GP1

That was one of the reasons among others I mentioned. What most Americans really want to watch is American football. Between it being the national sport now and gambling degenerates, it gets huge ratings in the US and NFL/NCAA football is claimed to be the most popular sport in the US by at least 45% in a survey by a well respected firm (see The Fact above). It's too bad Americans only have the ability to watch college football in the fall. There is a huge audience for it and a chance for some schools out there to make a lot of money.

I wasn't just talking about one demographic. Not sure people are trading one sport for another in terms of viewership. For example, the Stanley Cup Finals were not played on the same nights as the NBA Finals. Maybe with more sports networks, people are watching more sports and less of non sports programming. Maybe people are foregoing NASCAR for Hee Haw reruns.

ESPN, NBC Sports, Fox Sports, CBS Sports, ESPNU, ESPN 2 and many other stations in need of programming in the spring would probably benefit from soccer being played in the spring. They would benefit a heck of a lot more from MAClike conferences playing real football in the spring.Going back to my facts above. Around 45% of Americans claim either nfl or NCAA football to be their favorite sport. 1% of Americans claim soccer to be their favorite sport. I'd go as far as to say if ABC televised World Cup and NBC televised MAClike conferences at the asme time, NBC would win the ratings. MAClike conferences may not do much right, but they could at least out rate a marginally popular sport. Lastly, as a former owner of the Atari Track and Field game, please be careful of siting game sales as evidence of growing popularity in a sport.

Like most soccer fans, you become hysterical with any criticism. Please retread my post. I'm not talking about actual injuries.

I'll never get past this. Players in all sports flop to try to get calls, but not immediately getting up after not getting the call is less than manly.

The facts. There's nothing else on TV, school is out so kids have more time to watch things and we are being force fed the sport. The NBA makes it so nobody who wants a decent night sleep would watch until the end. On Sunday afternoon, I tested myself. A movie called Valhalla Rising came on one of the Showtime channels. Within the first 30 seconds, I could tell it was going to be terrible. I tested myself to see how many of the 90 minutes of the movie I could watch. I lasted around 45. Longer than I have been able to watch the World Cup. Soccer is like hockey. Disclaimer, I love hockey. Hockey is a niche sport and the fans of the sport always believe it is going to become huge in the United States. It never does (see The Facts above). Americans love the USA hockey team, but that's about as far as it goes with the exception of a small number of die hard fans. Soccer is the same thing. There is nothing with liking a sport. The endless search for affirmation from soccer fans gets a little old though. Lastly, USA-USA-USA-USA-USA.

I wonder if one could write an article about university bureaucracies similar to this one.

Article Not towards educating young adults for sure. The trend away from research and education and towards building playgrounds and supporting bureaucrats is alarming.

No doubt people will leave with a positive impact. It is the first step of many that would draw a potential student to UofA. I don't see this as much as a promotional event as I do an event that a university should have in order to support the community in which it exists. A public service if you will.

Alternative uniforms are an interesting example of group think within college athletics. Whenever you use the words group think and college athletics together, you should immediately understand whatever they are doing is designed to enhance resumes in a meaningless way. It's not unique at this point and is only used to flush money down the hole of resume building because, having developed an alternative uniform is probably a requirement for a job in college athletics. I don't care if we have alternative uniforms or not, but it is a silly trend that has taken place in college athletics over the years and is one of the many distractions from really important things like winning. Lastly, Blue and Gold are the colors. Make alternative uniforms around that and I'm OK. Anything else, no thank you.

I'm not against this night at all. I think it is a good thing for the community to have. I just have trouble believing there is significant or long term impact on the football program or university for having these events. The notion is that people who never come to Akron will be driven to come to Akron again to see a football game because the Browns had a practice at The Big Dialer and they enjoyed the experience. My bet would be that most will like the experience so much that they will be willing to come to Akron again if the Browns practice at The Big Dialer again. 99% of them will carry on with life as usual because one look at the schedule will make them not want to come to Akron on a weeknight. Even the Browns are smart enough to hold their event on a weekend afternoon. Excuse me, but I'm going to go on a tangent here. Selling tickets prior to the season is critical for the program because it guarantees money and there is some level of commitment to attend. Minor league teams look at tickets the same way. When the folks come to the Browns practice and are slightly motivated to consider buying tickets and receive a schedule with half of the home games being played on weeknights, how many will say, "Thanks, but no thanks."? Am I the only one who thinks asking someone to drive an hour from a Cleveland suburb on a Tuesday night in November to watch a game starting at 8PM is a little too much to ask? The MAC is the only conference in America that actively makes it difficult for people to go to games. It is an amazingly stupid conference.

Let's not. How about "Act Boldly".

@skip, And then what? A handful of them will flock to a Tues night game? Plenty of northeast Ohio sports fans know Akron has football. A better product at more convenient times would be better than the Browns practicing at the Big Dialer.

There isn't enough room for both teams. Wofford hosts the Panthers, but their practice area is at least twice the size of what Akron has and the fields are all close together. NFL teams don't want to practice inside in the fall unless they are forced inside by the weather. Same for college teams. However, there is always the "building process".

Would making a joke about futility and the Big Dialer be too easy to do?

@Zipmeister, Not a bad idea on the brand. Location would be very important. The forehead comes to mind. Maybe a tattoo reading, "I'm a dunce". Jimmy Buffett once wrote a song called, "Permanent Reminder of a Temporary Feeling". Something like a brand would be in order for these three dunces. There is a line in the song stating, "Chromosomes and genes, spawn these fateful scenes. Evolution can be mean, there's no 'dumb ass' vaccine". (Link) Naturally, there is nothing stopping three stupid guys from doing stupid things. It is important to remind stupid people that they are stupid because they typically aren't smart enough to remember important things. A brand would be a good reminder to them and other around them.

Sort of. No violence? They were directly or indirectly involved in an incident where a guy was struck by a car and someone else is charged with attempted murder. I see a plea bargain in the near future if not a dismissal of charges. Unfortunately, being stupid is not a misdemeanor. The real question is....What to do moving forward? There is still a long time between today and two-a-day practices. With that comes a lot of chances for 85 dunces to get in trouble. Bring all of the players in to the office that are still around campus for the summer and humiliate the three idiots who did this in front of everyone. Don't let the guys stand in front of everyone and give an empty apology where everyone hugs it out at the end or anything else for that matter. Make a harsh statement about them in front of everyone. Humiliation is in order here and it has to be harsh or guys with this limited ability to think don't understand subtle messages. Let them know they are expected to behave more smartly than a groundhog crossing an interstate. In reality, the coaches aren't asking much. I'd get three t-shirts made with the letter "D" for dunce on the front of it and make these three fools wear them every time they walked into the weight room or worked out somewhere. Additional running isn't going to do anything in this case. These guys are well conditioned athletes and they can be made to run all day and not feel the effects of it. In reality, it only makes the life of the coach who has to administer the running miserable.

Sort of looks to me as if the police are targeting people breaking the law. There was a long list of people being booked that night. This is the sort of thing I'm numb to at this point. The average college football and basketball player is a really, really, really stupid person. With that level of stupidity comes stupid behavior. What you see is what you get. Summer is the most dangerous time for something like this to happen because there is less structure around these dunces so the probability of bad behavior increases. In any event, congratulations to these student athletes on their first felony arrests. Fourth degree felony is a little weak, but if you continue to eat your Wheaties, say your prayers and do you exercises, you can work you way up felony list.

In the case of bowls, they largely function outside of NCAA regulations. Conferences and the non-profits that run the bowls are the parties most responsible. Outside of what is now the four team playoff, bowls are now and have always been largely exhibition games and rewards for good seasons. Where we go, who we play against or even whether we win or not isn't a big deal. Winning an OOC game against Pitt, Marshall or PSU is much more important than winning a bowl game. Now that there is a playoff, I don't see how the bowls can survive long term. Too many teams losing money?...Maybe, see Article 1 below. Teams making money?....Maybe, more like conferences making money...Hard to tell without knowing details of bowl deals with conferences. Maybe the conferences are making money and some of the schools playing are taking a bath. If this is the case, it might pay to be a loser. Article 1 Article 2

I don't know about that. I remember some pretty great after parties.

Do your shoes fit in it?

Do you mean by shattering his record three suspensions in three years with four suspensions in four years?

Did CK forget to pay the rent?

Was the board down or was I having a computer problem?

It will be interesting to see how his two years heading up the Encouraging Department has prepared him for this difficult challenge.