Buchtelite sports preview

Miscellaneous

Some readers have expressed interest in the Buchtelite's 24-page Welcome Back issue.

The paper hits the racks Monday morning, but I'll give you an early sniff.

Here is the PDF of the sports page.

Download B1_8_28_06_bucht.pdf

Track

I could start this note with a reference to Rocky IV or the Red Scare, but I won't.

As coach of the U.S. Track and Field Team, Akron coach Dennis Mitchell's American team took second place at the Norwich Union International Match. The Russians won.

The men, whom Mitchell coached, actually beat the Russians, 177-146. They won 11 of 16 events. However, once the men's and women's scores were combined, the Americans fell just short, 349-312.5.

"Unfortunately, the day before the competition they decided to combine the score," Mitchell said. "I think this was for television purposes. The loaded and well-rested Russian womenÕs team was too much for our women."

Regardless, the Zips coach said he enjoyed the experience.

"This was one of the most exciting coaching experiences of my life," he said. "It felt like a conference championship trying to rally and coach the team to try to beat Russia."

Let me put this in perspective for some of you who don't care about college track: Akron matters, and the Zips coach is a big name in the track world. Mitchell's honor should be a huge boost to recruiting, which already is outstanding.

Football

The Battle/Massacre for the Wagon Wheel will be on television.

It is one of Fox Sports Net's MAC Games of the Week. The network has not yet decided the other games.

• Time to move home: The Zips broke preseason camp today. They will begin a normal weekly practice schedule starting Saturday.


• Is the football world overlooking Akron? Joe Paterno isn't. Here is a Patriot-News story that shouts: "Akron can make this a game." The most interesting nugget from this story is that coach J.D. Brookhart says Luke Getsy is a more polished quarterback than Charlie Frye was in his senior year. This is mainly due to Getsy's familiarity with Brookhart's offense, but still...


• Morelli vs. Getsy: Penn State quarterback Anthony Morelli will make his first career start on Sept. 4 against the Zips. He and Getsy are from the same area of Pennsylvania. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review discusses Getsy's career.