GP1

All is working well now.

You beat me to the punch Zipsrifle. I think they stand to draw a good crowd that day as a lot of people take the day off of work and will be looking for something to do. If it appears as if the Tuesday game against OU will have a disasterous crowd, they could move it back to Saturday. I can see the Zips being 4-2, if not 5-1 if we play well against NIU, after six games. The following week they play Miami and I'm not convinced this Betts kid is all that good and maybe an upset could be in order. I like our chances against OU, Can't and Army. I think Ball State will be looking to kick our ass after what we did to them last year and we could have trouble there. I've been saying this for months, the Zips are going to win seven games next year. Write it down. If they are in the race next year at the end of the season, the long layoffs between games at the end of the year will benefit the team. A lot of this will also depend on the quality of the MAC next year. I see no evidence that the league will be better next year, which is encouraging because the Zips will play better. Oh, by the way, I just heard on television that silicone breast implants may be coming back. No debate on this one, that is a good thing.

The money will be too great. The most he will probably ever make at Akron is $350,000 per year. He could make a minimum $700,000 per year at a bigger conference. Akron will not have the money to pay him.

In Division I sports, things don't just happen. He didn't sneak into the equipment room and get just the right size equipment for football practice. They don't have players in uniform and on the practice field just for fun. Spring practice is a very serious part of the year, and too serious part of the year to have a guy out there just having fun. There are also legal issues such as injury, insurance policies and scholarships that have to be dealt with as well. My guess is that there was a tryout for the kid and after practice(s) the discussion with the football coaches lead told him he could not start on the football team next year. At that point, RT decided to stick with basketball. The coaches reply to the question was probably just a nice way of saying "We can't use him and we don't need him". If I am correct, this is good sign. It says that the Zips have good enough talent on the team that they don't need to get kids from outside of the football program to help them. If a basketball player is your answer to the football teams defensive problems, then we really have problems. That sigh of relief you heard was KD.

$2.75? Since when did they start making change?

I thought it was something you had to pay $20 for on Howard Street.

LOL I thought the same exact thing. My wife asked, "Where are we supposed to send the money". I said, "Don't ask.....".

I think the people at the Plain Dealer and the Beacon Journal compete against each other in the Special Olympics.

See you at the game. I agree, it was a good jesture by the University. I'll probably even upgrade to reserved tickets this year because of the Can't game and the Army game.

I can. I disagree. We've won NOTHING. Where are the MAC championship banners? Nowhere? Where are the Bowl trophies? Nowhere. Where are the big OOC victories in football and basketball? Nowhere. Where are the 9+ win football and 22+ win basketball seasons? Nowhere. We haven't won squat in comparison to just about anyone in the MAC since we've entered the conference. We beat Marshall during the football regular season. Six of the 12 teams Marshall played this year beat them. We beat Miami during the basketball regular season. So did woeful Marshall. Big fat hairy deal. "We went on a tear at the end of the basketball season"? confused.gif We choked-away the MAC title at season's end losing two of our last three. One of those losses was to our rival, and local hoops measuring stick, Can't (for the second time, I might add). Some "tear." rolleyes.gif Then we bowed-out in the MAC quarterfinals...woo hoo. I was in Can't 7 years ago when we beat them in hoops for the first time in 31 years (in Can't). Us Akron fans sat in the Can't student section behind a hoop. There were plenty of empty seats. That game drew about 3,000 fans. 2,000 were Akron fans...it was like a home game. It was that year that Can't began their "run", winning 20 games for the first of what's now 7 consecutive years. Now Can't gets 5,000 of their OWN fans at most home games. And they've done that for about 6 straight years. How did Can't go from 1,500 fans to 5,000 fans? It wasn't by winning a few regular season games. It was by winning 20+, by consistently winning in the MAC tourney, by winning in the NIT, then winning in the NCAA's. THAT'S what draws fans to games. That combination of a winning tradition and a fan base is what gets you an NIT bid. If you really think that fans should be flocking in to see the Zips because they are simply competitive...you're nuts. I'll be at games...the rest of the guys on this board will be at games...but you aren't going to pack the house in football or basketball until you win championships. Personally, I feel we have the coaching staffs in-place to win championships, but almost two decades of football and basketball futility...essentially a generation...cannot be overcome with 6 or 7-win football and 19-win basketball seasons. Can't argue with that either......

As a Steelers fan, I hope the Browns do draft Frye. As a Zips fan, I just hope he gets drafted and makes a lot of money for himself and sends some back to the school.

Can't argue with that.....

Andy Alleman at guard is a surprise to me. The guy lettered at least one year at Pitt on defense. Are we that thin at OL or do we have good depth at DL?

The key word in your message is "wins". One of those two QBs is a winner and the other is a guy who has to have one excuse after another made for his lack of winning. Four wins in football is a huge deal. It is frequently the difference between making the playoffs or not. For example, 12-4 gets you into the playoffs and probably one home game. 8-8 gets you nothing.

WOW! Excellent point!

I stand corrected. Howver, it doesn't matter what he did during the season, a senior player MUST make that foul shot at the end.

I'm sorry, but I just don't agree with any of this. The kid is an average to below average player for a kid his size and in the conference he is playing in. The Zips have enough outside shooters. We needed him most on the boards this year and he didn't produce. If I remember correctly, he is going into his senior year next year. I believe that at this point, a kid either has what it takes to be successful or not. He isn't going to get much bigger between now and next year, so the development is over. In this case, the kid will never be a go to guy and will just be an average player off of the bench. With Wood coming back next year, I really don't see much use for the guy. Why isn't anyone screaming today about why a senior misses a foul shot to take the lead with seconds remaining in the game, or for that matter, 1 for 4 foul shooting for the game? All of the pressure would have been on WMU. Throughout the season, the Zips proved they were a good team and did not show that in the tournament yesterday by losing to a team they beat on the road earlier in the season. Did they overachieve......I don't know, but I think their record shows that they maybe had a good team going into the season and just showed themselves during the year. I would choose to call them performers because the performed well. I expected at least a semi-final game from them after the season they had and they disappointed. Sorry to rain on the usual post losing a big game lover fest.

Nice work. I apprreciate any writer who is as mean spirited as I am. Hats off for pointing out the reality of the Marshall football program. Good luck to them in ConferenceDOA.

The band can stay. Do we really need to hear the phony sounds that are played constantly at NBA games? When they play that noise all game, it just confirms that they need to do something to keep the fans interested because the product on the floor isn't any good. The Zips are a good product to watch right now and well worth the money to go to a game.

All good points Capt. However, the fact that Biggs could catch made him a better back than Hendry and his hands of stone. Hendry never provided a spark when he played. Biggs did. Perhaps Hendry wasn't really given a chance, but I just think he was another one of the suburban kids Owens loved and he never really produced. I also think you are correct about the team being Frye-centric when Owens coached. Owens put all of his eggs in one basket when he decided to stick with Frye instead of Sparks and I don't think it paid off for him.

Dear Akron BB Players, We all know it is a long season and you men are probably getting tired. You may notice I used the word "men". You are all grown men and it is time to man-up. Tough $#!+ you are tired. Us fans expect 100% effort from you for the next week. It has been a long season for every team playing now. You guys are a good team. Just believe in yourselves and play your game. We are seeing too many poor choices from each of you the past two games. This is not the time to be in a bad decision making funk. Wake up and stop feeling sorry for yourselves. Like I said before, little kids feel sorry for themselves when things aren't going well. You fellows are grown men, now act like it. I expect a whole ass effort from each of you next week, not a half ass effort. If you have any questions, please call 1-800-JUS-TWIN. Your friend, GP1

Isn't all officiating subjective. Pass interference, holding, roughing the QB, etc. are all normal calls in a football game that are completely subjective. How about boxing? Strike zone size? Maybe your dad just doesn't like basketball as a sport, which is fine, but certainly not because of the way the game is called.

I'm going to say this for about the 5,000th time on this board. The reason the Zips played better in the middle of the season was three reason: 1. Biggs, 2. Biggs, 3. Biggs. The play of Frye was good throughout the year and didn't change whether they were playing Penn State or Ball State. What changed was the starting running back from Ringer to Biggs. The Zips were able to move the ball with him, control the clock more and keep the defense off the field more. No secrets here.

One coach left after the season last year. Did any more leave? Was the position filled?

http://www.soonerfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34064 I wanted you all to see this.