GP1

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.

Akron will have a certain number of tickets for sale also and the visiting team usually has a will call. Any tickets bought through U of A will benefit the school more than buying them through Can't. Warning though....If you buy the tickets through U of A, you may be stuck in the lower seats at Can't that were designed for dwarfs. Also, Ticket Master sells tickets for the game as well. You can actually print your tickets up on line on a regular piece of paper and take it to the game. The ticket is printed with a bar code that can be picked up by the scanner at the game.

Thanks for doing my work for me zipper. However, the basketball team is a much bigger story than the football team was. The football team had a meaningful game at the end of the season which was good and unexpected but as usual, they couldn't win their last game because of a lack of talent... which is on the way. The football team was also a one trick pony. As Biggs went, so went the team. A one game improvement against D-1 teams was better, but I think in time six wins will be expected. The basketball had such low expectations coming into the season and that is what makes them the biggest story of the two. I don't know much about basketball, but I do know good effort and team work when I see it. KD is getting more out of those kids than even the kids thought they had. That's why the basketball team is the story.

This is a good idea, but no small undertaking. One basketball season would be impacted by the change. Where would the team play......Gund Arena, CSU, Can't State, Canton Civic Center or a little at all of the above like WVU did when they worked on their basketball arena? How about a couple of old school games? Bring in some temporary seats and play at Memorial Hall.

He makes for an easy target and good humor at Pluto's expense when I really don't have much else to say.

Actually, no. The purpose of a university is to get the best students possible and educate them; however, I don't think you were writing about the overall University. An even bigger NO goes for athletics. The purpose of the athletic department is to field teams that win games regardless of where the players come from. We saw too much charity for local players being handed out with Lee Owens. We don't need to go down that road again. I'm just shocked that that sneaky prick Pluto didn't find some space to credit Owens for the success of the basketball team this year. He could have said: "We can't forget that Lee Owens, the former football coach of Akron and the apple of my eye, deserves some credit for the success of the basketball team this year. On several occasions, he said 'hello' to the basketball players walking down the halls of JAR Arena's administrative offices".

Wow, this post points to a group of seniors who only produced 19 Division I wins in four years as a group we can not replace. What a load of crap. There is not a player on that list who can't be replaced. The key to the success Akron had in the last part of 2004 was not the play of Frye, Blackburn, Basch, etc., it was the play of Biggs and the development of the running game. Why do people point to OU as an upstart program? Frank Solich? Are you kidding me? The only reason the guy took the OU job is that no other school in their right mind would hire the guy. What would his recruiting slogan be: "Come live in Athens and play for the guy who ran Nebraska into the ground". Getting OU at home next year should be a guarantee win for Akron. I would bet that on over half the college fan internet boards across the country, they are filled with hand wringers who think their seniors can't be replaced. What a lack of foresight...and that goes for some of you on this board. Every freaking four years the players change!!! If you are sitting around wringing your hands worrying about how we are going to replace that bunch of seniors who gave us no real success over the past four years, STOP. Young players improve from year to year as they mature. Many of the kids who may appeared to have no promise last year will all of the sudden be much better after off season workouts, spring practice and two a days. Look forward, not back. The past is too ugly. I'll take my chances with the next group of players......JDs players. Finally, the post mentions "reloading". We are not going to reload, we are going to improve. Six wins minimum should not be out of reach for the players next year. I've done this before, but I'll do it again. OU, Can't, Army, Buffalo and MTSU should all be wins. Split with Miami and BUGS. Throw in a win against another cross conference team and we have six wins. Why not beat both Miami and BUGS? Is Josh Betts so good we can not beat them? Miami is also losing really good players who actually took them to a Bowl game. I have no idea what BUGS has or doesn't have, but if we get them at home, we could beat them as well. Go Zips!