GP1

Maybe, maybe not. Are we going to suspend every player coming out of college this season for five games who might have some relationship with a drug dealer? 80% of the rookies wouldn't be on the field for the first five games. The NFL/NCAA agreement is that the NFL will match any NCAA punishment for a player who leaves the NCAA for the NFL to escape NCAA punishment. It only affects players found guilty of violating rules, not players only suspected of violating rules. Kind of fits in with the American system of jurisprudence that one is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, don't you think? I've never heard of this agreement. There is a lot more justice in the American system of jurisprudence than in the NCAA system.

Very well done. See, in the hands of the right designer, it can all come together. Think about it, we already have the Z-Fund. We could have the Z-Town Dance Team dance during timeouts at BB games. We could have Z-Town Kids Fest before football games with things for kids to play on. One letter, so many possibilities. If we are going to be the Zips, let's do the best with what we have. Get away from Akron and stick with a nickname. I don't see anything on the Boise State uniform that says "Boise State" except for the back where the names will be an not Boise State...it says Broncos. The helmet has a bronco on it. The pants say broncos.

I like animal nicknames. When I worked at Georgia Pacific, we rebranded our drywall brand to ToughRock and when we came out with our mold resistant campaign with Dens products, we branded the line DensGuard. Rebranding is a good marketing tool. Like I said above, I'm not officially saying it. Lots of MAC schools have rebranded...some good like EMU and some terrible like Miamioh. I'm not sure what our brand says about us. I'm not saying it though. Wake Forest is called the Demon Deacons. After years of going to games, I don't understand the mascot or name. The mascot looks more like an Angry Minister and is waaaaaaaay overdressed, with the top hat, cane and tuxedo, for sporting events. If they were trying to convey a real southern religious service, it would show 500 Baptists trying to squeeze into the last row of pews at the church. That wouldn't fit on a t-shirt very well though. I'm not saying anything though....

I don't disagee with any of this with the exception I'm not in either of their corners and not against one of them either. I just wanted the best man to win. Let's hope it works out that way. There is a flip side to all of this though. Sometimes (not everytime extreme thinkers) when a player, especially QBs, experiences a great deal of losing, he never recovers. Two years is a heck of a long time to take a beating and it wears on the mind. I know players like to talk about confidence, but none of us really know what he thinks when he is laying in bed at night alone. Many of these players become, for the lack of a better analogy, like shell shock victims from WW I. It's always on their mind and it makes them nervous.

I wonder what Joe Paterno thinks of all these new unis.

His resume? I'd love to hear the interview... HR Department: "So Jim, tell me why you are looking for a new job." Tressel: "I had to resign in disgrace from my previous employer. I'm laughing all the way to the bank though." HR Department: "Tell me about a time when you had a difficult decision to make and how you handled it." Tressel: "I was well aware some of my players were breaking NCAA rules with a drug dealer under investigation by the Federal Government. I had to decide whether it was more important to win games or tell the University compliance officer about it and having my key player suspended. After a lot of praying, I decided to pretend like I didn't know about it and lied to my employer about it. It was a very tough decision. Did I tell you we won the Sugar Bowl?" I could go on all day..... The strange thing is, in every business under the sun, with the exception of athletics, a guy like Tressel would never get another job. In the world of athletics, he will have his pick of scouting and coaching jobs in the NFL.

I know what you want, change the z and p to t's. Pure Genius. Easy to market. An even better idea from Dr Z!!! Now, if we could just get those boobs in marketing to do something, we could sell some tickets. Talk about a great game day experience!!!!

In the hands of the right artist, a white helmet with a blue and gold design might look really good. Personally, I think a change in the kangaroo head is needed in order to freshen things up. There is one change I would make to our branding, but I'm not going to say it here because it might cause a firestorm (Hint: It involves what we call ourselves).

Boise has given us a new look. I don't know how you remember all of those things.

Link I'd like to see the Zips change up their uniforms to something more 21st Century. I love blue and gold, but would like to see a more creative uniform like Boise State has moved to. Any thoughts?

Maybe....maybe not. It isn't a good idea because we have a stadium on campus we are trying to draw people to and going somewhere else sends the message we are drawing people somewhere other than The Bid Dialer. It creates a loss of focus. It costs money to bus a team somewhere, run a high school stadium, clean up a high school stadium, etc. In addition to a lack of focus, there would have to be a return on the investment of the travel. The scrimmage we are going to play at tosu next weekend is at least paid for by the $1 million check we will get from them.

If you are inviting someone named Anthony DiFino, you had better make sure whatever you serve has garlic in it....with some red wine.

I'm not in favor of things like this because college footballl practices are extremely boring and you don't want to show a boring product to fans. Not sure how many people would shold up at 8 AM for a college football practice. If they did hold it, the ONLY place to have it would be The Bid Dialer. There is really nothing to see the first few days.

If they are using Ad Words, great. It seems a little more random to me. I just clicked on four ABJ stories to see what would happen and onlyh on the Federal Judge story did the ad come up. I saw a bunch of ads for things I haven't been looking for.

I was on the internet just now and clicked on a story in the ABJ about bedbugs in OU dorm rooms. When the story came up, there was an advertisement for Akron football tickets around the border of the story. This is a very good and modern strategy using the best player on the Zips team, Wagner. My wife works for a guy named Ric Elias (he has a widely viewed video on the internet right now as he was one of the passengers on the plane that went down in the Hudson) who owns a company named Red Ventures here in Charlotte. They do internet marketing for companies like DTV (they are the #1 distributor of DTV in the US), Miracle ear and some other really well known companies. They also take the inbound calls for those companies as the 800 numbers on the advertisements direct them to their company. It is really cutting edge stuff they are doing and if you are a good web developer, you can write your ticket at this place. It isn't a sleazy telemarketing company like folks around Akron would normally think of (I won't say the name) that calls people to hoodwink them out of their Social Security check in the name of God or politics, sell them a crappy product or anything like that. It is a comprehensive marketing program they design from start to finish. That's not the point though. The point is, this marketing strategy works for a lot of people. UNCC did it in the Charlotte Business Journal website and they have almost sold every PSL for their new stadium. It wasn't the only reason for the sales, but it helped market directly to those with money who could afford the tickets. Let's hope we have a good team and down the road we can take advantage of these strategies. Things like radio ads and TV ads aren't very effective anymore as people change the channel when one comes on. Nobody looks at billboards and is really not in a position to immediately do anything about a billboard advertisement when they see one as they are probably driving and will forget by the time they get home. Americans have a very short attention span. The same goes for bus ads as well. They aren't 100% ineffective, but pretty close. Should they do them? Only if they have extra money to spend and then yes. We give the Athletic Department a hard time a lot on this board and we should pat them on the back as well when they do something right. This is the right thing to do and we should pat them on the back for it. So to the folks in the Marketing Department I'd say, well done. You did the best you could with what you have.

Actually, we are coming into a political season and they do Republican fundraising. You make hay when the sun is up. They also do Evangelical Christian fundraising, which is the same as doing Republican fundraising since the Republican Party is the party of Evangelical Christians, so they will be busy.

He could probably start, but leaving now would result in him having to pay for his own tuition. His best move is to stay at Akron and graduate. Injuries, Moore becoming a head case, etc. could result in PN starting again down the road. I'd like to see him stick around just in case....

He is one missed block, one twisted leg, etc. away from being the starting QB again. I don't want to see anyone hurt, but football is a game where anyone can get hurt at any time. He needs to be prepared to play if he is called upon.

If I was in your shoes, I'd do the same thing.

I didn't care who won. I just wanted the best man to win. Good luck to Mr. Moore.

As things look right now, tickets to both games should be easy to get. Chapel Hill is the easy choice since you will be right there. The statium is in the middle of campus with little parking. The best college football setting I have ever seen. Be prepared to walk a lot. UNC fans are a bunch of babies and be prepared to want to punch some of them in the face while you are there, but hold back from doing so. Franklin Street uptown is a cool scene. Lots of hot girls walking around. Wake is a much different atmosphere. Stadium is not on campus but the non parking pass parking is real good across the street at the basketball arena. There are some bars across the street from the BB arena that are good enough if you don't want to tailgate. The BB lot isn't the best place to tailgate. The stadium is about the size if Info so all seats are real good. Games not sold out so you can buy a ticket. Sit on the Wake side on the end near the new scoreboard as the sun is brutal on the visitor's side. Wake fans are Ivy League type people as Wake is a great school. Old money people who never get too excited or too down. They clap politely. Since I have no school loyalty and just want to watch college football, Wake is the choice for me. It is also an hour closer to my house than Chapel Hill. Lots of hot 60 year old women walking around. It all depends on what you want to do. GP1, please define what a hot sixty year old woman looks like. Post pixs if you can. Being sixty-eight myself, I find that women in their forties are the ones I lust for. You are just an old troll pervert. Jane Fonda still looks good. Linda Carter sill looks good, Jacklyn Smith is still outrageously gorgeous I think all if them are aat least 60. Not sure though. I guess what I'm saying is if you are located in Hollywood and have a lot of money and freinds that know people , you may have a very miniscule chance of finding a hot 60 year old Suzanne Somers perhaps? I prefer two 30 year olds. Or three 20 year olds.

As things look right now, tickets to both games should be easy to get. Chapel Hill is the easy choice since you will be right there. The statium is in the middle of campus with little parking. The best college football setting I have ever seen. Be prepared to walk a lot. UNC fans are a bunch of babies and be prepared to want to punch some of them in the face while you are there, but hold back from doing so. Franklin Street uptown is a cool scene. Lots of hot girls walking around. Wake is a much different atmosphere. Stadium is not on campus but the non parking pass parking is real good across the street at the basketball arena. There are some bars across the street from the BB arena that are good enough if you don't want to tailgate. The BB lot isn't the best place to tailgate. The stadium is about the size if Info so all seats are real good. Games not sold out so you can buy a ticket. Sit on the Wake side on the end near the new scoreboard as the sun is brutal on the visitor's side. Wake fans are Ivy League type people as Wake is a great school. Old money people who never get too excited or too down. They clap politely. Since I have no school loyalty and just want to watch college football, Wake is the choice for me. It is also an hour closer to my house than Chapel Hill. Lots of hot 60 year old women walking around. It all depends on what you want to do.

I don't. In fact, I don't know what their motivations are. I want players who are primarily motivated to win. Facilities would be a secondary motivator. The University has banked everything on facilities and not doing the things necessary to win (the list is too long to type). KD is focused on winning. They could still be playing at Memorial Hall and he would find a way to get the program winning because it is his primary focus.

While they are important, they are one reason of many. The key to establishing a winning program is getting kids who are primarily motivated to win.

I generally don't recommend anywhere in California because the food is too healthy and I try to stay away from healthy food.