K92

I am not going to be able to tailgate this weekend since I was involved in an accident while entering lot 34 last Saturday. My van is being repaired, so no go. $3600 damage. Yikes! My brother-in-law and I are planning to just hit Pints! at 10 AM when they open, get a bite to eat and a couple of beers there. Since I didn't make it to lot 9 to meet any of you last week, I hope to make up for it this week.

It was very nice to meet Mark on Saturday. He is a very cordial person and I can really say the same for everyone in his contingent. The Syracuse fans were definitely a group that loves to tailgate and it was immediately apparent they were quite experienced. Got to meet Cuyahoga 'Cuse who made the trip down from Solon with his family as well. We were in right in the midst of a Orange flood and made some quick friends with the Syracuse faithful. Mark was kind enough to hook me up with a Hoffmann's Coney, which was a real treat. As you all can see from the video, I am a man who loves to eat. Parked directly beside us was the Kimball family, father and 3 sons, who put on a clinic of how a tailgate should be. They also shared some fantastic food with us including sauteed shrimp and some of the most lip smackin'est ribs you've ever tasted. If Akron re-ups the series with SU, we are going to make plans to tailgate with them again. These 4 gentlemen were great neighbors. Then we packed up and went to the game. I have stayed off the boards since then because I don't want to say things I will regret later. Keeping it positive, I would say that the band sounded great. Kudos to them. I like them better without the flag corps as well. As far as football. . .thank god for Brian Wagner. What a player. I liked the way Nate Burney ran with an attitude. I hope to see him perform better this week and beyond. Although the 1st game was a unmitigated disaster, I was pleased to see the Zips commit zero turnovers. One step in the right direction for sure. Mom always said if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all, so I will take her advice and not even get into the negatives of the day. The Zips need to make a huge improvement from week one to week two. HUGE. That being said, I have a hunch that Syracuse is much improved from last year. Travelling to Washington this week will be a report card game for them. I am trying to keep everything in perspective and although there is much weeping and the gnashing of teeth in ZipNation, things could be worse. Just ask the fans in Lawrence and Oxford.

Since I don't know how to embed, Moderator help:

Got the van packed and ready to go! What time do you plan on being in your parking spot? Let's Go Zips! Win for Akron!

I'll follow up on those two points... First, I don't care what 11 guys are on the field for us defensively, and what their position says in the program. We just better be a lot better at tackling than we've been with many of these same guys on the field the last couple of years. Secondly, I'm wondering when we suddenly became a team with good talent several guys deep. We've struggled with that ever since our arrival as a 1-A school. And even if that situation has improved, I'd still question whether our talent on the bench is topping BCS level programs. there has been a lot of talk about how this defense has a lot of talent in some places. But,they have just not been able to stop people and take over a game when its been needed. Unless the entire unit plays at a significantly higher level the offense won't be able to score enough points. Syracuse won last year with a bad team. With Carter at RB this will give a good indication as to whether the Zips have progressed on the defensive side of the ball... I agree, Lee. We'll find out, one way or another, if the defense has improved as much as some (including myself) think. BTW, here is an interesting article on the switch to the 4-3.....courtesy of The Daily Orange. I know.......kinda crazy when the opponent's media can provide better information than our own. Link Daily Orange is going a great job. Another great Akron piece link

That's pretty awesome, right there.

I really hope you're wrong about the attendance being under 20k. The game is "free" for students. We don't even have Cowlumbus State to compete with for attendance...their game is tomorrow (Thursday) night. Anything over 20k would be a big surprise to me. And I think it depends on a huge Syracuse following. We all need to come to the realization that the curiosity-seekers who wanted to see the new stadium are gone. We need to depend on football fans to fill the stands now. I think the students at the game will double from last year. What makes you think that Max? Any inside information or just a hunch? I hope you are right because students get a helluva lot louder than 41 year olds.

Agreed. On the flip side, did anyone watch the Can't preview show? It was very amateur. I am from Ashland and it reminded me so much of Ashland College TV2 local access programming we had in the early 80's. It was terrible to say the least. As much as I would love to see a weekly show with Coach Ianello, or even a preview show, only if it was a slick production. Also, Tom Linder, the voice of the flushes used to own a bar down here in Ashland that still bears his name. As much as I might hate to admit this to fellow Zips fans, they serve up some pretty damn good buffalo wings. His buffalo wing recipe is much better than his football preview.

ME87, I am with you. The bickering needs to stop. I also regret that I made a snippy post toward you in the past. I totally understand your golf analogy and I feel the same way about golf as you do. However, I don't have a beef with golf fans. My beef with soccer fans is that it seems as if love for the sport is not enough. A lot of soccer fans feel the need to proselytize, promote their sport and marginalize mine. College football is number one. It is not debatable. Men's Basketball is a distant second. Thing is, no fans of the basketball, baseball, track, volleyball, cross country, softball, swim, field hockey, rifle, or tennis teams make posts on the football board to promote their sport at the expense of football. I think that is part of the huge bias against soccer fans. But let me say that I have a new found respect for you with your post and I hope you can understand my point of view a little bit as well. Let's go zips!

Thanks for posting the links, Scott. Missed the interview, but dropped them all an email of thanks.

article "I'm the leader," Nicely said. "Listen to me and that's how it's going to be. I'm not backing down from anything." I hope he can perform so the rest of the team can follow and feed off his confidence. Do we have a budding star here?

I hope that is a joke. Listening to Bernie is like listening to this guy:

Does this guy look like a porn addict to you?

I was thinking the exact same thing as I watched it.

They talked about Akron as much as anyone else. It was Toledo, Ball State and Eastern Michigan that got shafted in their coverage. Their fans have to be steaming if they stayed up to watch that. Especially Toledo. They got what, about 3 sentences?

There are so many knee slappers in this piece. Enjoy! 30 years

Humorous Syracuse predictions: Best Case/Worst Case

I just called the ticket office to see how many tickets were sold. I have 2 season tickets, but I am bringing along some people with me who do not. I figured we would be safe just getting them at the box office but wanted to be sure we wouldn't be in for a surprise Saturday morning. Was not able to talk to a live person, but listened to the message and learned the game is sold out! No, not the Syracuse game on 9/4/10! The Can't State game on 5/5/09. No, I am not kidding. You must be confused. That's a baseball game! No, I mis-typed when I put in the date. It was for the final basketball game on March 5th. My keyboarding skills have always been a little suspect and spell checker didn't underline that date for me when I (somewhat) proofread my post. So, I see that my post was as clear as mud! I will give credit where due. After I pressed one and got the news of the sell-out back in March, I pressed two for a live operator and left a message. A very cordial young lady returned my call to let me know that "there should be plenty of reserved seats available game day, no guarantees, but if you want reserved I would suggest purchasing now".

I just called the ticket office to see how many tickets were sold. I have 2 season tickets, but I am bringing along some people with me who do not. I figured we would be safe just getting them at the box office but wanted to be sure we wouldn't be in for a surprise Saturday morning. Was not able to talk to a live person, but listened to the message and learned the game is sold out! No, not the Syracuse game on 9/4/10! The Can't State game on 5/5/09. No, I am not kidding.

I agree with you 100% K-Roo. If the Zips can A. successfully stop the run and force Nassib to throw while at the same time B. establish the run with AA, I think we have a good shot at winning. If we can't do A & B, I think it could be a long day. Take care of the football. No turnovers. Play solid special teams. Get physical with our front 7 on D. I am going the dreal optimism route and say: Zips 14 Syracuse 10. Go Zips Go!

I'm with you 100%. Aaron. Seeing this gets me totally fired up. We are very fortunate to have a marching band of this caliber. Not every school has a band that totally kicks ass like Ohio's Pride. Cough, Cough, Can't State. I like the new pregame show. I especially liked dotting the I in Zips. Was this performance before the final scrimmage? Wish I could have seen it for the first time in person. Perhaps someone from the band can let us know if they will be performing in front of the Polymer Science building before games like last year.

Sorry guys...the party is over. I don't say that to be an a-hole or anything else. Just take a look around at our society. You are 100% correct. The party is over. But it's not just over for the MAC. There are only a handful of institutions whose athletic departments make money. Like less than 10. Nice article from College Sports Lose Money reports: "Let’s take as an example the 2008-9 Florida Gators. Led by Heisman Trophy finalist Tim Tebow, the Gator football team won their division in the SEC, beat the undefeated and #1-ranked Alabama in the conference title game, and then, with 26.8 million people tuning in on Fox, won the BCS title game over Oklahoma. The men’s basketball team, two seasons removed from back-to-back national titles, made the NIT, while the women’s team made the NCAA tournament only to lose to eventual champion UConn. Yet, despite all this on-field success, and after including $2.5 million in student fees, $40.7 million in alumni contributions, $1.8 million in direct state support, and millions more in television fees, tournament revenues, royalties, licensing, parking, and concessions, the University of Florida lost $5.4 million on their athletics programs in 2008-9. This was arguably the most successful college sports program in the country!" Unfortunately, the arms race in collegiate sports has completely wreaked havoc on almost every school's athletic balance sheet. I think the story of Cincinnati Bearcats athletics is a very sobering one. For all of the success they have been able to achieve in men's basketball and football, they haven't exactly translated it into fans in the seats. Nippert Stadium has 35,000 seats. One would think a team that won the Big East two years in a row thereby earning a 2 trips to a BCS games would be able to sell out a small stadium with no problem. You could imagine a waiting list for season tickets and SRO admissions sold. This has not been the case. They averaged 33, 957 for their 6 home games last year, which is a really nice almost full stadium, don't get me wrong. But Cincinnati is definitely not a town gone crazy with the Bearcats. Their recent performance certainly warrants a town gone crazy. Contrast Cincinnati numbers with Penn State who was the 3rd best team in the Big Ten last year behind Ohio State and Iowa. They have the second largest stadium at 107,282. They averaged 107,008 for their 8 home games last year. Ohio Stadium is 3rd largest at 102,329 capacity. They averaged 105,261 for their 7 home games last year. It appears that the schools at the top of the pecking order are going to stay there and those striving to make it there are never going to. The only exception I can ever see to this is if you play in the same conference as the big dog in your state and you can begin to consistently beat them. That is the only way to step up. OSU fans still see the success of a team like Cincinnati as small potatoes. When it comes to entertainment, I love college football more than anything. I have loved the game since I was a child. And I especially love the Akron Zips and want them to do as well as they possibly can. I am afraid that (like it has for almost everything else) money ruins everything. Would MAC schools make money at the FCS level, or would it just slow the rate of loss? I just realized how depressing my post has become. But even worse. If you consider how upside down the NCAA athletic budgets are, they pale in comparison to the fiscal emergencies local, state and federal governments are facing.

I'm with you. I got to campus in the fall of 1986 before any of the streets were blocked off. Always a challenge to get across. I remember the main lecture hall in East Hall being lit with two 25 watt bulbs that were in the middle of a 30 foot high ceiling. I remember the Chuckery and getting one of those little pizzas from Altieri's. One of the houses I lived in on Kirkwood Ave is now parking lot for the Chapel. So much has changed. Campus is so much nicer. Makes me proud every time I come back and look at all the improvements.

I think THIS photo should be on the back of the scoreboard!

yes. Yes! YES!!!!!! Let's get this thing kicked off!