Over a Cup of Coffee
by Jerry Hewitt
April 13, 2010 - Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL)
Before I begin with what I had planned this morning I received this forwarded email late last night from a trusted source. This past weekend, the Wyoming Cavalry's game at the Alaska-based Arctic Predators was called off due to travel problems. Statements from the teams indicated it was the fault of Alaska Airlines for releasing the seats. Here is the statement from the airline:
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Alaska Airlines canceled the reservation for the Cavs because we had not received payment for their travel, despite notifying them of the deadline, as well as extending our ticketing time limit deadline a couple of times to allow them more time to make the payment.
Unfortunately despite this, we did not receive payment and we had to cancel the booking. We notified the team that we would be canceling the team's reservation.
This is unfortunate as Alaska Airlines works with lots of sports teams in Alaska on their travel to and from events within the state, and we always go above and beyond to help them.
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On to other matters. In putting together the numbers for yesterday's article I noticed that ten teams throughout the four leagues have yet to get their first win. That's almost ten percent of the total number of indoor teams. To me that was somewhat surprising. One team, the Abilene Ruff Riders of the IFL, was unhappy enough with their 0-5 start they made a coaching change. There may be more on the horizon for teams on the bottom.
I thought I'd take today and look at those teams which haven't won a game or have only a single win to their credit.
Let's start with the AIFA. Without a single win this season are the New Jersey Revolution, 0-4, Ogden Knights, 0-3, and the Arctic Predators, 0-3. With only one win are the Erie Storm, 1-3, Fayetteville Guard, 1-3, and the Wenatchee Valley Venom, 1-2.
The New Jersey Revolution, to the best of my knowledge, have belonged to three different leagues beginning with the NIFL as the New Jersey Xtreme and have never had a winning season. For some time, they were a road only team, at least during their CIFL days. The team has never given any the indication that they belong in the same ranks as other franchises in the four leagues, yet they carry on. I'd like to say they have shown reasons they might improve, but honestly I can't. They will go through the remaining AIFA season not winning a game, nor even pretending to get better.
The Ogden Knights at 0-3 have good coaching in the way of Doug Coleman, a proven winner on the field as a player. In their first three games, the Knights have lost by an average of 16 points. They lost their first meeting at home to Wyoming by only 14. This team I believe was on the rise and much improved over last season, but now going to a road only schedule will take its toll and most likely result in a winless season or only one or two wins at most.
The Arctic Predators and the New Jersey Revolution shared two things in common, no wins and they don't belong at this level. That is just a fact. In three games they have lost by an average margin of 48 points. From game to game, you expect to see signs of improvement, but no such signs with this team.
The Fayetteville Guard, 1-3, just had their head coach resign, citing the job as too overwhelming. If a good replacement is found and he can pull the team together fast, it may not be too late to turn things around. But with the only win, and that over winless New Jersey, and average margin of losses at 34 points, he'll have to work overtime and most likely find a few new key players in the process.
The Wenatchee Valley Venom, 1-2, is a new team and I don't feel their 1-3 record is a clear indicator of how good or bad they may really be. They are still at the point of trying to figure out the sport. I can see where they may be a team to contend with the second half of the season. They opened the season with a big win over Yakima, took last year's Western champion Wyoming to overtime their second game in Casper, and then lost on the road at Yakima in their third try. This team could easily end up with a .500 or slightly better record.
The CIFL has two winless teams along with two with only a solo victory. I'm not going to spend much time here as the CIFL season is still very young.
With zero wins we have Miami Valley at 0-3 and Chicago at 0-2. Fort Wayne and Wisconsin are both at 1-1. It is said that we should learn from history, take past mistakes or performances and learn from them. Losers of 17 straight, Miami Valley ownership might not be looking to learn from their past. That being said, I'm just going to move on to the IFL.
Bottom dwellers include the Maryland Maniacs, 0-4, La Crosse Spartans, 0-5, Colorado Ice, 0-5, Abilene Ruff Riders, 0-5, West Texas Roughnecks, 1-4, and Tri-Cities Fever, 1-3. Stats from previous seasons are not available, so I couldn't easily look at the history of these teams.
In 2009, the Maniacs enjoyed a 10-4 record, but now sit at 0-5. This makes no sense. How does a team go from 10 wins to none in a single season? I could not find enough information to make sense of this. But for some reason, this team has fallen and judging from scores so far show little improvement.
La Crosse is a true expansion team and their lack of success to date can be blamed in part on that, but not all of it. The biggest factor I see is maybe one of the most brutal schedules so far for any IFL team. 17-5: That's the overall record of the teams the Spartans have faced. Only Omaha has less than a 5-1 record. So we take that into account and look at how La Crosse has played in each game. Quite frankly, still not good. I could use the level of competition as an excuse for no wins and I do to a degree. Next I look at improvement from game to game. Ten point loss to Omaha followed by their last loss, 13 points to Green Bay in La Crosse, a team that beat them by 36 earlier. So yes, there are signs of improvement, but I still can't see this team winning more than two or three games, if any.
The Colorado Ice season has gone the way all seasons past have gone. Back to that learning from history thing. In four seasons they have a combined record of 17- 29 with no winning seasons. They recently underwent an ownership change and maybe that will be good for their future, but this season, unless major changes are made both in coaching and players, they will remain near or at the bottom of the IFL.
Abilene at 0-5 is the only winless IFL team to say it has had enough and make a coaching change. Good or bad, at least it's a change to try to turn it around. Unfortunately, with five losses it will be tough at this point to get enough wins to make the playoffs. Maybe they can get a few wins to build on for next year.
West Texas is somewhat in the same boat as Abilene. If memory serves me correctly, both teams found new ownership not that far long before the season started. That certainly has not helped either team. The Roughnecks just keep finding ways to lose. Putting final scores away, this team has been competitive in most games, only really losing them in the final quarter. This team just doesn't know how to win yet, not that they aren't good enough. This is one teams lack of success I attribute directly to coaching.
The IFL has only one one-win team: the Tri-Cities Fever. This bunch just disappoints, averaging over 50 points a game, yet starting 0-3 before their first win this last weekend. It is said that if a team at this level averages over 50 points they should win more than they lose. Not true if you are giving up more than 50, though, and your defense sits last in the league overall and also in points allowed. The Fever season rests on finding a defense that shows up the rest of the way.
Last we have the SIFL and they fall into the same category as the CIFL, in which the season is still too early. Lafayette is at 0-1, Louisiana at 1-2 and Columbus at 1-1. Although I don't expect Lafayette to remain winless, I do not see them playing for the championship either. But in the case of Louisiana and Columbus, either very well could. It's really too early to draw any real conclusions.
It is very possible the AIFA season could end up with three teams with zero wins. In the CIFL, maybe two will go winless, while in the IFL, maybe two as well. In the SIFL i doubt any will go without a win.
Updates
In my article Saturday on who will survive to play in 2011 I made mention of the RIFL. I mentioned the league splitting and the Texas part taking most of the assets. I also mentioned a possible merger between the Florida-based faction and the SIFL. I received an email from the Florida based part of the league stating they hold most of the RIFL assets and also are not entertaining any merger ideas with any other leagues. In fairness, I thought I should mention those two comments from the RIFL. I don't want to get into a he said, she said battle here as the future will tell.
On the menu this week
Tomorrow I'll take my usual look into the world of indoor football with The Indoor Football Report, then Thursday take a stab at who among the top teams in the four leagues is the best. Friday I will take a look at the middle of the road teams that will break out and be play off contenders.
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
Continental Indoor Football League Stories from April 13, 2010
- Commandos stay perfect, Mayhem in 2nd - CIFL
- Over a Cup of Coffee - OSC Original by Jerry Hewitt
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.
