GP1

I was able to check out the hotel situation first hand this week in State College and here is what I found out.First, there is no hope for anyone getting a one night stay if you book at this time. Every hotel requires two nights and they are booking at their maximum rate. For example, the Residence Inn is booking at $299.00 per night plus tax.A piece of advice the manager told me was to wait until the week of the game and try to get one night then if that is what you want. Right not they are not filled up for the Akron game and sales are slow. This is a risky chance, but if you want only one night, you will have to take it.A second piece of advice he gave me was to not book a room and get to town in the morning and stop in to see if anyone checked out after Friday night. Since Residence Inn houses people who typically stay for long periods, it is not uncommon for people to check out on Saturday when their work in town is complete. Again, this is also risky because you may still be making a to and from trip that day.I would wait to see what the University offers in the way of a group trip. This may be your best option.

Dan,I have a friend who has Pitt season tickets and I saw your brother play several times when he was there. I always felt he wasn't given a chance to really show how good he could be. When he had a chance to produce at Pitt, he did and he continues to produce for the Zips. The move to offense at Akron was the best thing for him now and in the future.

The basketball team has an outing of their own and I don't think they have had it yet. If you are interested in going, contact the Athletic Department.

WADR...Why would you feel sorry for those guys? They make millions of dollars a year, they just won the Super Bowl and they get more a$$ than a toilet seat. Sympathy on top of all that seems to be a waste of emotion.

This isn't really pointed at you zen, just a general comment on feeling sorry for people. Again, I'm a Steelers fan and I don't feel one bit sorry for the guy. I just can't gather that type of emotion for someone I don't even know. In fact, we should celebrate events such as this because it allows others to see what can happen to you when you behave in a stupid and irresponsible manner thus educating others on the risks associated with being stupid. Save the sympathy for those who deserve it.

I'm a Steelers fan and I agree 100%.

Just a quick word to the wise when going to a PSU game and planning on staying over night. Most (not all) hotels there require a Friday and Saturday night stay for a home PSU game.I would advise waiting to see what the University offers. They are working on some good road trips for this upcoming season. A day trip is also not out of the question if you are going and from NE Ohio.Good luck room hunting.

Of all people Zipsrifle, you are one of the last people I expected this from. Your work in this matter was completed some time ago. No need to miss any games.

I'll give you the same advice a friend of mine received from his 100% Italian grandmother prior to getting married. "There can only be one man of the house. It can be you or it can be your wife, but you have to decide." Take it for what it is worth.If your wife continues to give you grief, go out and buy a set for each room of your house just to make a statement.

If I understand this quote properly, I think we agree. Let's say JD is making $200,000 per year. A 25% raise gets him to $250,000 per year. What has that accomplished other than Akron having to put out an extra $50,000 next year for a coach that hasn't done enough to get plucked from us yet and not raise his salary enough to keep him here if a BCS school offers around $700,000 minimum?I like JD, but let's not flush money down the toilet if we don't have to do so. Can't may be flushing money down with JC. First of all, he wasn't going anywhere and his name was on absolutely no short list for any other school. Secondly, if they raised his salary $150,000 for next season and he gets a better offer after next season, the administration at Can't does not look like geniuses any longer. The financial reality is trying to bribe coaches to stay at Akron with small bribes is not going to keep them here. I'm not in favor of paying JD say $500,000 per year. It's more than Akron can afford and in the long run will sap the athletic department of necessary funds to do other things (ie: money for a new stadium).Now, why hasn't anyone picked up on my brilliant idea of paroling Butchie Washington from Division II and bringing him to Akron as the QB coach now that there is an opening?

Does anyone evern know with absolute certainty what JD's financial consideration is?

I'm surprised to see this. I would bet that he easily gets paid more money at Illinois than Akron.This presents an interesting problem for Akron. At this late notice, the pickings are going to be slim. JD should not pick up this responsibility and needs someone to coach this position, but could they get a qualified candidate........Didn't Coach Faust play QB at Dayton? (me shooting myself for that thought) Ahhhhhh!!!!!! I just thought of a great candidate.......Butchie Washington. He is living in the area and coaching at Ashland. He played professionally for some time in Canada and I'm certain he would find the change from Ashland to Akron to be a pay increase. He is an Akron graduate and is very popular on the high school recruiting circuit. They should make a call to him to check his interest.

Nice!

I pick this guy. He owes NE Ohio sports fans more money than anybody.He robbed them blind, time to donate something back.I'm not really sticking up for Couch, but I have much less respect for many other Cleveland athletes who had much more to work with and didn't get it done. I'll name a few from relative recent history for you.... Mark Price, Brad Daugherty, Omar Vizquel, Jim Thome, Kenny Lofton and Sandy Alomar. Couch had nothing to work with and made the playoffs and the Browns almost beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh. Couch was out, but he would have given the Browns a more balanced offense and they would have won. Holcomb showed why he is Kelly Holcomb...it wasn't what he could do, it was what he couldn't do (scramble) that lost the game for Cleveland.If you want to blame anyone for the Couch years, you should be blaming Carmen Policy for his horrible management as it relates to his general cluelessness. The only reason that knucklehead got into sports is because Ed Debartolo Sr. sent him out to San Francisco from Youngstown to keep an eye on his coke head of a son, Ed Jr., while he owned the 49ers. He failed at that too because Ed Jr. was arrested for bribing the governor of LA while Policy was working for the 49ers. I have no idea how he got as far as President of the Browns. He must have had pictures of Paul Tagliabu in a compromised situation. If it wasn't for that shill Mike Trivisano proping him up on WTAM, Policy wouldn't have lasted as long as he did.

Perhaps....there were a lot of different smells and it was hard to distinguish between each.

For those who think people who travel every week around the country have great lives, please pay attention to the following. This is a risk you take when you fly.Last week, I was on my weekly travels and I had a connection in Chicago. After completing what seemed like a 10 mile march through O’Hare (sp?), I found my gate and boarded my commuter jet. In order to save fuel and money, airlines no longer run the engines of these small planes while at the gate and there is no AC hook up with an external air conditioner like on larger planes. When the engine does not run, the air conditioning does not run making the wait to push back seem an eternity. Unfortunately, I was in the second to last row of this sweat box and I had an empty seat next to me with one person remaining to board. As I sat there, I prayed to God to either send a skinny person to sit next to me, or to end my life in lieu of having to sit next to some large fat sweaty person in this small plane. What came next was a Fantasy Island episode.I looked up to see a young, thin girl walking down the row toward me. She was the answer to my prayers from afar. Skinny is good on a flight like this. The only problem seemed to be a dreadlock hair style, but I figured it was probably just some liberal affirmation for a young girl still in college or graduate school. She also had a little bit too much mustache hair for a girl that young, but that is not important to this story.Anyhow, she sits down next to me and introduces herself as Toole and informs me that she is on her way home from Guatemala where she was learning the culture. OK, kind of weird, but everyone has to do something.While still at the gate, she decides to remove the sweatshirt she was wearing. I noticed that her clothes were kind of dirty, but I’m kind of out of touch with what young people in college wear now so I think the dirty clothes are just the style. Upon removal of the sweatshirt, I was witness to the worst armpit hair and body odor I have ever smelled on a single person in public. Toole smelled so bad my eyes were burning by the time the hour long flight was over. Not only did she have hairy armpits, but here legs were equally hairy. I'm pretty certain Toole did not take a bath her entire time in Guatemala.In addition to her poor grooming and hygiene, Toole decided to entertain me with stories of her trip to Guatemala. It was an interesting discussion for the hour long flight. You guys know the debate….the Guatemalan people are either beautiful, peaceful, indigenous people living in nature OR they are dirty savages living in the land that time forgot with only death to look forward to. I’d bet a lot of money you guys know me well enough to know which side of this debate I came down on. Anyhow, the flight ended and I learned my lesson about wishing for things…..just like on Fantasy Island.

I'll do it for a 10% finders fee.

I'm surprised to see Miami ahead of us in that one ranking. Do they know something we don't know or are they just wrong? Miami lost a lot of players after last year....I have to believe they are just plain wrong.

I love the optimism, but anything can happen in a one game playoff. Even teams with loserly pasts have been known to throw 36 yard touchdown passes with 10 seconds reamining to win championship games. Anything other than a MAC East Championship, MACC appearance and a bowl game would be disappointing. I am excited though.......

I'd still be a customer of the Odd Corner if my company didn't have random drug testing.

That just doesn't roll off the tounge as nicely as "defense wins championships." True....doesn't fit on a T-Shirt either. The same reason a "Defensive Players Have No Hand/Eye Coordination Or Brains" t-shirt will never be printed.

Actually, it is always about good QB play regardless of the league or level. I disagree.Sincerely, Mark RypienDoug WilliamsTrent DilferI've always bought into the "Defense Wins Championships" line of thinking. I think all of us have witnessed the dramatic change in Akron's fortunes attributed primarily to making the opponent use their punter a few times during a game. The Steelers consistently made the playoffs with great defenses and offenses with average QBs (Malone, Stewart, Maddox, , sorry, just starting to type the list makes me sick) and didn't win a Super Bowl since 1980. The past two seasons they had a winner at QB and won a Super Bowl. The saying shouldn't be "Defense Wins Championships", it should be "Defense Is The Vehicle Used To Get The Offense The Ball So They Can Win The Championship".I'll give you the fact that those three QBs you listed were/are not great QBs, but they years their teams won the Super Bowl, they were great QBs. In fact, Mark Rypien was MVP of Super Bowl 26 and Doug Williams was MVP of Super Bowl 20. Ray Lewis was MVP of Super Bowl 35 which Dilfer played. Kind of proves my point.When Getsy played well last year, they Zips won. When Getsy played poor last year, the Zips lost. Our defense played horrible in the third quarter of the MACC last year and we still won the game. They should get no pats on the back for giving up 30 points.

I'm sort of in the same opinion but for different reasons. I should also say that I'm a huge JD fan.I don't know what JD is making, but it is a lot more than what he was making at Pittsburgh. The next guy we have here will come from the same boat JD came from which is the young guy looking for a break or USS Help. I don't believe the money is a deal breaker for a guy coming from this ship as they are looking for opportunity and not the money.If JD is making over $200,000 per year, the school should not give him any more than a 10% raise after next season if they make it to the MACC. Any more will not be money well spent because any offer he receives from a BCS school will be in excess of $500,000 and Akron just can not afford to pay that amount. I hate it as much as the next person, but it's just the reality of being in a league like the MAC. Coaches come and go and use it to crawl up the coaching ladder.

People should be fair weather fans. They are the smartest fans of all. I'm ashamed of the amount of time, money and liver damage I put into watching bad Zips football over the years. It gives me no sense of pride or accomplishment that I sat around the Rubber Bowl with about 5,000 fellow idiots watching bad football. Akron is now producing a good product and people should want to spend their hard earned money to watch what they are putting on the field. There were a lot of smart people in Detroit December 26th.

Actually, it is always about good QB play regardless of the league or level.