Spin

Finally made it back down to the JAR (yeah I know, but class, family, job, other job, and covering other sports kept me busy). I'm convinced. It HAS to be on campus. Not downtown. I forgot the electricity on campus at night. And how much off~campus facilities are missing.

Is anyone doing the road trip to Harmarville, PA Friday night for the conference tournament?

I frequent a Cleveland sports fan forum, and the CSU fans are always complaining that the TV stations cover Akron and Can't, but not CSU. The TV and radio stations and PD really played up Akron's soccer championship. And they have extensive coverage of AK basketball in The Dance. Just a couple FWIW's... IIRC Akron gets a fair amount of news coverage. Keep in mind, the Akron metro area is less than a third the size of Clevaland. And Cleveland's crime rate per capita is higher.

Not necessarily, especially for a start-up program. Assuming the university decided to sanction the sport, AND provide scholarships, it could still play in Division II. A DII or DIII program would have some long travels, compared to DI, but would seem like a good growing point. DI would have closer rivals, BGSU, Miami, Notre Dame, Mercyhurst, Robert Morris. Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State. Fun to think about.

The hockey team needs a better rink. The ice and the boards at Center Ice aren't the best, and it doesn't have the capacity for further growth. But playing in a new arena built for the basketball programs would be overkill. Even if the sport became a sanctioned sport, only one Div II/III team averages more than 2500 per game. (Sidebar, looking at the numbers, Akron would be in the top 50 in DII/III attendance right now ). So a smaller rink would be better. Best case scenario would have been if the team were in existence when the Wellness and Rec was designed. It might have been considered then, I don't know. Apparently I'm the only one who sees how the student skate nights and pickup/intramural indoor soccer nights would add to the campus life. If someone in Akron were to build one, the team would have the same scheduling issues there, with early morning practices and game times after 10pm. It would have to hold more than Center Ice. Alice Noble in Wooster claims to hold 900. I don't know what the answer is.

Has anyone brought up the UPA site at Forge and E. Market? Yeah, the city wants it downtown, but they have no funds. The U wants it "on campus". Which is a couple blocks way. But that would give the University one heck of a footprint on E. Market. Parking would be a problem. Summa desnt have enough for itself (where does that sound familiar?). Just thinking out loud.

4 of the 5 games at home. We're the tOSU of soccer!!!

oops...

I think this is the first step in getting a new arena built. First, as a state funded university, it could be that you have to prove it is needed first. I get the impression nobody WANTS to retrofit the JAR, but that has to be in the study. "It will cost $X to renovate the JAR, and $Y to build a new arena. The new arena would generate $A more sponsorship and $B more contributions and $C more suite revenue." THEN they will talk dollars and cents with Plusquelic. Again, to show how much it would cost the university compared to one on-campus. They didn't hire Tressel because they flt sorry for him. He, like Dr. Proenza, is good at bringing in contributions. That in itself tells me they have no intention of working with the destitute city (that lay off firefighters and policemen) on this thing. JT has said his first project is a new arena. He's a mover, thy didn't bring him in if they weren't serious about getting it done right away. There are other projects he could be working on getting funded if that were the case. And I bet if you asked Coach during the off-season, he would have more to say. He's a little busy this time of year with things that are going to be coming up in the next few weeks. I think we'll be hearing a lot more in the coming months.

You guys are crazy. Imagine a new on-campus arena, with BC, UConn, Marquette, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Louisville, Nova, and Cincy every year? Probably the third best conference in basketball? Six top-50 programs (not counting Syracuse and WV). Major markets including Philadelphia, Cincinnati, NYC, DC, Chicago, Milwaukee, football only Houston, Dallas/Ft Worth, Tampa-St. Pete.

I'm not excited about any of those schools. I would much rather play Can't and Ohio, and for that matter BG, and Miami. Road trips to Tulsa, Rice, Tulane? For what, another half ounce of credibility. I'd rather play in what's left of the Big Least, especially in hoops. Football against Cincinnati, Louisville. Still not as exciting without Pitt and WVU, but better than the other. SMU would be an interesting matchup. The team that got the death penalty from the NCAA, against the team that got the death penalty from its QB and later AD.

The Zips have clinched a playoff spot and will travel to Harmarville (near Pittsburgh) for the conference tournament March 2.

One thing Akron has over Toledo is being in a major media market.

I miss the 92.3 alternative music era. And Pete Franklyn, and Peter Brown.

I wish I didn't. Holy crap I wish I didn't...

Me too. The station picks up on one thing, and that's all they want to talk about from 6am til midnight. You can't change the subject. The Cavs didn't exist until they beat Boston and Dallas. The Akron grad makes fun of the MAC now that he's moved on to the big city. But they did succeed in making the Really Big Show cut the BS character role playing and improve their show. Now if they would just give Roda his own show again and put Reggi on at a time I don't listen, it would be almost listenable.

I don't see why the station would deliberately start something, after they campaigned all day yesterday. Whether there was a miscommunication, or Gary had a "change of heart" after higher-ups found out what was going on, we'll never know. The two hosts seemed split after the interview. MY GOD Cleveland State was lame last night.

You know, if you're going to whine and bitch because your program doesn't get any pub, and the Cleveland media outlets talk about the MAC schools, and you spend the first half of the season punking your program on a local radio station, you might want to man up and not cancel an interview after a loss. I know many of you have a low opinion of Cleveland sports radio, but it was good enough for Waters to go on when times were good, and he wanted to pump the city up to show up for games. It was good enough when they spent a large part of the day working on getting asses into the seats at the Wolstein. To cancel a morning interview last night at 10:00 is classless. You wouldn't see that from Dambrot or Senderoff.

I've missed football for three or four years...

Ahh, so I asked a question, and they were answering it. I'm a little slow on Saturdays, sorry gvuys. I believe you guys are all correct, and all right.

200' long, 85' wide. You missed the whole point... forget I said anything.

I'm saying remove some or all of the lower level seating... Having played indoor soccer, I know too well how big the &%#$@*$ floor is. LOL

I don't know if this would work or not, so I' asking, when Akron gets a new basketball arena, could the JAR be converted to a full-floor facility? Remove some or all of the lower bowl seats, and put in a rink-sized floor. Here's my thoughts. A separate full-floor facility wouldn't need all the seats, the capacity of the upper level would be fine. Being separate from the main arena, it would be open to all students. I would put the floor (plywood covered with artificial turf) down 4-5 days a week and open it up for indoor soccer, indoor lacrosse, and arena football. Pick-up and intramural. Then the rest of the week pull the floor and schedule your hockey games, high school hockey, (junior league?), and student open skates. The program gets to set it's own schedule (they have a lot of 10:05 starts now), the fans and students get better seats, and the campus atmosphere improves. What if Canton's soccer team moved to the JAR? More soccer players would take advantage of being able to play competitively year round. More dates with people coming onto campus. Just a thought. I remember the pick-up indoor soccer games at the old "arena" on Jacoby and how popular they were, I see hundreds of people at public skates at Center Ice, Alice Noble (Wooster), and North Park (Elyria). And how the CLUB team has grown over the past two years. I think it would all be a big plus for the campus. Just thinking out loud.

200+ I lost count. It was nice to put faces to some of the names on here, it was a rough game, these two teams just don't like each other (anyone else remember "Piss on old time hockey"?). At one point we were 5 on 3 with Cincy on a major, later Cincy had a player tossed. And a big win with playoff implications. Team chemistry has been a problem with some players running into money and grade problems, so this win was huge. Another in-state rival, Wright State, is in town later today. And you don't have to convince me what on-campus hockey would add...

Or the culture of students wearing clothing with other colleges on them?