yazan07

Spring trip photos Stumbled upon these pics from the Real Madrid reserves game. Enjoy

Five Zips? That's good to hear! Who are we talking about and how did you get this info?

"Playing for his father, Gene, the 5-foot-8 guard poured in 2,680 career points, ranking him third all-time in the state, 34 points better than current NBA superstar LeBron James (2,646)." When I read this, the first thing that popped into my head was "and I bet Lebron is wishing he would have scored those extra 34 points so he could be bouncing around coaching jobs instead of being where he is now."

Ok well I was there with some other students so I'll give a bit of a rundown I don't think any of you shelled out to go to Spain, so I think this was the first time for any of us to have the opportunity to see the post National Championship/lose 7 starters Akron Zips. Each game was 60 minutes and both games were back to back. I think the idea of this format is to use different players for each game, but because of our current roster situation we really weren't able to do that. Four of the incoming freshmen (Trapp, Yedlin, Gallego, and Chiu) will not be with the Zips until Fall, four more incoming players (Culbertson, Navarette, Murrow, Afsarifakjsahdlgkzjdg) are already playing. Seems like Luke Holmes is MIA. I know he was on the Spain trip but didn't play, and I didn't even see him there today. Not sure what the story is there. Also, Ontiveros and Brenes were both out due to injury. The play today wasn't especially impressive. I thought the team looked a little sloppy. Porter said to us as he thanked us for coming that the team "needs to get better," which I agree with. There is no shortage of talent on this team, but I think the team needs to gel. There are a lot of new kids on this roster, and in addition to that, it's weird to think that now guys like Caldwell, Speas, and Barson, who were previously some of the younger guys on the team, are the new leaders and have to step up. This is a young team. That being said, I have faith in this team. The two goals were from Barson and Asfsarlrhlasrghckyrbdsmtsj (both defenders, interestingly enough) with assists from Scotty. Neither of them were particularly memorable goals though. Darren had several opportunities but didn't finish and had some messy touches. Apparently he wasn't at 100% either and almost didn't play. There was also still a bit of shuffling around with positions, as I assume Porter is still trying to figure out who can play where and how they will work in that position with those around them. It is Spring season though, so there is still a ton of time for improvement. I think this team has proven to be so amazing in the past that we have become spoiled and are unsatisfied with anything less than perfection. This will certainly be an interesting year. As far as the overall game day experience goes, it was great. This is my second time going to this tournament and I have loved it both times. Ultimate Soccer Arena is really just a perfect name for this place, it is such a nice indoor facility. There was a decently priced restaurant, a bar, and the people who worked there were pretty cool. We got the camera guy to do a brief pole dance with his camera stand and talked to one of the guys in charge of the facility (way more laid back than Paul Hammond). With only a few Akron fans there,we got to chat a little with the players, coaches, and parents. The seven of us who went together spent a while talking to Mr. and Mrs. Meves who were super nice and told us if we went to Chicago they would take us out to eat (but it wouldn't be steak dinners). I think they enjoyed us trying to convince them to have another kid too. Another part of our day which was especially fun was our interaction with the Michigan students. They brought about 30 kids and stood right next to us. Although we spent the whole playing time yelling on top of each other and insulting each other, during dead balls, halftime, and before and after the game, we talked to them about our respective organizations, chants, our hatred of OSU, and just soccer in general. They were pretty cool for the most part, except for the annoying 13 year old with them (Kyle May, if you are reading this, you are way cooler than this kid). It was fun to interact with another student group, and because the stakes weren't really high, there was much less hatred than there would be during a regular season game. Hope you have enjoyed reading my ramblings about the day's events. If anyone has any questions about what I saw with our new squad feel free to ask. Also, for anyone else who went, I'd be interested to listen to your take on today.

A friend and I are planning to be in Pontiac, MI this Saturday. Is anyone else planning to be there? Me and some other students will be there

Did Luke Holmes go on the Spanish trip? No yes OK. As far as I can tell, Holmes did not see action in any of the matches. Very curious! Sorry. I'm friends with one of the managers and he put photos from the trip on facebook. It looked like Luke was with the team but not dressed. Maybe he is injured? I'm not really sure. Either way, you are correct, he didn't play. Hopefully we will see him as well as the rest of the new guys in the coming weeks. Anyone planning on making any of the trips for Spring season?

Did Luke Holmes go on the Spanish trip? No yes

I heard Alex Abreu got sent back to Puerto Rico against his will and Kyle Petersen will be thrust into the starting PG position for next year. Also Zeke is quitting basketball early to start his career as a professional video gamer.

Zemanski had his first MLS goal tonight! Someone else find it, I'm tired

Just hope Nik doesn't wait until July to announce his decision, and do it in a one-hour special where he lets us know he's taking his talents to Serbia. If someone were to do something like that, it would be awful

Did you know KD was LeBron's coach in high school? If you somehow didn't, now you do. They really drove that one home.

Here is my question: If it was a sure-thing that Nik is out of here, then wouldn't we have heard rumors of a fifth new guy next year? We know we are losing four seniors and we know they are being replaced by the two freshmen and the two non-qualifiers, but if Nik leaving was a done deal then I think we would have started hearing rumors about another new guy, right? Or is that not necessarily a given?

On the bright side, soccer team starts the next part of their Spring season a week from tomorrow!

Thats the way of it. I just surprised me because of its uncommon nature. That's what I've always heard too. Now that we've shown we know our origins, what exactly is a fl@sh?? From their website: Can't State University has had several mascot characters over the years, including: Silver Foxes - Named in honor of President McGilvrey, who had a silver fox ranch for a time. Golden Flashes - Name submitted and selected in a contest in 1926 by a Can't State student. Winner received $25.00 prize. Subsequently perpetuated by Oliver Wolcott of the Can't Courier Tribune. Flasher - In 1951, a golden retriever was adopted as team mascot. Grog - In 1966, the cartoon character was recreated in paper hair and plaster. Remained on the scene until 1971. Golden Flasher - A golden palomino horse and masked rider in blue and gold, 1972 and 1973 seasons. Golden Flash - A masked figure with lightening bolts in each hand, 1973-1975. Flash - Our present mascot, a golden eagle. In 2003, the Flash mascot was named a National Cheerleading Association All-American. Also, this wasn't on there, but two years ago they unveiled a new mascot at as basketball game. This thing looked like a Native-American owl. The students hated it so it never saw daylight again, I think Can't read, can't write, can't make up your mind about what you want your mascot to be

"Zip", short for "zipper," a rubber overshoe that was produced by the B.F. Goodrich company. Kangaroo was added later as a mascot. Is this not the true story? That is what I have always been told, and that is what I always tell others

Here are two articles, one an interview with Zarek and the other with Ampai. Also a poll was posted today as to which Zip will be most successful in the MLS Entrance Exam: Chivas USA's Zarek Valentin Entrance Exam: SJ's Anthony Ampaipitakwong POLL: Which Akron product will shine in MLS?

I know a guy who used to go to Akron but moved out west about a year ago. He had this posted on facebook, I thought I would share: Can't State's basketball team is here at the Denver airport. Just told them, "Hey, go Zips." I have no idea who's who but someone didn't like that.

Tracking the Zips: Porter Corresponds from Spain I am really glad they are doing this. I was going to be pretty upset if we didn't really get a glimpse of what the team was experiencing overseas. I even asked Anthony Ponikvar if he could do his blog while in Spain. This is just as good though, can't wait to hear more.

The taco bar was awesome! A good way to mix it up from the usual pizza or hot dogs. Kudos to marketing for coming up with something new. Oh and the game was alright too

http://rise.espn.go.com/boys-soccer/articl...suit=BoysSoccer

Oh you all are from Tuscarawas? I'm not

I checked out his stats. Looks like he cheated on his wife when she was dying of cancer and there is a high possibility that he used funds raised during his 2008 presidential campaign to keep his mistress quiet about the whole ordeal. Hopefully Zeke doesn't have to do anything like that to make it to the NBA

This was awesome. I got two of my questions answered by Porter. I see that they are planning on doing more of these with other athletics personnel, but really I just want more questions answered by Porter.

These people will stand up and cheer if you light a fire under them. Two years ago marketing had a GA who would do all the little gimmicky promotional stuff but who would also go out on the floor in the last two minutes of a close game and get everyone fired up. I don't think it was any coincidence that he was one of the founders of the ROWDIES (I miss you Willy). Towards the end of the game the other day I turned to the guy next to me in the band asked him if he remembered those days and how if there was just one person to get the crowed fired up, it would make a significant difference. A few minutes later our director took it upon himself to walk out along the sideline, cowbell in hand, and essentially force the lower section to stand up and cheer. Yeah this is the same band director who a few months ago drew this comment (yeah I dug it up): "The overly aggressive band leader seems to think the game is about him" I don't know about anyone else, but if thinking the game is about him means firing up the people who are usually sleeping, I'll take it. Really though, this shouldn't be his job. I wish someone in athletics would wake up. Those old people have potential, the really do. Someone just needs to push them. Kudos to everyone who actually participates in supporting our team

NBA D-League might be better but he wants to go home where he has his family and his woman. He is in a different situation than most players who have gone through here in the sense that going to play in Europe for him doesn't mean making a sacrifice of leaving home, it means going home. Can't blame him for wanting to do that, but man am I going to miss watching him play.