GP1

I didn't want to start a topic for this, so I'm going to enter it into this professional thread. I met a really interesting former Cleveland Force player the other night (can't remember his name right now). Played in the mid 80s. He made $30,000 per year and they paid them three times a year. Said he was young and stupid and would blow his salary in two months and have nothing for two months.

I don't know if it has happened before, but there was once a movie called "Everyones All American". Back in the Faust years (pre-MAC), our movie would have been called "Everyone s Homecoming Game".

Tell me about it. Giving up 17 points in the final 7 minutes to lose. We couldn't even string together a couple of first downs when it counted. I have one worse though because I had to live it. When I was on the team we lost to a I-AA DE State 52-27. Probably the worst day in the D-1A era (th Gardner Web loss last year is probably third). They had three pick 6s and a blocked punt in the endzone dor a TD. That day will always be remembered by Zips historians as Black Saturday.

We are becoming a third world country for a lot better reasons than the fall of public employee unions. I always wanted to own a bar in a third world country when I turn 60. I may not have to leave the US in 20 years to do so.

The Divine Intervention Game always brings back bad memories.

I would hate to see a bye in September. Optimum tailgating. Allow me to do some optimization for all of us. Mostly, this post is directed to our Athletic Director. Move the current Sept 10 game to whenever is most convenient and put Can't in that spot. I used to love when we played Can't the first home game or at least as close to the first game as possible. I hate night college football games, but play that one at 7:00. Let folks have some fun in good weather. There is so little good weather left come Sept it would be a great event. I might even buy a plane ticket to go to that game and see The Big Dialer for the first time.

This is no place for Congress to step in. It is a place for them to pretend they will step in, forcing the NCAA to reform itself. The NCAA does not need more rules or penalties about paying players as enough exist. They can't control college football with the current rules because they have no regulatory mechanisms. Not only do they not have any, the member institutions that matter pay their bill so they aren't going to creat any and won't be given the money to create them. The commissioner of the NCAA is no different than a commissioner of a professional sports league. The NFL commissioner answers to the the owners. The NCAA commissioner answers to the schools. The schools are most interested in money. The last thing the NCAA can afford is to have any of its member institutions leave to say...start their own league. If the top 40 college football programs left the NCAA to start their own league (in my wet dreams), the NCAA would be finished. The NCAA needs to admit that players are going to get paid and create a structure that will allow players to have a job and those without a job to get a small amount of money. Less rules would be good for the NCAA. Maybe if there were less rules, they could focus on things like....I don't know.....helping student athletes who want to get educations get them.....call me crazy.

Outstanding work as usual Senator Tressel. This guy is absolutely sickening. Not a word on why player should keep their hands off of young girls who don't want to be touched.

Corrupt, lazy and greedy business leaders are just as much to blame for the conditions in Detroit, Cleveland, Akron, Pitt and Ytown as unions. When is the last time you guys have been to Pittsburgh? Yeah, it's a beautiful city here. The bike trails are wonderful and the culture is great (especially during football and hockey seasons). Relative to the other cities, I would say Akron trails Pittsburgh, but is far ahead of the others. I agree with DrZ and trimy10. Pittsburgh is a great place and I should have left it off my list. Oh well....

Corrupt, lazy and greedy business leaders are just as much to blame for the conditions in Detroit, Cleveland, Akron, Pitt and Ytown as unions.

GP1 Buddy, the only "smart" comment you are going to get on this issue is liable to sound like a smart alecky one. The idea that you give up constitutional rights by working for the democratic sector is laughable. Unless there is some national security/public safety context involved (which is the reason why I as a military civilian worker and health and safety workers are prevented from striking -- not from collectively bargaining pay and privileges) it's unbelievable that some hot-headed pol like the newly enshrined Gov of Wisconsin would use budgets as an opportunity to destroy basic rights and responsibilities of government. Period. Good answer, but not the right one. Public employees will still have much better benefits than the rest of us. Maybe they need to be reminded who they work for and who is paying the bill. A private employee union (ie: UAW) is fighting for how much of the profits the rank and file will get as a result of their hard work. These types of unions share in the risk associated in business. If they are getting too much and the company can't afford it, the company goes out of businss. They all lose their jobs and there isn't a member who wants that. What risk does a public employee union share if they bankrupt the government? The answer is nothing. The govt just borrows more money if the can't pay the bill. Public employee unions are fighting for how much tax money they can put in their pockets, not over the value added to society through the production of goods. The corruption is a real issue as well. Basically, Democrats repay these unions with HUGE benefits programs for their votes. We are watching a bubble burst just like we saw the housing bubble burst. Just like we can't afford to throw money at stadiums, yet another hall of fame or any of the things we have in the past, we can't afford to have people work for 30 years and retire forever while we pay for them to go fishing for 30 years. The party is over. Public employee unions need to be smart here. There is talk of allowing states to file bankruptxy. If that happens, a judge may take a hatchet to their benefit programs.

Let me say this first. I'm completely in favor of private labor unions being legal. Before I tell all of you why public unions should be illegal, I'll let each of you take a shot if you wish. Try to include in your discussion the role of a member of a private union vs a public union. It's very simple if you think about it. I'm sure Z.I.P. will have something smart and interesting to say as he always does on these matters.

I wouldn't even say I expect to be the class of the MAC in all sports every year. There are too many good programs for that to be the case. Every once in a while would work for now. Is the team below Akron standards? Heck yes! And our standards aren't even that high. Winning six games a year should be our lowest standard. Never finishing below third in the MAC East should be our lowest standard. The golf outings, parking and off the field stuff is not important to me because I can't participate in them any longer. All I want is for this program to win more than they lose. Make it worth me investing three and a half hours on my weekends to go to a bar and watch them on some network I can't get at home. I'm not asking for much right now. Make it so I can go to McHale's with my UofA clothes on in the fall and when someone asks me, "How are they doing this year?", my answer in October isn't, "Not so good, they are 0-6." College football is second to religion in the south. When your team is bad, for whatever reason, it reflects badly on you. There is too much potential for this program to be this bad for this long.

A better candidate? Maybe a chimp from the Cleveland zoo? It would have been a better candidate......

Losing drives people away more than anything. I can take the losing too, but the poor play is what I cannot take. At some point it has to be entertaining and it just is not.

Well put. I don't think TW is up for the job. He has made one bad decision after another starting with the Reno issue, which should have been a big red flag for everyone. Other than the soccer program, I'm concerned about the general direction (or lack of direction) of all the athletic programs. We can and should be better than what we are in all sports. This is not a good time for Akron sports. That football stadium cannot continue to sit empty and we need to start winning. If not, it will become unforgiveable to the people of Akron and it will take years to recover. There was a hiring committee that hired him. I wonder what they were thinking when they hired him. Who was on that committee?

It is if you look at a bigger trend. Fans follow winners and people like new things. CSU has become a winner and people want to see that thing which is different and positively new. Everyone has seen what the Zips offer so there is nothing new to attract fans. My bet is this season ends up like all of the other seasons we have had in recent years. Nothing new or interesting in Zipsland for the average fan.

My wife and I always talk about what we would do if we were still living in Akron. We lived in the city around Stan Hewitt. We talked about it Saturday in fact. Going to BW3, the game and Crave for a snack after the game (because the "food" at the JAR is terrible) was the answer. I know we joke about the benches, but it is no laughing matter. The benches were the #1 reason we did not attend many games the last couple of years we lived there. Even if it means fewer potential spectators, they need to eliminate the benches and put in seats....with rows of steps leading a fan up to their row. I also like order so every fan could be assigned a seat. It cannot be that expensive.

Were there really so few people there? If so, shame on Akron. The Blue Jays are a name program and the game should have been close to sold out. For the last decade+ the Zips have played 3rd fiddle to K.e.n.t. State and Ohio State in NE Ohio hoops. The Zips have maintained a consistent level for the past 7 years, and K.e.n.t. has now regressed to our level. We've now slipped 1/2 a spot, to "3rd-and-1/2 fiddle," below CSU and Ohio State and tied with K.e.n.t. It is tough the Zips, tied for 3rd NE Ohio Fiddle, to draw more than 2,800 for Creighton. There simply isn't the interest or incentive. Especially if all you do to market the event is place a poorly ripped-off .jpg flyer on your web site promoting a whopping 20% off tickets. You reap what you sew, Marketing-wise. You are who you are, basketball-wise. 2,800 is exactly what should have been expected. If Marketing really pushed the event, and the hoops team hadn't experience such a bad Jan/Feb stretch, and the game was televised...then you approach a sell-out. I understand what you are saying, it's just a shame. What else is there to do in Akron on a Saturday in February? I used to live there and the answer is nothing. Heck, I live in Charlotte and there is nothing to do on a Saturday in February and it was in the 70s last weekend. I would have gladly paid full price to go to a UNCC game just to have some entertainment.

Were there really so few people there? If so, shame on Akron. The Blue Jays are a name program and the game should have been close to sold out.

Rebuilding? How about a quick turnaround? Everyone else does it.

I do not know if all crimes are related to Can't< but the ones where the criminal is found asleep in the get away car usually are. That is a stupid school full of stupid people.

Youtube Tom won Akron a Div I team national title. Like I said, doing well under him, not because of him.

Nobody in the mac has depth. Replacing a starter with a bad junior is the same as replacing him with a green freshman. Either way you are up poop creek.

Coastal Carolina Chanticleer doing well under Hunter. I realize the programs were established when he got there, but things continue to go well. 1. College World Series with #4 natioanal seed. 2. Basketball team having a great year and looks to win conference while hosting conference championships. 3. Football team was in I-AA playoffs. In all the sports that matter in SC, things are going well for him.