GP1

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.

Article

Ms. Hakim writes a real good article. An interesting thing to watch in the campaign will be whether the proponents of the tax can present these needed public service improvements in a way that makes people ignore the want of the arena. There are needs and there are wants. From this article, it looks like the public service upgrades are needed. An arena is something people want and not necessarily need. Can the proponents dupe the electorate into believing a new arena is a necessity?

Agreed. Unfortunately, they are getting hosed for a lot more than football tickets these days.

For a single guy like Zeke, this might be important....Ninth, European women are much easier to get into the sack than American women. Since this is a basketball forum, one might say getting a European woman in the sack is a slam dunk. Paul Shirley wrote a book called "Can I Keep My Jersey" and a large part of it is what it is like to be a guy like Zeke trying to make it in the NBA and the leagues guys are willing to play in. One must be careful of the league they play in overseas. Some of the owners are real crooks. Need a good agent to steer the player in the right direction.

Whoever said this is an idiot.

It would depend on the gravitational pull of the four turds our opponents left.

To me, one could classify the types of acts coming to Akron in three categories. 1. Second tier acts. 2. Has beens 3. Up and comers All three could turn a profit for an arena as there is a market for all three types of acts. The infatuation people from NE Ohio have with Classic Rock could make the "Has Beens" category work well. One of my favorite acts right now is Zac Brown Band. The first time I saw him was at The Visulite Theater in Charlotte and there were about 100 people there. Not a fit for the new Akron arena at that point. Later, we saw ZBB at the NC Music Factory outside in October since the weather is still nice here and it was about the size venue he could fill at that point in his career. Perfect size for an Akron arena. Now ZBB is now a headliner and will never see the inside of an arena like Akron's until they fall into the "Has Beens" category in 15-20 years. They play large arenas at this point in their career. This is just an example, but the managers need to be savvy enough to know when to book up and comers. They need to be able to make the Akron arena the cool place to go watch bands. Many of you are not old enough to remember it, but Akron used to be a great place for live music and not the washed up bands they attract to events around the area now.

When I lived in the midwest, Grand Rapids was one of my favorite places to travel to for business. Grand Rapids Arena is Van Andel Arena and is really a nice arena and there is a lot to do in downtown Grand Rapids. Maybe something like this could work in Akron. They are talking similar size arenas. Grand Rapids does have a minor league hockey team that is somewhat popular. NE Ohio has never supported a professional hockey team at any level and I don't see it happening in Akron. I guess another question is this. Outside of Zips basketball, what other entertainment options can this arena provide that isn't already being provided by the two arenas in Cleveland and Blossom? It could be the difference between why an arena such as this works in Grand Rapids, but not in Akron. GR is a long way from a major city (Detroit), so when the Pistons play there or the Red Wings, it is a bid deal because people are so far removed from Detroit. That dynamic does not happen in Akron because it is so close to Cleveland. The WWE goes to Grand Rapids because it is far from Detroit. Why would the WWE come to Akron, foregoing an event in Cleveland? It seems to me the proximity of Akron to Cleveland will make this arena very difficult to make successful. Those public officials who support this deal are asking for a big leap of faith from those who are going to vote in favor of this project. I say vote for it. It isn't my money anymore.

I don't know how the maintenance costs are distributed. UofA has a facilities and maintenance department so the cost could be assigned to them, or the Athletic Department. Either way, UofA is in charge of the costs regardless of the silo the money comes out of. In terms of the best deal, I have an idea. We will have a new President in coming months. New ideas come with new President. Let's give the guy a couple of years to come up with a private solution before jumping in bed with the County/City.