fknbuflobo

Like to see Stuart Dobson stay and bring along Fernando Pina. Dobson is part of the reason for Meves' stellar senior season.

Well, I am with Jared's father. Where are the recruits? Money quote: “I can understand where the public may be antsy because there’s six guys who left,” Embick said. “If they look at our commitments, there’s three or four guys. They want players, players, players, which we could get. In the fall they could be unhappy because the level is a little down.”

It is almost too late to land a top five recruiting class. I believe we have had top five recruiting classes every year during the Porter era, several times securring the top class. http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soc...ommitments#tabs

Per Ives: Ives Galarcep ‏@SoccerByIves "Yedlin isn't going to be last Akron player to sign a Homegrown Player deal this winter. I'm told Dillon Serna is close to signing w/Colorado"

I really hate this news. It does not seem to me like a good idea. Best of luck to Yedlin. We will be watching.

Barson finally signed with Crew today. Somebody load the link, please.

Truly funny! "Dude, you’re asking too many Portland-themed inside joke questions for a guy running a fake twitter account out of Ohio."

Notice Dan Zemanski (Everest SC) as club coach.

Please welcome Riley Grant. Top Drawer Soccer - Riley Grant US Soccer Development Academy - Riley Grant

Check out this link about Lucas Cawley, a player in the Portland Timbers academy, settling on a college program. He has a top ten list of colleges that apparently does not include Akron. http://www.bigsoccer.com/community/threads....1973258/page-2

+1 Barson, Caldwell, Meves and Schmitt are the best Zips class in the history of the program. Best of everything, Scottie! We will be watching.

I spent an accumulated 26 minutes casting 1,476 votes. I will never shop at Lowes again.

Blair cannot stay healthy.

I overheard the same conversation. No surprise. Barson signing Crew HG contract imminent, expected before Christmas.

It worked out well because Nagbe is getting married this weekend.

Coach Embick, we want expect to hear from you tonight.

I will be surprised and disappointed if there is less than a capacity crowd at the Porter farewell. We owe him.

This one hurts, but it is not even remotely surprising. I hope he starts with the Crew before taking on a European club so that I can watch him regularly. Whoever gets this guy receives a rock solid player, fundamentally flawless. Wil Trapp is my favorite player from the past 2 seasons. He has the skill set and mentality to make the USMNT someday. Thanks for the memories, Wil. Best Of Luck!

Awesome editorial Michael Douglas!

Official clock management is one of the best things about FIFA rules. Because it is up to official discretion, half (or FT) is never called during action. "Buzzer beating" simply does not occur. Using the Semi-Final example mentioned, half-time would never have been an issue DURING a shot attempt. The shot would have been attempted, and the whistle blown afterward. The result would have been the result. What we saw last night is the least of desirable outcomes. The announcer counted down from 10 even though he was out-of sync with the gameclock. Correct me if I am wrong, but over on BigSoccer.com they claim that the NCAA rule book has the event timekeeper as the final say. WHAT!?!?!? 6.3.9 The timekeeper shall signal for the termination of the period and signal with a horn (not whistle) when time has expired. Fortunately, it did not come into play as Creighton never really looked like scoring anyway.

Zips definitely could have hung with this crowd. None would have outclassed us. That makes it all the sadder.

Agree with everything you have said, Z.I.P. Adopting FIFA rules, including official clock management, would eliminate this kind of stuff. Go over to Big Soccer.com where the debate is raging.

Wow. And to think I do this for free. I will be sure to use the schpell cheque from now on. @ UZ Soccer has room for shorter than average athletes like Lionel Messi. It has room for taller than average athletes as well like Peter Crouch. That is one of the many beautiful aspects of our sport; it takes all kinds, so long as they are fit. When too short Dillon Serna hammers the ball into back of the net with his heavy left foot, no one mentions diminutive stature. When he deftly eludes two defenders with quickness and grace to deliver an incisive through ball, we scratch our heads and grin at each other. His technical prowess is unquestioned. His futbol acumen is beyond his 19 years. But when he gets pushed around and regularly knocked off the ball by MAC opponents, one might say he is not yet strong enough to be effective, while that small. When he gets knocked out of five matches due to injury, all during his freshman season, one might conclude that he is not quite ready for the (even rougher than MLS) MLS Reserves. I have attended a handful of MLS Reserve matches. Each one was poorly played, poorly officiated (often 2 officials without linesmen), and exceedingly, even criminally physical. Each exhibition match quickly deteriorated into a hack fest. That is the best place for Serna to turn 20? At what salary would he sign? Dillon Serna is unlikely to grow more than an inch maximum at this point in his life. I was exaggerating. But he definitely needs to get sturdier and tougher. Akron is the perfect place for that to happen, practicing and competing against other future pros. And get this: He can go to college while developing his soccer! Imagine that. Has anyone paid tuition lately? Mr. UZ of the Burgundy Wave is completely ignoring this fact. I take the minority opinion that players should stay in the minor leagues (NCAA) until the right time. Drawing analogy to Baseball, development is often a fragile process. There is indeed such thing of going pro too early.

A man of your means goes wherever he wants to go.

Good job. This is the sort of shtuff I want hear. This will be an active message board this off-season; I personally guarantee it. I am most interested in hearing from Coach Embick. It is time for him to "preach to the choir," as it were. We need it. Yes, you are correct about NCAA rules and NLI. I did not mean to insinuate that Embick would or could publicly speak about specific recruits. But in past years there were always rumors on the street on who was coming next season. I hear none of that now, which bothers me. Why should I be so patient? I do not want a rebuilding year where we fail to reach the NCAA Tournament. That is no longer acceptable at Akron. Any criticism will be harsh but fair. The bar has been raised. Please introduce yourselves at the Porter farewell. I already know Zip_ME87.