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IFL Indoor Football League

Over a Cup of Coffee

by Jerry Hewitt
April 7, 2010 - Indoor Football League (IFL)


Coffee's hot and life is good in the world of indoor football for the most part.

The week that was

Slow week in the bad news department which is good, right? My only concerns this week have nothing to do with the big 4, but more on that later.

The week that is

AIFA

Impact games: San Jose Wolves 2-0 at Yakima Valley Warriors 1-1, Wenatchee Valley Venom 1-1 at Ogden Knights 0-2

Best match ups: Richmond Raiders 2-2 at Reading Express 2-2

Possible upsets. Ogden Knights 0-2 over the Wenatchee Valley Venom 1-1

AIFA Notes: The cream of the AIFA have it easy this week: Baltimore 4-0 on the road at New Jersey 0-2 and Harrisburg 3-1 at home against Erie 1-3. Both Harrisburg and Baltimore ought to be easy winners. Although I picked Richmond at Reading as the best match up I think Wenatchee at Ogden is the game to watch. Ogden is 0-2, but a far better team than their record indicates. This is not the best weekend for great games in the AIFA, but there are some worth catching.

IFL

Impact games: West Michigan Thunderhawks 3-0 at Richmond Revolution 3-1, and Omaha Beef 2-2 at Wichita Wild 4-1

Best match ups: Alaska Wild 2-3 at Kent Predators 1-3 and West Michigan Thunderhawks 3-0 at Richmond Revolution 3-1

Don't miss. Fairbanks Grizzlies 4-1 at Tri-Cities Fever 0-3

Possible upset. Maryland Maniacs 0-3 over the Rochester Raiders 2-2 and the Tri-Cities Fever 0-3 over the Fairbanks Grizzlies 4-1

IFL Notes: This is a great week in the IFL, with some very good match ups and possible upsets. In the upset department I didn't mention the Beef, Wild game, but one has to figure the Beef to turn it around at some point, and if the Wild are still celebrating their big win over Sioux Falls last week they could end up on the losing side. I picked Tri-Cities as a possible upset over Fairbanks. I have only one reason for this: four overtimes in their first game and one the Fever should've won. The Fever are 0-2, but much better than their record as opposed to 4-1 Fairbanks which is not as good as their record indicates. Another 0-3 team I pick as a possible upset is Maryland over Rochester - no reason on this other than I just have a feeling. Without question the game of the week is West Michigan at Richmond. These are two of the better teams in the Atlantic East and the winner here gets an edge on the division title. I also put Alaska at Kent as a best match up. These two teams are not great, and neither is likely to be in the playoffs, but still a good match. Billings is at home against Colorado in one of the week's biggest yawners and the other IFL power, Sioux Falls, visits their rival, the Sioux City Bandits.

CIFL

Impact games: Wisconsin Wolfpack 1-0 at Cincinnati Commandos 3-0

Best match ups: Marion Mayhem 1-1 at Chicago Cardinals 0-1

Possible upset. Miami Valley Silverbacks 0-2 over the Fort Wayne FireHawks 0-1

CIFL Notes: Cincinnati is 3-0, while the Wolfpack is 1-0. The question here is Cincinnati really that good? All streaks, winning and losing, have to come to an end sometime. Loser of 16 straight Miami Valley has a chance this week to make their season with a win.

SIFL

Impact games: Louisiana Swashbucklers 1-1 at Greenville Force 1-0

Best match ups: Louisiana Swashbucklers 1-1 at Greenville Force 1-0

Possible upset.

SIFL Notes. The only real question in the SIFL this week is which Louisiana team will show up in Greenville, the one that scored 88 points in their first game or the one that gave up 88 in their second? There are actually two questions as Albany is scheduled on the road this week at Houston, so is there a game or not and where, SIFL?

Rumors

It was brought to my attention yesterday that a new league plans on playing in 2011, the Ultimate Indoor Football League. I don't usually pay much attention to start ups as most never see a down, but I checked their website and found it really said little. So I checked their Facebook page and found even less, except numerous invitations to sign up for their newsletter. Anyway I went back to other things, then got another email mentioning who might be behind this league. That email caught my attention.

Let's be honest, very few ever tried to get into the National Indoor Football League and were turned away. Of course many which should have been shown the door were voted in. So if you have someone that was turned down by the NIFL, how bad can they be? Rumor is that person is behind the UIFL and was also the founder of the old AIFL, a league that could compete with the NIFL in its disfunction.

Once in awhile someone comes around that should in no way be allowed to be a part of the sports world. Where indoor football is concerned I have a list of about three or four people. The man behind the AIFL and rumored to be behind the UIFL is on my list. If the rumor is true, any team ownership looking at the UIFL should just turn their back on it now or at least investigate it and who is behind it throughly.

I could go on and on here, but instead, I'll let Wikipedia finish it up for me.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

"The league has its roots in the Atlantic Indoor Football League, which began play in 2005 under the leadership of Andrew Haines. The league began with six teams, all of them based in the eastern United States. Two teams played all of their games on the road, and the regular season was cut short two weeks because of teams being unable to secure venues for playoff games. In the 2005-06 offseason, the league changed its name to the American Indoor Football League, while nine expansion teams entered the league and a tenth (the Rome Renegades) joined from the National Indoor Football League.

The 2006 season was marred by the folding of two teams, and the league used semi-pro teams to fill scheduling vacancies. The league was briefly acquired by Greens Worldwide, Inc., the owners of the amateur North American Football League, during the 2006 season, but they terminated the contract soon afterwards. Nine teams left the league after the season, including four who split off to create the short-lived World Indoor Football League. On October 2, 2006, a massive reorganization took place as Morris and Mink set up a new league, which absorbed all of the remaining AIFL franchises, and Haines was ousted. (Haines would go on to create the Mid-Atlantic Hockey League in 2007, before similar stability problems led to the forced divestiture of that league as well.) The league took on its current name at the same time."

Haines was last reported running for office in Ohio while trying to start a basketball league.

This article and more archived at The Indoor Football Report located at www.IndoorFootballNetwork.com Comments about this article or suggestions can be made to indoorbowl@yahoo.com



Indoor Football League Stories from April 7, 2010


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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