GP1

Thanks for your continued posting on this issue K92. A separate division would be the best thing for us. What doesn't work for me as a reason not to do it is paying taxes on revenue. They won't have to pay taxes if they spend all revenues at the end of the year. Years ago, I posted about the separation on this board and was called crazy. Wait until you folks are going to watch the Zips play football in the spring and you will really see crazy.

I don't believe so. The Zip I am thinking about made it to the final cut. He isn't someone you would think about when you think of one of the Zips all time greats, but he was a very important player. I'm just going to say it because I'm starting to think I am wrong...Zac Derr.?.?

Can anyone name the last Zip to be signed by Dallas?

Thanks for posting this Blue and Gold. There is a reference in this article about football and m basketball being "threats" in a recent survey. When I took the survey, I listed both as threats as well. If memory serves me correct, I also listed them as opportunities. If football can get good, it is the springboard to a successful revenue year for Athletics as it is the first major sport of the traditional school year. If not, it takes things like a long winning streak on the part of the MBB team to gain interest. The threat from the MBB team is if they continue to do what they do right now and don't improve in the NCAA tournament. Americans easily get bored. A new arena would provide some interest for a year then that interest would be gone leaving only a line on the resume for people in the Athletic Department. Most people aren't so easily duped for a number of years because Americans are always looking for something new. What the MBB team could produce that would be new would be an NCAA Tournament win. If not, the treat continues. Winning is the key to success for a program, not new arenas. Gonzaga won long before they had a new arena. There is little evidence that new arenas produce winning. I would rather the Zips be in a position where winning in the NCAA Tournament produces a new arena. If a team wants a big time arena, they need to prove they belong in the big time by winning in the NCAA Tournament. If the want to pretend they belong in the big time, they should build an arena before winning in the NCAA Tournament. MAClike schools pretend a little too much.

George Thomas wrote in his article this morning that TW was going to have the second of these public discussions in the near future. Since there has already been one, did anyone go to it and what happened?

From all I can tell, we are not dealing with hardened criminals here. We are talking about a couple of guys who may or may not have been selling some weed...a substance some states now have legalized. I would be surprised if either of them saw much, if any, jail time. The angle of the local sports celebrity doesn't do much for me. UofA has a nice following, but AA doesn't have the star power to make him much worth going after. There is no real political value in him. Basically, he was a solid, but chubby, point guard on a MAC team. My guess is the DA would want this to go away with some headlines, but not overplaying his/her hand. A deal for both will be worked out before June and they will both soon be forgotten.

Good points. However, I don't see this going to trial. AA has one of, if not the best defender in NE Ohio. The DA might issue a good deal for AA just so he doesn't have to face his lawyer in court and possibly lose. All this guy has to do is get a plea with no jail time and AA should take it. Going to trial might result in an acquittal, but if he loses, he could be looking at jail time. AA needs to stay out of prison, finish college and move back to PR and live a normal life.

If AA goes to trial (which he won't) in June and it doesn't end until November, the trial will last longer than the OJ trial.

Funny, the same thing happens to me when I watch Big Ten football games.

Thanks for posting. Great read. I thought we were at least five years from people talking as publicly as they now are about this. It's simple logic. The job of the NCAA is not to regulate a professional sports league. A super conference would be a professional sports league. There is no place for the NCAA if there is a super conference. If the non super conferences capture some sanity during this period, there is a place for the NCAA in that framework. The NCAA is a member organization. The reason the NCAA is insane is because the members have gone insane with the "building process". I want the University to be a member of a sane organization somewhere between bcs and 1AA. When we regain our sanity, things will become better. Until then, mAClike conferences will remain irrelevant. Did I mention playing football in the spring so we could at least get noticed by the United States?

Would a special parking pass make sense? For example, the people buying these tickets purchase a parking pass at rate X for the events. This parking pass allows them access to parking lots (insert selected lots here) after five o'clock for one year whether or not there is a sporting event they have tickets. If the goal is to keep these people close to campus for various events or to even enjoy the nightlife, this could work out well.

Thanks for posting K92. Never surprises me when I read an article about college athletics and the word "silliness" is used in the first paragraph. The only word that would make me less shocked would be "insanity".

SI Article Note to Athletic Directors and Presidents. If you don't like what the NCAA is doing, change it. Take ownership of the organization you run you bunch of half wits.

Charlotte Beer Website The above link is a website that covers local beers here in Charlotte. The second article is a book about local brewing some of you may enjoy. NC is becoming quite a haven for brew houses. There seem to be a lot popping up around Asheville in particular. Some people are taking tours of the various cities and the beers they have to offer. Enjoy the website.

Nice looking team.

+1 My goodness, this looks bad, but may not be that bad. If all non-union employees cut their salaries by 25% then they save roughtly $1 million. That's only roughly 4% of what they need to cut. I'm interested to see if the other MAC schools are having the same problems. Like I said, someone is going to have to pay for the building process and it is going to be the taxpayers. Not that much per tax payer though. The workforce in Ohio is 5.9 million (source). After voluntary cuts, the number in the red is roughly $25 million. That means each taxpayer in Ohio is going to have to pay an additional $4.23 to bridge the gap. If everyone out there is OK with that, it's fine by me because I no longer pay Ohio taxes. In addition, many on this board have championed the "building process" for a number of years now, so the additional tax hit would probably feel good to them.

Good call you am i. I did a Google search on the quote a couple of day ago and it came up WS. Not sure why.

Check out MDZip breaking out the Shakespeare on a Tuesday morning. Well done!

I feel like Zeke's unpaid lawyer....Where are the quotes of Zeke saying he really didn't love the game? Of all people Dave, you should know that when non-professional, non-media savvy people give answers to a reporter, it may not always come out exactly the way they would have like. A reported quote becomes fact for a future article. It is a good way to misunderstand a person. So let me get this straight. In 2008, there was a tall, skinny kid in Pennsylvania who played basketball AND like to play video games. Shocking. This doesn't mean he didn't love the game, it makes him a normal kid. Further, there was a kid who went to college as an introvert and once exposed to a different life in college came out of his shell and developed into a nice young man. Is this really the first time this happened? Didn't this happen to many of us?

I have a lot of good memories of Zips sporting events. Watching him play probably isn't in the Top 20. Most of my great memories center around teams and players who won things. Since this forum is about Zeke, I would say that watching him participate on a team that won multiple MAC Championships is near the top of my memories.

I didn't say that.

I find it hard to believe that a kid who was a high school All American didn't care about basketball.... How soon would someone have to care? It makes no sense to me. If a player can play, he can play. Making or not making an NBA team has nothing to do with caring. It has everything to do with ability and performance. Lots of guys care and never make it.

George's Article on Zeke Fair article in my opinion. Great information from "insiders". Well done George. Zeke can be a center in the NBA. I don't think he is a starting center, but he can make a great living for a few years as a back-up. No shame in that. Remember, it's just a job. With that said, his ability to play defense is what will help him make a team. Ever sat close to an NBA game? It is an enormously physical game. Zeke just needs to get himself to that point.

I looked at the subtitle for this thread again and when I saw "Are u ready for some football?", I thought, Hell Yes!!! Then I realized it was only spring practice. Then I remembered seeing Herbstreit on TV last night in College Station for the A & M spring game and I thought, "Wouldn't it be great if there were real games being played this weekend." Then I realized there could be real games being played. In fact, if the MAClike conferences came to their senses and had a national spring football league starting the weekend after the Final Four and ending with a championship game on July 4, this would be the first weekend of games. A game starting at noon in Akron would bring you no rain today and temperatures close to 50. A game starting at 7 PM would have temperatures in the 40 throughout. That's better than the snow and 30 degree temperatures you get in November. As the season progresses for northern teams, the weather would only get better. Call me crazy, but I would bet ESPN could get more viewers for an East Carolina vs. Houston game than a Texas A & M vs Texas A & M game. I fondly remember spring days on campus. Girls had just come back from spring break and were tanned up. They wore less clothing. The atmosphere was a lot lighter. It would make a great atmosphere for college football. FOX would pimp this league like there was no tomorrow, get viewers and much need revenues for the MAClike conference schools who are in the middle of bankrupting themselves with the "building process".

The Banquet brings the season to an official/unofficial close. Congratulations to the Zips on a memorable season. Good luck to those seniors no longer on the team, but always Zips. Go Zips!