GP1

Just got back from Key West. I go there at least once a year. Good time on St. Patrick's Day this year. Anyhow, I've eaten at these three places before, but I'll recommend them to anyone who goes there. Louie's Back Yard - Great fresh food and well prepared. Sits right on the ocean. Just opened up an upstairs part of the restaurant that serves small plates and is first come, first served. Need reservations well in advance if you want to eat downstairs. Blue Heaven - Eat breakfast here almost ever day I can. Breakfast is actually my favorite meal of the day. El Meson de Pepe - Next to Mallory Square where they have the sunset party each day. Watch the sun go down and then eat some Cuban food while listening to Cuban music outside. Lots of good places to eat in Key West that the locals eat in. Didn't eat there this trip, but Michael's is well known by the locals and has very good steaks.

West Lafayette can be a really fun place. If you are thinking of going, you should go.

Are you as drunk as I am?

Sloppy Joe's. Key West. Sloppy Joe. I'm drunk. It's good.

I didn't know that a team as experienced asnours was still getting to know each other. Seems strange to take a quote about one thing and apply it to another. But then again, you struggle with statistical analysis as well so this shouldn't be a surprise.

@balsy, it is true that those things take place. None of us know how much that contributes to graduation rates increasing. Its sort of a 1950s view of the world I find strange. Should the goal of the NCAA be to inact even more rules restricting entry or try to help people succeed in the classroom. I don't believe schools are spending millions on tutoring just to do work for kids.

They haven't been able to turn NCAA Tournament experience into NCAA tournament success. Why should we believe these Micky Mouse tournaments would be anything else? I'm totally down with playing in these tournaments as a way to let the kids have a few more games, but I don't see any other benefit.

He can't play at Akron forever. At some point he would be replaced. Four points shouldn't be hard to find.

Fantastic job Zips! Where is Z.I.P. to tell us JK was being too hard on the girls a few years ago?

They are weak, but not in the point you are making. They are weak because they are bad tournaments. Regardless, if the Zips get in one of them, they should try to win it all.

Get six points per game out of the point guards next year and find 4-8 somewhere else. More points off of turnovers, better offensive sets, offset scoring with better defense, get better at offensive rebounds, get better at defensive rebounds, better foul shooting, use different players to bring the ball up, get better offensive production out of the remainder of the team, etc. It really isn't that hard.

I think there is this underlying notion that KD couldn't find someone to replace him. I'm of the opinion it wouldn't be hard to do. I'd much rather see KD take a shot at bringing in a better player than trying to recycle a guy who has been away from the game for a year. "What got us here won't get us there." We need to think about these words when we look at the AA issue. I think KD needs to look at the entire program, and that means assistant coaches as well, and think about those words.

The thing about confidence and momentum is you can lose it just as fast as you get it. I had no idea it was this bad.

Normally, I don't care a lot about this kind of thing. In this case, I think after the Zips losing yesterday it is time to turn the page on some things within the program. AA is someone they need to turn the page with and look for fresh blood. KD needs to get him away from the program. NE Ohio fans tend to believe it only takes one person to turn things around. It's a very bizarre savior complex. Many people in NE Ohio believed the economy of Cleveland hinged upon the return of Lebron James. An approaching 25 year old, chubby point guard with a drug violation followed by a probation violation isn't the savior I'm looking for. The team doesn't need a saint, but they don't need that either. Bringing AA back tells me there could be problems with the program beyond the point guard position.

For a lot of reasons, graduation rates are going up for athletes. That means the people at the bottom are being served better, at least in athletics. There will never be 100% graduation rate with any population.

Where isn't this happening? Athletes aren't just required to meet admissions requirement, they are graduating at a higher rate than non athletes. Source Believing otherwise is believing violent crime is up in the US because of the stories on the evening news. In fact, violent crime is on a steady decline.

Hats off to Coach Kest. She basically took a Division III team and turned it into a MAC contender. I don't think it would be a stretch to say when she took over the WBB program, it was the worst program in the country. It may have been the worst program of any WBB or MBB program out there. The WBB program was way worse off than the football program when either Ianello or Faust were fired. It was a disaster. She ruffled a lot of feathers early on, but it isn't easy to turn a program with a long history of accepting losing into a winning program. Recruiting players and coaching them is part of the job and a coach being good at that should be expected. The culture change had to have been the most difficult job because a coach is never really training to do that. She demanded more and got more. Funny how that work.

While watching some games at Brazwells last night with the luckiest woman in the world, Mrs. GP1, she had the game tracker on the phone. Couldn't see the game where we were. Anyhow, she said at one point, "I keep seeing 'missed layup' cross the screen." Did the Zips miss a bunch of easy shots last night? If so, missing from one foot away is much worse than missing from 15 feet away with foul shots.

It's all about the competition. I just want the players on the team to get a chance to play some more games with an opportunity to get some wins.

All of it together creates a big problems for the dinosaurs who run college athletics and will create the necessary change.

Interesting. Didn't know where else to put it.

The Great GP1 will stain his pants when the power conferences and NCAA start to lose these law suits. I'll send you the dry cleaning bill unless you want to hold on to the stained pants as a trophy like Monica Lewinsky held on to her dress. Perfect person to use in the filing of the class action lawsuit. Out there, lots of people want college athletes to be a bunch of idiots (and a lot are). The want a guy who couldn't make it professional to only be able to read at a second grade level so it can reaffirm their secret attitudes about what they really are. They want to believe it is a sinister money grab by a guy who can't do anything other than play sports. Instead, they get a guy who graduated and is working on an MBA. This article comes back to one of the tired arguments about player compensation...should the players get paid? Players should not receive a dime from the schools they attend other than the normal scholarship they receive. They should be able to capitalize on their fame, hold jobs and get a cut of merchandise sales of which they are a part. This way, everyone can stop pretending that college sports are something they are not and have never been. If a person doesn't have to, why should they go into debt while in college just because the NCAA rules are so restrictive? Why does a guy like Alston have to take out a loan when he could easily make the money signing autographs or off the cut of his jersey sales? Forcing people into financial debt is immoral, but since the NCAA is amoral, the member schools really don't care.

For whatever reason, OU is a team I have a particular dislike for. It really warms my heart every time we beat them. Confidence and momentum. The Zips have it and they will win the MAC.

I'm of the opinion it could have been better. Things can always be worse...they can also be better. It all depends on if you expect more or not.

I don't care if they dress like the guards in The Longest Yard as long as they win.