Paul S
04-27-2008, 06:10 AM
I normally post on the ABA board here but yesterday went to the NE Surge v Flint Phantoms game and was impressed.
I've poked around these boards and kind of reserved judgement about the CIFL. I was waiting to see if this was NIFL version 2.0 or if it was a legit operation. My impression was the CIFL runs a fairly good set up, at least in Worcester.
When I first showed up the NE players were warming up and I wandered down to the dasher boards and asked one of the players if
" you guys getting paid?"
he kind of mis-understood and said
"ya man, we're a professional team"
so I said,
" no no, theres a guy on the internet who said you aren't getting paid and the teams missing checks "
his response was
" no dog, that bulls****, our owner is also our coach, he's stand up,"
Later on, another player came over to where I was and he must have talked to the first player and said
"hey n****r, its all good on this team, we doing fine, don't believe that internet, that guys just stirring it up"
Now as a white male it was the first time I've ever been called a n****r but just to put this into context it was at the very start when they opened the doors and the Phantoms were already on the field, the Surge came out. There were no kids where I was leaning over and nobody heard any swearing, also the players were nice about things, they weren't angry or being jerks about it, the responses were good natured.
The Surge certainly is far better run than anything I've ever seen in the ABA and I also went to a NIFL game in Sarasota (before they folded halfway through the season) and this is by far a superior product on and off the field.
The only thing I found odd is that you couldn't get into the bar at the endzone and still see the game, you had to have a "special ticket" when I asked how do I get the special ticket the response was "you have to be given one" which was a response yes, but not a direct answer to my question. Also the pricing was curious, you could buy 10.50 tix, 20.50 tix or 30.50 tix. I went with the 10 dollar tix and was given (at least according to the program) a seat in the 20 dollar area. When I went to the upper level behind the goal posts, I couldn't get in because it was a 10 dollar ticket area. Just to put that into context, I had a seat in a 20 dollar area and couldn't get into the cheap seats, yet could easily move into the more expensive seats. In fact I was encouraged by the usher to go to the expensive seats.
On the field Flint obviously don't travel with a kicker as they went for 2 point conversions on every touchdown and when kicking off another player (88 - no names on Flint jerseys) did the kicking. He was awful kicker, good player but an awful kicker. The guy managed to kick it out of bounds on the 20 yard line in indoor football! Ya, HIS OWN 20 yard line. Then he did it again, getting to his own 15. I mean if you can't kick a ball 15 yards in a straight line I don't know why they let you out again. He'd shank it every time.
I'll definately be back in Worcester for more games, it was good value for my 10.50.
I've poked around these boards and kind of reserved judgement about the CIFL. I was waiting to see if this was NIFL version 2.0 or if it was a legit operation. My impression was the CIFL runs a fairly good set up, at least in Worcester.
When I first showed up the NE players were warming up and I wandered down to the dasher boards and asked one of the players if
" you guys getting paid?"
he kind of mis-understood and said
"ya man, we're a professional team"
so I said,
" no no, theres a guy on the internet who said you aren't getting paid and the teams missing checks "
his response was
" no dog, that bulls****, our owner is also our coach, he's stand up,"
Later on, another player came over to where I was and he must have talked to the first player and said
"hey n****r, its all good on this team, we doing fine, don't believe that internet, that guys just stirring it up"
Now as a white male it was the first time I've ever been called a n****r but just to put this into context it was at the very start when they opened the doors and the Phantoms were already on the field, the Surge came out. There were no kids where I was leaning over and nobody heard any swearing, also the players were nice about things, they weren't angry or being jerks about it, the responses were good natured.
The Surge certainly is far better run than anything I've ever seen in the ABA and I also went to a NIFL game in Sarasota (before they folded halfway through the season) and this is by far a superior product on and off the field.
The only thing I found odd is that you couldn't get into the bar at the endzone and still see the game, you had to have a "special ticket" when I asked how do I get the special ticket the response was "you have to be given one" which was a response yes, but not a direct answer to my question. Also the pricing was curious, you could buy 10.50 tix, 20.50 tix or 30.50 tix. I went with the 10 dollar tix and was given (at least according to the program) a seat in the 20 dollar area. When I went to the upper level behind the goal posts, I couldn't get in because it was a 10 dollar ticket area. Just to put that into context, I had a seat in a 20 dollar area and couldn't get into the cheap seats, yet could easily move into the more expensive seats. In fact I was encouraged by the usher to go to the expensive seats.
On the field Flint obviously don't travel with a kicker as they went for 2 point conversions on every touchdown and when kicking off another player (88 - no names on Flint jerseys) did the kicking. He was awful kicker, good player but an awful kicker. The guy managed to kick it out of bounds on the 20 yard line in indoor football! Ya, HIS OWN 20 yard line. Then he did it again, getting to his own 15. I mean if you can't kick a ball 15 yards in a straight line I don't know why they let you out again. He'd shank it every time.
I'll definately be back in Worcester for more games, it was good value for my 10.50.