Balsy

I don't think we'd be interested in Transfer QBs other than as backups. We've got Woodson for now, with Chapman backing him up. We've got Cato Nelson on the bench who looks promising. Why bring in a transfer QB to compete and possibly force younger QBs to transfer?

To which most millennials would respond: I'm not saying that to be counter-productive to what this thread is intending to be/do. I like the conversation about coming up with something that would be uniquely Akron. I like where the conversation was headed with the Black Keys...classical, Independent vibe that most people can cling to. The difficulty with coming up with a tune though, is that you've got to find a balance between something the alumni/older generation would cling to and enjoy, that would also attract the younger (and even younger/future) student body into buying into. The reason sweet caroline works, is that it was a mainstream song that most people heard on the radio, have heard at somepoint in their lives, and could sing along with the refrain (and beats...bah, bah, baaaaahhhhh) very easily. Picking songs or musicians that most people would not know/heard of would be a wasted effort.

Great post Zach, this is certainly a great topic that has been discussed on several occasions on this forum, it really needs it's own thread. It's also nice to see some other younger posters all chiming in as well. I would like to point out that this isn't an attack on older members...but instead a different perspective of the non-student involvement at games. We all care about UA, or we wouldn't be here spending time talking about UA on this forum. UAZippers I love that you say that the AK-Rowdies are NOT marketing for the athletics department. I'm sure the athletics department wishes they would be... But seriously, I pull out that point because it's one that points to the underlying cultural problem at UA. That the people running things (administration), don't treat the students as if they're adults. They treat them like children. And because of this, most student orgs choose not to get involved with things outside of their primary objectives. Zipsoutsider, that idea is a wonderful idea, and I think it's something UA should explore. That idea has been brought up almost every time this forum has the conversation

Everything you just described was me. I commuted to save money, my dad is an accountant who had 2 years paid off (credit wise), and scholarships with my ACT scores. I still worked a job, actually several, so I could graduate with 0 debt, pay for my car, among other things. which I did do and graduated with no debt. I'm not making generalizations, i'm stating observations made going through college. The job I worked made good money for a college student (18-21) but I OFTEN worked weekdays and weekends, and almost always conflicted with athletic events. School wasn't a struggle for me at all. Finding time to be involved with athletics (which I wanted to be involved with) was.

So only 20% of college students are working jobs on the weekends? You're more disconnected with modern college students than you realize. In fact it's probably closer to 20% of college students (or the ones on campus) are not working jobs while the other 20,000 are. I don't remember a single peer of mine who didn't have a job both during the week, and on the weekends, except two: who were both premed and now NeoMed students. And the notion that all college students are just lying around like lumps on a log playing on their phones equally BULL. You're using your own bias to make assumptions of the current student population, as opposed to actually trying to understand who they are. The same problem that decades of administration and alumni at UA has done which has lead to the cultural problem. My father did. My father (went to college in the 70s) was able to work a SUMMER job and pay for tuition. For both semesters. Now the cutting of funding to higher education is a completely different issue, that perhaps deserves it's own thread. "Sorry to a few of you others who are laboring over this issue" well...you all are going to keep laboring over trying to understand the student attendance issue because you don't care to hear from the people who are most in tuned to it. You'd rather rely on your own, 30+ year bias as opposed to relying on new information/perspectives. Ironically, the same problem I hinted to earlier.

Yes they do. And, from what I heard most of those are not full.

When I wasn't in class, I was working. Either on homework, studying, school groups or at work. Now this is of course, anecdotal, but I was so busy my first three years I went to 1 football game and about three times as many basketball games. I simply didn't have the time, and I was bummed out about it. It wasn't until my senior year I lightened up my work load (and class load) so that I could be able to attend games. I had to make an effort to be involved with athletics. So I'm speaking from personal experience. For the drinking until 2am...I mean it's easy to understand that one...you work during the day and drink during the night. I missed several games because of meetings we had on campus. So yeah, it is a thing. I was involved with three different groups, all meetings on different weekdays (not to mention work and labs thrown in there). I remember streaming the boxscore to my computer several times just so I could see how the Zips were doing because I couldn't be there in person. So no, I'm not stretching to the sky on that one. And I could gladly come up with a 100x (hyperbole of course) different things students would be doing with their friends instead of sitting at a 4-hour long football game. It's actually not absurd in the slightest. Generation X vs Millennials I suppose. But at the heart of it all, is the culture problem; the UA culture problem. If it is something that mattered to people (which they then pass on and inspire others to be a part of) than people would make time to be a part of it. It mattered to me, so I tried to make time for it (by lightening my schedule). I was one of the weird ones, making time for Zips athletics...

Completely agree with you 72Roo.

You and I have gone over this before. Weekday games: because who the heck wants to go to a game after class? And (a lot of them still work weekday jobs as well). Comparing the modern college student to how it was in the 80's is absurd. Times change. College is more expensive. There's 100x other things to do with your friends than go sit at an Akron football game, that is now nearly 4 hours, that has been historically terrible. School groups often have their meetings in the evenings. I don't agree. ThI'd say that the vast majority of the student population DOES have some other commitment that would be prohibitive to coming to games. That's not saying they would come if the commitment wasn't there, but thats not the point. What have alumni, faculty, staff done to make games a welcoming atmosphere for students? Have they even bothered asking students (seriously) about why they're not more involved? Have they tried to include students in the conversation/decision making? How many alumni engage current students and get them excited about these events? How many staff talk up things on campus with their students? It's a cultural problem. And it's not the current student's problem. It's the decades of alumni, staff neglecting the culture that has caused what we see today.

This is the only comment I thought I'd offer some commentary on, having been on campus from the Fall of '08-'13. I used to have this same opinion until my last 2 years on campus. I was always upset about students not supporting the Akron teams. But I think it's important to note these several things: 1) a lot of those students in the area work jobs and wouldn't be going to the games anyways. This was the case for a lot of my friends in college. They lived a half-mile from Infocision, but worked during the day on Saturday. 2) The entire time I was at UA I never saw ANY effort by administration at UA to build/encourage that student involvement culture. Hell, my first Zips football game was when Syracuse came to town, and I didn't even know I could get into the game for free. Now, I was a commuter student mind you, so I don't know about the efforts made for on campus students to be involved. 3) When you go to games, you feel like you're a child. The announcer says things like "lets try for real this time" on chants MULTIPLE TIMES and other nonsense like that. We get it...the stadium is empty, don't keep pointing it out. 4) I've talked at length on this forum about the many, very easy, ways to increase student participation feel free to PM me and I'll go into more detail with you personally...but one thing that is consistent is that the adults running the university do not see/treat the students as if they are adults...that may have ideas that are just as valid as any of theirs That's at least how it felt while I was there. 5) AK Rowdy leadership is awful. I was involved with it for 1 year, and left because the leadership was awful. But that was just my experience.

I see what you're saying, but I don't necessarily agree. Winning the MAC championship should mean more than beating App. State. Their a good team. But at this point I honestly don't think it matters how good the Zips are, attendance will state relatively the same. The only thing that might change is additional student attendance, which always (historically) dropped off after the first 2 home games. If athletics gets creative, there are ways to get more students in the stands..

I'm ending my Ohio.com subscription. This coverage is an absolute joke.

I think it'd be safe to say that the Zips probably consistently have around 10k at that stadium. The thing that probably changes attendance is special groups (band days, with families and the kids themselves...Lebron James Foundation Day...etc), and the school we're playing. I'd imagine they're allotted a certain amount of tickets, and alumni groups probably also buy blocks or something. I don't believe it's ever real attendance vs. Sold, it's probably always sold tickets reported. Some years are inflated because they do the massive ticket giveaways.

It looked 25%-33% full to me.

Unfortunately no. I had it deactivated and courtesy of phone insurance they're sending me a new one. My own fault for being careless at the concession stands. Thanks for following up though!

Updated for the final week of OOC. I agree with the comments made, the Zips have the best chance they've had in a long time to take the East. It's between Ohio and Akron for the MAC East. What is going on at BGSU and NIU? Anyone have any insight?

Side note: I dropped my phone in the stadium today and didn't realize I did until I was already in my seat. Staff in the stadium were very helpful, but no one had turned it in. I activated find my iphone (and locked it with instructions of how to get it back to me) it was still in the stadium. Someone found it, because they pressed the buttons on the screen to acknowledge that it had been found. 3 hours latter no contact, and no-one turned it into the UAPD (or the stadium staff who would ultimately give it to the UAPD). I'm kinda bummed, because that means a Zips fan (or App. State visitor) took my phone, and that'd be a real shame.

Chuck as in Chuck Amato? The defense has been the staple of this team for the last 3-years of this coaching staff...and now all of a sudden Amato sucks? Calm Down, Don't over react. There's a lot of young players on Defense; and they stepped up to give the offense a chance.

There were a lot of injuries in the Defense right? i also noticed that Marcus was not on the field for a large portion of the 2nd half. This defense should be enough to help carve up the MAC East.

Nice Defensive stand!

Zips offense is not getting any help from the Zips defense. The defense hasn't been getting any help from special teams. With that said, this App. State team is good. They came ready to play with a plan that has been well executed. Those 2 early INTs by Woodson will be the deciding factor in this game IMHO. They're down 14 right now, which App. State got off of the 2 turnovers.

DELETE

That's because Cleveland is a Football town first (Browns football) before all other teams.

He was on the Golden Boys ESPN Cleveland Yesterday, and they were asking him to be on again before the Kent game. That's better than Twitter? But I agree. It'd be nice to seem him on more local radio channels. You have to be invited, but I'd imagine someone at UA's gotta have connections with a lot of local the radio networks.

Pittman and Marcus for sure.