uhgrad2002

A big difference between this Zips team and others in recent years - only three penalties and zero turnovers last night. It seems like this year the execution may be lacking at times but they aren't dying of stupidity. And all the credit in the world to the coaches and team. I didn't think they had it in them. I was wrong. Good job team!

Thank you for the information.

Going to online only tickets and tacking on a service charge of 25% or more doesn't help. It ended my attendance at several sports.

I'm not thrilled by the new logo, but at the same time I think it makes a lot of sense. Why "A" over "Z"? Because they are trying to strengthen the connection between the university and the city. Both are Akron. Only the university is Zips. I do agree that some subtle shading or outlining to bring out the "Z" would help in a couple of ways. It is distinctive in that it is not similar to other logos (well, not too much, anyway). Once all the teams are using it and get some exposure, people will recognize it as "Akron". A logo can be effective without being visually great (see Nebraska's "N"). It is vitally important that the university uses it consistently for a number of years. That is how effective branding works. SO GLAD they kept the golden gold! And don't forget Zippy!

Which makes it all the worse. The fans get shafted so the team can be on a low quality broadcast that relatively few people will watch.

I stopped buying season tickets because of last season's schedule. I'll stop going altogether because of this one. If being big time is more important than fans, so be it. I understand why it is the way it is, but there are other sports that deserve support too, other ways to have fun and other ways to support the university.

That's why I will not be going to any more Zips basketball games.

Perhaps they just could not believe that anyone would make such a huge banner to celebrate simply getting to a mid-major bowl game.

I expected the weeknight games, but count me out for them. Getting too old to be out that late and get up at 5 am for work. No more season tickets for me.

Did you look at the comments posted with piece? Goes along with the news reports. Why do we want to be associated with fraud?

The Acme-Zip game had a lot going for it. Discounted tickets, a variety of attractions, lots of support from a local corporate sponsor that people interacted with daily. It was really about more than football so it attracted a large audience that was getting a lot for their money.

Zips score received equal billing on page A1. It was a night game in another time zone, verses day games at home. The paper has to be printed and distributed in the early morning hours. Logistics come in to play. I didn't see much praise for the paper last week when the UA story was bigger than OSU on the front page, equal overall and bigger than the other schools's article. Or the other day when the major sports front page story was the UA soccer match.

So instead of the A-Roo we will have the O-PU. At least there is an emoji for that.

Some people don't know what they want to do when they are 20 or so. Universities provide one of the few places most of those people can explore their options. And I don't see it necessarily as well-rounded verses job-ready. I think being well rounded enhances being job-ready (and life-ready). I did not start college in order to prepare for a career. When I started, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I started in Liberal Arts and got a BA in Psychology. Useless for a job, but it did qualified me for a graduate program in Library Science. They warned us the job market was tight. They were right. So I went back to school to UA (where the adventure had started a decade previous, for a year) and got a degree in Computer Science, and that became my career. I still maintain that the communications and psychology courses I took early on have made me a better professional and a better person than I would have been without them, to the benefit of my employer along with myself. And the art, language, religion and health sciences courses (I was in school a long time!) keep coming up for me. I do worry about the cost of a college education now and one of the things I want to learn during the upcoming discussions is what has changed so much that the costs are so high. I doubt I could follow the same path now that I did then, as work-study wouldn't cover much of it and I could never pay the loans they get these days back.

Universities exist for more than just preparing people for the job market. If that is the major goal, then businesses ought to be directly taxed to pay for them. And yes, students (and parents paying the bill) need to go in with their eyes open as to what the costs are and the job market is (if that is why they are there). I believe that an important mission for universities is to provide a place for people to explore and to become well rounded individuals, and I fear that is getting lost as higher education refocuses itself to be a job training service. In the long run, we are going to be hurting ourselves by developing a society so narrowly focused on the job market. I will be listening to this conversation over UA rebranding, but if it goes the way I think it might, I will move my support to institutions that educate for a broader life experience.