Commentary: NIFL daily buzz

by Jerry Hewitt
Published on April 30, 2006 under National Indoor Football League (NIFL)

Yes I know, I've said it before, but I hate Sunday games! They're fine in the NFL, but not here, not in the NIFL. Nothing really wrong with them, just I prefer my Sunday minus football at this time of the year. But be that as it may, we still have two games left on the menu this week, Big Sky at Katy today and Charleston at Florida on Monday. We'll take a look at those today.

Saturday night

With under a minute to go, a Fever running back headed for the end zone from the two that would have put the Fever up by two and with the extra point preserved the three point margin of victory that was the difference in all three previous games, but a fumble recovered by Travis Salter of the Outlaws sealed the game for the Billings club. Billings 44, Fever 40. OK, so it was four points, not three in this forth meeting between the two. The Fever led 28-16 at the half and looked to be in control, but the Outlaws scored 16 unanswered points in the early stages of the third to put them back in the lead. Overall the game was close throughout and pretty much the type of game that was expected. With the win Billings goes to 6-1 on the season and has control of the Pacific North. The 2005 NIFL Champions fall to 4-2. The Fever return home to host winless Big Sky next week, while Billings gets the week off before going to Wyoming which will be a critical game.

When I looked at the stats from the Lakeland, Fayetteville game I couldn't believe my eyes. I wasn't that surprised that the 'Bolts won 60-41, but that most of the passing yardage was on the Fayetteville side and the rushing on Lakeland's. I would have expected them to be reversed. So, the undefeated list shrinks with the Guard losing their first and dropping their record to 5-1. Lakeland stands at 6-0. Fayetteville stays on the road next week heading to Charleston, while Lakeland hosts winless Twin City.

Palm Beach did make the trip to Cincinnati and the game was maybe closer than expected. The Marshals hit the game winning field goal with no time left to get the 47-44 win. Cincinnati ups their record to 3-3 while the Phantoms remain winless at 0-3. Florida is scheduled at Palm Beach next week, but with no venue, we'll wait and see on that game. Cincinnati goes to Tennessee.

Another game that was closer than expected was Beaumont at Twin City. The Gators continue to improve, but also continue to lose. The Drillers won 48-40 and go to 4-2 on the season. The Gators drop to 0-6 Next week Beaumont makes the trip up to RiverCity and Twin City travels to unbeaten Lakeland.

Dayton prevailed in Tennessee with a 28-24 win over the River Sharks. Dayton improves to 2-3 while Tennessee drops to 2-4. Dayton is off next week, but Tennessee stays home to host the other Ohio team, Cincinnati.

The rest

Today 0-5 Big Sky at at Katy, 4-3. The Thunder have not even come close to living up to their name this season, providing little noise on the field. They've averaged only 12.5 points per game while giving up almost 63. Katy has been up and down. To their credit, they've won the games they should have won, but have failed to win some they could have won. This is what keeps them as a good, but not great team this season. Here they have another pad the stats game and should be able to run up the numbers on one of the leagues worst teams. Katy fans get to enjoy watching their team score big points tonight and also get to enjoy the off field antics of the Driller Road Krew who we here are making the trip from Beaumont.

On Monday 2-2 Charleston takes the trip to South Florida to take on the improving Florida Frenzy. The Sandsharks started the season 2-0, then lost two straight. Florida started slow, but then showed life in destroying Montgomery a couple weeks back, after playing it close with 5-0 Fayetteville the week before. Now after a week off, the 1-3 Frenzy look to continue winning. Charleston needs to step it up if they are going to stay in this game. Averaging 42 points a game won't be enough against Florida who is averaging only about 35 a game, but in their last two, averaged 53. I'd like to say that the defenses would play a big role here and they might, but neither teams defense has been anything but average so far this season. Florida has been busy recruiting, play at home, won their last game, played close the week before against one of the best in the league, while Charleston lost last week at home to Greensboro and the week before at Osceola. Take the Frenzy to win their second game on the NIFL version of Monday Night Football.

Thoughts

I was sitting here thinking after reviewing all the media coverage of the Maulers situation about how unfair it appears the NIFL treats its teams. You have a team owner down in Montgomery that apparently doesn't care about her team, what the community of Montgomery thinks about the NIFL or the so called professionalism of the Maulers organization. Nor does she seem to care about the black eye she gives the NIFL.

I'm not laying this all on this Montgomery owner either as soon of the fault lies with the NIFL. I am sure the NIFL leadership knew this was going to explode before it did, yet apparently did nothing to prevent it. But that's normal for the NIFL, let it happen, then try to deal with it instead of trying to fix the problem before it blows up. I've seen this attitude towards problems too many times. So before anyone gets the idea I blame the Maulers owner for this black eye entirely, I don't. At least in part this is just another case of the NIFL caring less about black eyes it brings upon itself and teams throughout the league.

Here's another example of the league caring less about its teams, whether they succeed or how they are viewed in the community they play in. Last season it appeared the Billings Outlaws were dead as then current owner, Duane Anderson, had decided to not proceed with the 2005 season. His decision came so late that the NIFL was just a couple months short of starting their season and caught between redoing schedules or figuring out how to get a Billings team on the field.

A new ownership was found after a exhausting search, not deep pockets ownership, but local Billings ownership that didn't want to see the team lost. With new ownership in place, they battled the clock to get ready for the season and thus the Billings Mavericks were born and football saved in Billings, Montana. Getting such a late start, having to use a name less known than the Outlaws, the owners were hard pressed to get sponsors onboard or even have time to promote the team.

The 2005 season was rough on the Billings team and ownership. They struggled on the field with a losing season and struggled at the box office with poor attendance. Through all of this the players never missed a paycheck and all other bills the team incurred were paid as agreed, which wasn't easy for the ownership to do, but they did it.

Going into the 2006 season, things looked bright for the Billings team. Through negotiations with the teams previous owner they got the rights to return the Outlaws name to the team, which they knew would help in getting sponsors on board and more fans in the seats. This look like a smart move on their part, but little did they know the road block for the 2006 season would be the NIFL itself.

You would think the NIFL would be on their knees thanking the Billings owners for saving the team and saving the league from another black eye, but not the case. instead of supporting the efforts of the team they chose it all but ignore it. Because another team in Florida had also chosen the Outlaws name for 06 a dispute over who should use the Outlaws name ensued. The Florida team adopted another name, although that may not have been their choice, but it did end the confusion over the name.

Problem solved, right? Not even close. The NIFL for whatever reason decided not to recognize the Billings Outlaws name, leaving it off their website and not even supplying a link to the Billings website. This action by the NIFL created new problems for the Billings team in the way of sponsor and ticket sales. Now I'm not sure why, but for some reason the name issue prompted some sponsors to question whether these Billings Outlaws were for real or not given the NIFL didn't recognize them as being in the league. Sponsors are sometimes very wary of investing their advertising dollars into sports at this level and it doesn't take much to get them to hold back and spend it elsewhere.

We are halfway through the season now and instead of thanking the Outlaws ownership for not only saving a charter NIFL team, but doing business in the professional manner most leagues would expect from their teams, they are still listed on the NIFL website as just Billings and no link to the teams website. My parents always emphasized the importance of saying thank you when someone does something for you. I guess the NIFL has a different way of saying thank you to their teams that do things right.

Well I know the community of Billings thanks the Billings Outlaws owners for saving the team and in the end, I guess, that's all that matters.

Competition in the 2006 NIFL

I've always considered the level of competition in the NIFL equal to or better than any league at this level, including the af2. This season I'm not sure I can say that. Of course there are still good teams in the NIFL, ones that could compete in any of the leagues, even vie for their championship, but there may be some that not only can't compete in the NIFL, but couldn't be competitive in any other league as well, including some semi pro indoor leagues.

Going into Saturdays games, there were four teams with no wins, three with only one win and overall eleven teams under 500. I can't remember a year that this far into the season so many teams are struggling to win. I'm not sure what the problem is since I know there are plenty of quality football players out there capable of being competitive at this level. I know there are plenty of good coaches out there that can take a group of players and make them winners on the field, so where is the problem?

Are the quality players and coaches now going to other teams in others leagues because the NIFL is getting the reputation for not taking care of its own? I think that very well may be part of the problem. When you have a league that has shown itself to bring in teams that end up not paying the bills, folding mid season and giving itself black eye after black eye and not seeming to want to improve things, I think you might find players and coaches moving to those leagues that have shown more stability.

The other reason may very well be that there are so many teams in the sport now that the player pool has been drained and is diluted with players that only a couple of seasons ago wouldn't have got a second look, but now are starting on teams.

It's probably a combination of things, more than just the two I propose here, but that's not the point. If the NIFL is going to promote itself as the top level in indoor football, it has to prove it with good competitive teams. I'm also not here to offer suggestions because I don't feel I have all the reasons, but a start might be for the league to insure teams playing at this level are indeed professional at every level within the team structure.

Clearly though in my opinion, there are teams in the NIFL that don't belong. The level of professionalism lacks on the field and off. Not only does this weaken the NIFL as a professional level, it weakens the sport as a whole. Now, before I get off the band wagon, I want to add that some or all of what I say applies to some in other leagues as well.

The good

Some reading my daily rants might think I focus on nothing but the negative side of the NIFL. I too find myself being more attracted to news that is slanted that way. But to be fair to the NIFL and its teams I do see positives this season.

I see more teams getting involved in their community, especially schools. Even though the NIFL may not be the NFL, the players are role models to those in the community they play in. Since I see the getting out in the community spread league wide I have to feel it is by design, something the NIFL has asked their teams to do.

Without question this is a good move on the NIFL's part. Teams that involve themselves in their community have a better chance of success and at the same time have a positive impact on their communities.

Join the fun

If you can't make a game tonight, join other fans in the indoorbowl.com chat room and talk up your favorite team and catch up on the latest scores of games around the NIFL and other leagues. No registration is required and access is easy, just visit www.indoorbowl.com or our fan forum at www.indoorbowl.com/phpBB2/

Down the stretch

With the halfway mark quickly approaching it soon will be time to take a look at what the second half of the season will look like. We are already seeing signs of who will make the play offs, but in the second half each game will become more important to those in the play off race. There are a few teams near the bottom that may impact the play off landscape more than what some may think at this point and we'll try to point those teams out and where they might change the race.

Fire watch

No changes in the fire watch. We have downgraded Greensboro and Dayton. In Dayton we are saying they have the fire fully contained. In Greensboro, 90% contained. Palm Beach is a wait and see type situation. We have had problems getting updates from that area. In all other areas, fire crews report no idea of containment time. That leaves Montgomery, Arkansas and Rapid City still raging out of control.

Weather forecast

Official NIFL weather report and fire control updates. NIFL fire crews are hard at work trying to contain some of the fires, while they are just letting some burn themselves out. In some areas, local fire crews have been left on their own to battle the blazes. Reports from our watch towers are no new sightings, but the weather forecast includes a 90% chance of thunderstorms over the next eleven weeks. Additional fire crews have been put on alert that their services could be needed at a moments notice and should be prepared to go anywhere in the NIFL forest. As always, we have our own spotters that will be on the front lines covering the disasters as they happen.

National Indoor Football League Stories from April 30, 2006

• Commentary: NIFL daily buzz, Sunday evening - OSC Original by Jerry Hewitt
• Commentary: NIFL daily buzz - OSC Original by Jerry Hewitt
• Drillers hold off Twin City 48-40 for a road win - Beaumont Drillers

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.