Game 21- Ohio U

[zippy5]

Our students have done a good job but Saturday was a bad showing. 2pm is primetime for student attendance imo. Sleep in, still plenty of time to go out after. Not **** going on on campus on a Saturday afternoon. Those were my favorite, surprised it was a low turnout 

[NWAkron]

4 minutes ago, LZIp said:

I was thinking about attendance as well during the game. Student attendance looked subpar, as did the general attendance. I give our students a little break in that the population is half of what it was a decade ago and I think in general they show up in decent enough numbers and are rowdy. What’s Joe Akron’s excuse? Lot of empty chair backs and bleachers. 

 

attendance stinks all around. Groce and the team deserve better. The program is every bit as good (if not better but not really worth debating) as it was when KD was here.

If you look back on some clips of the 2019-2020 season the crowd was sparse as usual for many of MAC game.  the final few games against Ohio and Kent were really crowded.   There were a decent amount of OU fans there yesterday, including their former guard, Tommy Schmock, who clearly likes his beer.  I don't much care about Joe Akron. but I do know the fans who are at these games love this team and the coaching staff.

[LoyalZIP]

Unfortunately, UA basketball is invisible to Joe Akron. There is no marketing toward the general public, they don't hear about the Zips on the local news sports segment, they don't read GT since they don't get a newspaper. This is our new reality. Crowds haven't been consistently huge since the 19-game win streak in 2013. Unless it's Kent, there will be plenty of empty seats, many of them blue chairbacks. 

[kreed5120]

Just in general college basketball isn't that popular in northeast Ohio. Even those people who claim to be diehard Buckeye don't really tune into games until March

[clarkwgriswold]

I'm old fashioned.  I don't get why you would pay the cost of a lower bowl seat and not attend the games.

[GP1]

College basketball attendance is a difficult thing to predict and explain. I've been reading that OSU has bad attendance, but they are also a bad team playing in a bad arena. Akron is a good team playing in a bad arena. I went to the Wake vs #10 Virginia game last weekend and there were easily 4,000 empty seats in a 14,000 seat arena that is pretty average for an extremely meaningful game for Wake. 

 

I'm past the point of caring about crowd size when I go to a game. In fact, the fewer the better as far as I'm concerned. 

 

The JAR is old enough now that Joe Akron has probably been to an event there. The truth is this, it's a bad place to watch an event unless you have a chair back. Winter is bad enough in NE Ohio. Braving the cold to go to a game to sit in bleachers that can only make a chiropractor smile isn't a very attractive Saturday afternoon for a lot of people. 

[GP1]

2 hours ago, clarkwgriswold said:

I'm old fashioned.  I don't get why you would pay the cost of a lower bowl seat and not attend the games.

Maybe that person got in a terrible car accident severing both of his legs off at the knees similar to how Cotton Hill had his severed off in WWII by a Japanese machine gun nest. 

Edited January 30, 2023 by GP1

[Blue & Gold]

34 minutes ago, GP1 said:

Maybe that person got in a terrible car accident severing both of your legs off at the knees similar to how Cotton Hill had his severed off in WWII by a Japanese machine gun nest. 

That could keep you away.

[NWAkron]

39 minutes ago, GP1 said:

 

 

I'm past the point of caring about crowd size when I go to a game. In fact, the fewer the better as far as I'm concerned. 

 

Word.

[clarkwgriswold]

Here's an article about Triston McKenzie's appearance in Akron-https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2023/01/guardians-triston-mckenzie-on-ego-heaters-franconas-managing-style-more-at-hot-stove-banquet.html

 

 

 

[csims0917]

23 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

You guys were still great! It just doesn't look as intimidating when the section has a large swath of blue seats in the center. But you guys who were there were fantastic! Thank you! The players love it and it really adds to the atmosphere of the game day experience for everyone in attendance. 

 

I had another question, what was with so many of the Rowdies wearing red yesterday? What was the theme?

It was Red White and Blue theme which worked out well cause I wore my guardians gear! Total coincidence I think

[MDZip]

I do enjoy the Bobcats board especially when they get into meltdown mode.

"  RE: Official Game 21 Thread: Akron

  Posted: 1/27/2023 9:26:10 AM 

Akron has the angriest fan base in the conference, a title previously held by Marshall. Delusions of grandeur from a third-tier municipal university. No one wants to go to Akron - it's an opportunity thrust upon them by financial, academic and/or other issues. Its consistently declining enrollment (down nearly 50% since 2011) largely reflects the quality of instruction by a faculty dominated by marginally qualified adjuncts." What say you jupy2? 😉

[LoyalZIP]

38 minutes ago, MDZip said:

I do enjoy the Bobcats board especially when they get into meltdown mode.

"  RE: Official Game 21 Thread: Akron

  Posted: 1/27/2023 9:26:10 AM 

Akron has the angriest fan base in the conference, a title previously held by Marshall. Delusions of grandeur from a third-tier municipal university. No one wants to go to Akron - it's an opportunity thrust upon them by financial, academic and/or other issues. Its consistently declining enrollment (down nearly 50% since 2011) largely reflects the quality of instruction by a faculty dominated by marginally qualified adjuncts." What say you jupy2? 😉

Ohio just loves being in the middle of BF nowhere and wearing that as a badge of honor. But OU really is awesome. They have probably the nicest campus in the league, and the nicest arena. But haven’t won a football title in *checks notes* 55 years and just lost to rinky-dink Akron while giving up a 30-piece to a walk-on who wore braces last year as tournament MVP. Man, I’d love to be a Bobcat. Did you know they have 2 breweries in town AND a Taco John’s?!?! Best we can do is about 15 breweries and Swenson’s ☹️

[Blue & Gold]

49 minutes ago, MDZip said:

I do enjoy the Bobcats board especially when they get into meltdown mode.

"  RE: Official Game 21 Thread: Akron

  Posted: 1/27/2023 9:26:10 AM 

Akron has the angriest fan base in the conference, a title previously held by Marshall. Delusions of grandeur from a third-tier municipal university. No one wants to go to Akron - it's an opportunity thrust upon them by financial, academic and/or other issues. Its consistently declining enrollment (down nearly 50% since 2011) largely reflects the quality of instruction by a faculty dominated by marginally qualified adjuncts." What say you jupy2? 😉

Wait a minute. That dude calls us angry? 🤨

[LoyalZIP]

5 minutes ago, Blue & Gold said:

Wait a minute. That dude calls us angry? 🤨

When I was 15, an OU “student” who came to watch them get blown out at the JAR told me to suck his **** as the game was winding down. He was the kindest, most un-angry person I had ever encountered in my life!

[Zipmeister]

On 1/29/2023 at 8:15 PM, GP1 said:

Maybe that person got in a terrible car accident severing both of his legs off at the knees similar to how Cotton Hill had his severed off in WWII by a Japanese machine gun nest. 

 

It's been quite a while since I was in Akron, and I was thinking that by now they would have cleared out all of the Japanese machine gun nest that invested the area during my youth.

[NWAkron]

9 hours ago, LoyalZIP said:

Ohio just loves being in the middle of BF nowhere and wearing that as a badge of honor. But OU really is awesome. They have probably the nicest campus in the league, and the nicest arena. But haven’t won a football title in *checks notes* 55 years and just lost to rinky-dink Akron while giving up a 30-piece to a walk-on who wore braces last year as tournament MVP. Man, I’d love to be a Bobcat. Did you know they have 2 breweries in town AND a Taco John’s?!?! Best we can do is about 15 breweries and Swenson’s ☹️

The OU grads I know are very good people.  Two obtained their doctorates in Physical Therapy at OU and they are amazing PTs and super nice guys.  I think it's just their basketball fans.

[LoyalZIP]

12 minutes ago, NWAkron said:

The OU grads I know are very good people.  Two obtained their doctorates in Physical Therapy at OU and they are amazing PTs and super nice guys.  I think it's just their basketball fans.

 

No question. I've got plenty of family from down that way who also attended.

[72 Roo]

12 hours ago, MDZip said:

I do enjoy the Bobcats board especially when they get into meltdown mode.

"  RE: Official Game 21 Thread: Akron

  Posted: 1/27/2023 9:26:10 AM 

Akron has the angriest fan base in the conference, a title previously held by Marshall. Delusions of grandeur from a third-tier municipal university. No one wants to go to Akron - it's an opportunity thrust upon them by financial, academic and/or other issues. Its consistently declining enrollment (down nearly 50% since 2011) largely reflects the quality of instruction by a faculty dominated by marginally qualified adjuncts." What say you jupy2? 😉

Bobcat meltdowns are the best. Definitely entertaining. There is an element of truth in what is said though. Our budget is driven by enrollment which has fallen as noted by near 50%. We have used this as an opportunity to get rid of underperforming faculty, which is a plus. So we took lemons and made lemonade. I don't mind the criticism about adjunct faculty. We do have too many. That shouldn't take away from the strong academics we have in the majority of our programs. Our focus has always been to offer quality education to students who can't afford to go away to school. At the same time we offer a residential college experience for those who want it. I'm proud of our students, graduates and fanatics. If OU is so superior they are failing miserably when we compete. Denigrate us all you want, maybe that makes OU fans feel better. I like the rivalry.  

[Rufus]

Unfortunately, "fan" is short for "fanatic" and sometimes people with unrealistic expectations can be a bit much. Too many of my brethren over there think that every year should be an NCAA tourney year or the sky is falling. We whiffed on some transfers, talent left for greener pastures, and here we are in the "down" of an up and down couple of years.

 

This game went about as I expected. I hold hope that we can return the favor when you come to Athens, only time will tell. Right now, I just want to beat the Eastern Michigan Fighting Bates' tonight. Freeman and Castaneda are a heck of a 1-2 punch in this league.