cms133@uakron.edu

BAH! Who cares, the tickets are still FREE! At first I kind of thought it was stupid but now I kinda like it. It's cool to see all the people wearing them and feel the buzz around campus.That sucks for anyone working in a factory or place with a strict dress code but hey, isn't the home opener worth losing your job/arm???

One of the final touches better be brick around the scoreboard as well. PLEASE!!!

Wow, I only heard about this last year, I didn't know it was 0-0. What the hell... I wonder if he thought about doing that or if it was some sort of reaction or something. Definitely goin to Can't this year.

I like this and hope to see MAC success. Most people think we should just get out of the MAC for bigger conferences like the Big East. Maybe, but I think the MAC is starting to change, at least beginning to. It seems that the MAC has been able to gain some attention in recent years, Akron v.s. NCS from the ACC, Toledo v.s. U of M, Akron v.s. 'Cuse just to name a few. The point is, when you win games like these people hear about it, either through the media (ESPN) or just people talking about it. I'm surprised that he didn't mention our soccer program, I would assume the MAC's only #1 nationally ranked team. The task now is consistency, particularly for football and B-Ball (Our other teams seem consistent). For football, winning seasons and upsets, and B-Ball NCAA tournament bids. Easier said than done but I'm really confident about this year.

If you're on campus, basically any bookstore has a ton of clothing. There are stores in Polsky, The student union, Campus book store, and some other one down the road. Campus book store and the other one are on exchange next to Hungry Howie's and across from the Stadium somewhere. There is also a little place at the end of the honors dorm that does custom prints and has a lot of Zips stuff. I'm pretty sure you can order from the gift shop online. Any big clothing store will probably have Akron stuff. The Kohl's in Medina had Akron basketball shorts next to their OSU crap.

And yet more work on it - I believe this is the titanium and gold inlay going in? (maybe as a precursor to testing the titanium bridge). By the way I was in North Carolina over the weekend and checked out the stadiums at ECU, UNC, NCSU and Duke. Though smaller the Info looks just as nice as any of them and is way better than Wallace Wade Stadium at Duke.UNC's Stadium is ugly to me. It looks like some sort of aquatic research facility or something. Info is a great looking stadium and I hope they continue to do renovations to other buildings on campus so they match that style of architecture.

Can't STATEINSIDE SLANTThe Can't State football program has run out of excuses. After pouring in more than $15 million in upgrades to Dix Stadium and several former players landing spots on NFL rosters, Can't State coach Doug Martin understands the need to finally produce a winning season.Although posting a 19-39 mark in five seasons, Martin survived the chopping block to coach another year. Thus, Martin realizes the urgency to end a dubious losing streak for the program. The Golden flushes have recorded just one winning season since 1987, notching a winning record in 2001."It's time for us to change the history," Martin admitted.The Golden flushes have plenty of solid pieces to make some noise in the Mid-American Conference. A lack of consistency in the program along with some bad luck has led to frustrating years for the Zips. However, the Golden flushes have the right blend of talent returning in 2009. Coupled with an easier schedule to open the season, Can't State could be a surprise team in the MAC East. What the heck??? Typo? Did they really confuse us with Can't State??

Any news on the injured D? I thought I remembered hearing Tonga was hurt a while ago but it wasn't serious. And what about Bain????

The Goodyear Blimp...we needz it

Great post. I'm really pumped for basketball this season but I'm trying not to let it get the best of me. I think I'm almost expecting us to be the best in the MAC this year and get to the tournament again no problem. I think the best thing for the players and fans to do is, as always, take it game by game (every game no matter the opponent) and not think too far ahead. We have to realize that it is definitely not a given, and we made it last year because of the efforts of the players sometimes in clutch situations, we could have lost. It sucks that the MAC has 1 bid, only 1 and it is derived by a tournament but so be it. I'm confident As for the hecklers at our own players...

How much do you guys think stadium capacity plays in being chosen? If almost 50k people show up for this event and Info seats 30, wouldn't that lower our chances? This would be an awesome event though, and definitely good exposure of the stadium.Edit: Nevermind, I just checked wiki and Massillon only seats 16K at most and canton with 22K. In that case....SWEET GO INFO BAYBEH

HAHA, I understand. We'll work around it.

In game representation would be CRAZY! And that's the perfect area to hang them too, good idea. If we really do this would we just assign the different letters to people on here and have instructions on how to make them at home?

Yeah, I forgot how many of those ended up drifting around campus. I was thinking more along the lines of pinning them up on bulletin boards around campus, like the one in the commuter lounge or the ones in the dormitories and administration and classroom buildings. I know that in Gallucci hall there are around 4 boards per floor. If we could get permission from the RA's we could post multiple flyers that are easily and cheaply printed directly in front of the student's faces. Either via a university printing press or just each member print out his own, it would be the easiest option. I think the coolest thing would be to make a large banner, basically exactly what the logo is at the top of the page (ZIPSNATION.ORG) and put it at the top of someone's tent who is tailgating. It wouldn't be that expensive, just large sheets of gold, blue, and white construction paper. We put a small logo in a projector, blow it up on the wall to the desired size, trace the layers, and cut them out with an exacto knife, or even just scissors. Then we just glue them all together with spray adhesive, bond it to a big piece of cardboard on the back and now you have yourself a nice, professional looking banner. If you wanted to get fancy you could even get plexiglass and cover it to protect from rain. Just a thought. I have some artistic ability and one of my buddies is a graphic design major, as I'm sure some are who belong to this forum.

Is there any way we could get ZNO out in the open on gameday? Maybe somehow through tailgaiting like with designated ZNO tents or flyers we could all pitch in for and some of us students could post them up or just throw them all around campus? I was looking around for some sort of forum like this last year when I was a freshman through the university sites(stupid on my part) and couldn't find anything. I started looking when our b-ball team made it to the tournament and was hearing rumors about some 7ft center from like Lithuania or something who liked LeBron and wanted to play for Akron. I found this forum a couple of weeks ago and have been checking it pretty much every time I can but I basically found it on accident. I don't know if it's just my friends and I but we didn't know it existed. I think with this opportunity we could definitely get incoming freshmen, and even graduates to join and be interested in Zips Athletics and what not. Maybe the rowdies could help by throwing a shout out during their orientation speech..rousing in the auditorium at the Union. I just think this is a powerful tool to build a bigger fanbase and I know when I'm on campus I would rather be handed a card repping ZNO than an advertisement for some club that says 18y/o girls allowed, no guys under 21!

LOOKING FORWARD TO IT

Are they still going to encase the scoreboard in brick like they did in that promotional video? Really hope so!

I definitely agree. I've only been following the Zips since last year but I think that this season, what with the new stadium, talent, coaching staff, etc, has the potential to be a great cornerstone for our football program and beyond.