Commentary: NIFL daily buzz

by Jerry Hewitt
Published on May 3, 2006 under National Indoor Football League (NIFL)


The NIFL would appreciate it if you kept all bad news and comments negative to the league to yourself. All this negative press, all these speaking out against the league, its not fair I tell you, just not fair. The NIFL, The No Information Football League as I refer to it sometimes may be in its final days, weeks or months, who knows, I don't. Don't care either.

Patterson update

Our sources tell us that HP Patterson is wanted by the FBI and AG in Florida on non NIFL charges. He was thought to have been in Mexico, but obviously not. We feel that at least one person in the NIFL knew of his whereabouts and we guess his history, yet didn't notify authorities.

NIFL votes in Rapid City

It's my understanding that the NIFL voted in Rapid City using information that wasn't true. I am told the owners were told the ownership was local and that majic had secured it. Neither of which appears to be true. I was told had that info been disclosed, the owners would have voted against allowing the Aces in. This information comes to me from a source that was there, but I wasn't, so not first hand, although my source has yet to be wrong.

In the news

Check out the video from KOTA TV in Rapid City. Go to www.kotatv.com. It pretty much chronicles evidence on who Mr. Neal really was. Evidence this smart con artist left in his desk in the Aces offices. An update to this story, sources close to the Aces say all may not be over, money may be on the way this week to save things and put the team in St. Joe Saturday night. I hope that's true.

Six years

I have listened to owners, players, fans, coaches bitch for six years about things have to change, yet year after year they remain the same. For six years I've supported a league that has upon more than one occasion done its best to shoot itself in the foot. For six years I've supported a league that really doesn't want my support or that of anyone else.

The blame

When things go wrong in an organization, rarely is it one persons fault and I doubt all that's wrong with the NIFL is one persons either, but somebody has to take the fall and I nominate the president, Carolyn Shiver herself.

But before we run out, get the rope and string her up, let's look at each case this season and see where the fault may lie.

Hammond (Louisiana) Heroes - No, I haven't forgotten. This team left shortly before the season citing the league had misled them

Charlotte, North Carolina, team was dropped from the schedule shortly before the season. Rumor was that the owner wanted the league to pony up the big bucks the venue wanted upfront. Fault, leagues, why, teams are supposed to have a valid league approved venue league upon asking for entry in the league. League skirted this issue since it was the relocated Daytona Beach team. Considering the who, what and why of the relocation, the league should have kept a closer eye.

Lincoln, Nebraska - Owner and league decide to dump the Capitols franchise and move it to St. Joseph, Missouri. Enlist by any means possible the services of the local APFL team located there to join the NIFL and finish the Lincoln schedule. A team maybe strong armed into joining the NIFL. This ownership might have been hard pressed to compete in the APFL both financially and competitively, so no way they can survive in the NIFL without help. Help was promised, but those doing the promising have a history of broken promises. Since the league president orchestrated this, the fault is clearly on her.

Fayetteville, Arkansas - Not officially on our fire watch, but we mention them because they had no signed venue lease when starting the season as required by league rules.

West Palm Beach, Florida - No valid venue lease and no venue. To the best of my knowledge, the NIFL requires teams to have a valid, league approved lease when they apply at the league meetings in the fall.

Greensboro, North Carolina - Rumors of players not being paid. This was verified, but it was kept very hush, hush. The league stepped in with money. Owner is the same one that was involved with Daytona Beach last season. Since this owner obviously had a history of falling behind on paying players, staff and others and in some reported cases, never paying them, the league should have found a way to remove him from the league.

Montgomery, Alabama - Owner reported behind on players pay, bounced checks, lack of proper insurance coverage. Owner uses as excuse, "happens everywhere." This owner also owns the Chattanooga, Tennessee franchise, was granted that franchise this season. She claims Montgomery has broke her. We're not even halfway through the season, and she's claiming the team has broke her? If she was in the position of Montgomery breaking her, now or anytime, why did the league give her a second franchise?

Chattanooga, Tennessee - Saw this one coming didn't you? When news of Montgomery hit, rumors of unpaid players surfaced here as well. Although not blown up quite so much, still a major concern.

Rapid City, South Dakota - Although I do feel for fans and players in other areas, Rapid City is probably the saddest of them all. Here we have a market that was all but dead only to be brought back to life and renewed with energy through the hard work of one dedicated individual only to be sabotaged by the league. If, as reported, the league found the ownership that was put in place in Rapid City, who we know have allegedly bounced checks and skipped town, nobody is at fault but the league for not checking out this person who is known by most to be someone not to be trusted.

Bozeman, Montana - Here we have a team set up by the league and left to die. The league backed this team, let them go into a 2200 seat venue, promised support, then left them out there with no help. Now we see they couldn't afford to make a road trip to Texas, was told by the league to ship their uniforms and uniforms only as the services of the players and coaching staff weren't needed. Red flags abound here: too small of a venue to ever have things be successful, very limited funds to run the team and lack of promised league support.

Dayton, Ohio - The team that last season made the NIFL a hero in saving it when the UIF decided to end things there is now the reason for its demise. The NIFL did save this team, but in doing so allowed the most questionable ownership of the 2005 season to have the franchise. Financial problems plagued the team all season, but in spite of all those had a successful season, even making the playoffs. After the season there was so much uncertainty about the team returning that all the players and staff eventually bailed for other teams. The owner of record should have kept the team running in a more positive mode over the off season to keep it competitive for new ownership, but failed to do so and as a result, the team is struggling on the field and off and now without a venue, may be dead.

Where do I feel the blame lies in all this? Easy to say the league for not properly qualifying ownerships and maybe even misleading owners when it came time to vote some of these teams in. Yes, that would be easy and probably pretty much true, but in defense of the NIFL leadership, you can qualify ownerships as well as the secret service qualifies people who guard the president and still end up with problems, although probably quite a few less.

Next fire to burn out of control?

I asked this of a trusted source. Their answer, the Tennessee River Sharks. Same owner as in Montgomery, so why not suspect the results to be the same. Sounds good to me, so let's go with Tennessee.

Jerry running a league

Uh no, had those thoughts once, no desire thank you. I have friends now, would like to keep them. I will say this, I'd be very interested in setting up a league, setting it up right, one that teams, players, sponsors and fans could all be proud of.

Fire watch

The winds have clearly shifted towards Louisiana. All fires are indeed headed that way very rapidly. For the safety of the fire crews, most have been pulled out as most of these fires are so out of control, it would be impossible to stop them at this point.

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National Indoor Football League Stories from May 3, 2006


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.


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