This week in indoor football
by Danny Burnham
Published on June 5, 2009 under Southern Indoor Football League (SIFL)
After following the sport of indoor football for five years now, there is very little that surprises me.
Games get cancelled, they get postponed, the get moved to different venues, but I have never seen a game that was played in two different locations, and took a week to complete. Yes folks, this is the kind of entertainment you can only get in indoor football, courtesy of the AIFA.
In Erie, the River Rats and the Harrisburg Stampede started a game on May 23 that was called off with 10 seconds remaining after a brawl broke out on the field. The âRats were up by 10 at the time so that was that... or was it?
The league ruled days later that the remaining 10 seconds would be played prior to an entire game between the two teams in Harrisburg on May 30. Of course, Erie won the game. They were after all winning by 10 points with only 10 seconds to go. The Rats recovered a squib kick and ran out the clock.
Harrisburg desperately needed the win to have any chance in the playoff hunt. Harrisburg won the second game, but the damage was done.Â
This whole scenario begs the question: Would the final 10 seconds have been made up at all if Harrisburg wasn't a league owned team? Sort of raises a few red flags... doesn't it?
In other AIFA news , the Florence Phantoms are giving ghetto football a bad name by possibly not paying their players each week.  A handful of players have left the team and have sought football employment elsewhere. Then they go to Columbus and  get their butts kicked but still dance between plays and make rude gestures to fans ... even kids.
SIFL
SIFL , (You know, the guys who are raising the bar?) find themselves in the negative pile this week after the Florida debacle.
Florida is no longer in the league after a lot of bad noise. It all started when The Kings e-mailed the league to tell them they wouldn't travel to Acadiana unless the league, or the host team paid their expenses.Â
Then it turned into a "you can't fire us, we quit" scenario between the league and the Kings. Not exactly the kind of publicity the first year league needs. And just when I thought we learned our lesson about screening owner...And maybe teams from Volusia County, Florida. Then just when the SIFL doesn't need any more bad publicity, the Austin-Texas game gets cancelled. That's three game in three weeks not played. The league kind of rebounded Monday when Louisiana and Acadiana played, but this league needs some a stretch of good to happen.
There will be some good football on the field this weekend as Utah visits Wyoming in the AIFA, and in the IFL Â Sioux Falls travels to Billings for a rematch of the 42-41 barn burner won by Billings the first time around.
CIFL
 Head coach Steve "Mongo" McMichael will get my vote as indoor football coach of the year as he and the Chicago Slaughter completed a perfect regular season and start gearing up for the playoffs.
Southern Indoor Football League Stories from June 5, 2009
- SIFL Week 8 Game Capsules - SIFL
- This week in indoor football - OSC Original by Danny Burnham
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
