAVE to do something about this. The FBI investigation report is right there, the only thing PSU can do is prove the FBI lied. Good luck...

You don't consider allowing/covering up child rape on university grounds to continue for how many years to be "Lack of organizational control"? Because if you do, I have two words for you. Southern. Methodist.

Yikes. Sounds like a QB we use to have. Who was sort of the first shoe to drop in the final chapter of JD in Akron. If he's past that, I'd take a look. He could be a hell of a tandem with Zeke and Tree...

I'm sitting here watching ESPNU's Top 25 Games of 2011, showing Northern Illinois at Toledo (DVR'ed) and it brings back memories of when we were a player in the MAC and the style of play often seen in th conference. 8:00 left in the 4th and it's 56-53 NI. Arena Football thinks that's crazy. Take us back Terry!!!

Wow, those attendance figures make you look at Akron (and other MAC schools) and shrug your shoulders. Pretty neat how things work out when you have a plan, eh?

That could help out initially, but I don't think it would need packaged to the fastest growing sport in America once everybody realizes it is everything NASCAR is not. Constant action You have to race your way into the main race Several short races (for the modern ADD fan) Drivers with personalities No need for a drive-around, lucky dog, competition caution, and all the other gimmicks...

Someday someone will do a proper job at running dirt track racing on television, and NASCAR with its four hour freight trains and pack racing demo derbies will be a memory...

Saw that. I'm surprised to hear about Dinger, wonder if they'll announce what the drugs were. I followed him in Champ Car.

You save on maintenance, and you get to use your facility a lot more. JV, middle school, youth leagues, soccer, lacrosse. Copley has/had a semi-pro football team. When I played we weren't allowed to walk on the field unless it was a varsity or JV football game, and even then the grass was gone halfway through the season.

IIRC Wadsworth is the only Suburban League school to still have grass. And the only reason they haven't switched yet is because some of the board refuses to put a corporate name on it or the stadium.

That makes a LOT of sense. The regular season and the conference championships are highly important, and nobody can complain about being subbed. You win, you're in. But, the big time conferences would never go for it. Only one team per conference can get in, and if you ask the SEC, they think their top four should be in. And it would make the non-conference games meaningless, no more top ten schools butting heads creating excitement.

I remember the Barons very well. They moved in August and the management had no time to advertise the team. They were also broke, after failing in Oakland, so they couldn't advertise if they had time to. It was in such sad shape it missed payroll. The lease with the Coliseum was the kicker. They got no concessions, no parking, no money from the loges. The lease made it impossible to break even with a major league team. The new AHL Barons found out, it doesn't work for minor league teams either. And that's the same reason Akron's USFL team doesn't want to play at the Info. YOU CAN'T BREAK EVEN. That is why the Monsters thrive where the other teams couldn't, the owner of the team owns the arena. BTW, they were third in the AHL in attendance with a 10th place team).

I heard (said) the same things about baseball and American football too.

Well if you can't see trends and the like I can't help you much. I know what sports fans in Columbus have told me on another forum, and outsiders have said. So I believe Columbus is a "college town" as are other major cities, while Cleveland is a "pro town". I believe Cleveland is a "football town" and St.Louis is a "baseball town". I believe northeast Ohio is a soccer hotbed waiting to happen again, and if Bert Wolstein had lived 10 more years we would have an MLS stadium and an MLS team now. I believe a bad NHL team would be more popular than a bad NBA team in Cleveland. None of this can be quantified with stats, of course. But I also know stats can be arranged to prove anything.

A couple things to keep in mind. Akron has "been there" and it's expected that they will be there again. How many times have they been to the NCAA tournament? 20? Second, cold weather soccer programs do not have the issues that cold weather baseball programs do, and it's rare that a cold weather baseball program can recruit the talent, prepare the team, and make a serious run like Ken+ has. So that was a big part of the story. Having covered the team during it's CWS run, I know this. We just saw Cleveland State shut down its baseball program, it's an uphill battle. You spend the off-season and training camp indoors, you spend the first half of your season riding busses up and down I-77 for hours on end every week. This all adds to the STORY of Ken+ making it to the CWS. And finally you still have the same people running the sports departments at the same TV stations, with the same aging viewers who take the time to write and call in with every whine they have. Meanwhile baseball diamonds are disappearing, not maintained, or are not being used. More and more kids are playing soccer instead (for one reason, they don't want to stand around in the field and pay attention, waiting for their (average) three plays and four at-bats a game), MLB ratings and attendance falls. A lot of that is their own fault, but that doesn't change the facts. From the grassroots level on up, soccer is gaining steam.