SIFL Day of Reckoning

by Danny Burnham
May 25, 2009 - Southern Indoor Football League (SIFL)


On Sunday morning on Memorial Day weekend, the Acadiana Mudbugs and the SIFL got an e-mail from the Florida Kings. The Kings demanded that their travel expenses be picked up by the league or the Mudbugs and the demand came on a Sunday morning before a Monday night game on a holiday weekend.

Sounds like a last straw to me.

The SIFL press release Sunday really didn't get into specifics on why they kicked out the Kings, but that was because they don't want to get into match, but a couple of e-mails and IMs bring some additional light to the situation.

"I got sick to my stomach when I saw that e-mail and saw phone calls from the Mudbugs on my cell," said SIFL Director of Operations Robert Winfrey. "At that point, we were all at 'the hell with it' point."

Winfrey said that all season long Kings management was miffed at a misunderstanding by some media that the Kings were a travel team only and were not playing home games against non SIFL opposition at a fairgrounds arena near DeLand, Fla. So they played their travel team card and said if you're going to consider us a travel team, then you can oot the travel bill.

SIFL home teams arrange accommodations and meals for visiting teams, but the bill for the bus lies exclusively with the road team. The Mudbugs' response? Memorial day weekend, Monday game. Small crowd. Another 81-0 type game. Waste of money and potential injuries. Forget it.

Then the Kings wanted the same deal from Austin. Imagine what happened next.

At first, the SIFL was intrigued by having a Florida presence so early as well as the Kings' PR about community service and each player donating 100 hours of service. When one of the Houston teams dropped out, the temporary fix seemed to be good.

"Truthfully, there were some scheduling issues and I'll give the Kings credit for being accommodating," Winfrey said. "But at the same time, they also were rude and condescending to staff. Their approach was their deal was with [SIFL President] Thom Hager and not the staff. Well, we work for Thom."

Other fun stuff that led to Sunday.

The Kings travelled to Louisiana and got destroyed 81-0. Two first downs and no play longer than eight yards. But that was just for starters.

The Kings said the 81-0 loss was a result of "home cooking" from the Swashbucklers and accused Swashbuckler GM Richard Dow of cheating. There's also an accusation that a Swashbuckler exposed himself to Kings GM Natalie Coleman.

"If that did happen, we regret it," Winfrey said. "But we couldn't find any proof that it did happen. It wasn't cool what they said about Rich. You don't make those kind of statements after your first game and accusations on one of the best-ran teams in the sport."

The Kings overreacted to the now-famous leaked memo from IFL commissioner Tommy Benizio that trashed all the other leagues, including the SIFL. Since it mentioned the term "travel team," the Kings went postal and said that the information was leaked from within the SIFL. "The phone calls would also come late at night," Winfrey said.

Accused SIFL Director of Communications Dan Ryan of posting on message boards using the "Caballo Diablo" screen name, one that is recognized as that of an avid Austin fan. "That was actually pretty funny," Winfrey said. "But it shows what we were having to deal with."

Then came Sunday morning. After everyone got home from church and Hager spent a hour or so on the phone, the SIFL had a conference call. Winfrey said it lasted less than 10 minutes. The longest discussion was whether or not to use the term "expel" or something not as strong such as "part ways."

Winfrey said that Commissioner Dan J. Blum said that "expel" was the perfect word choice. It was strong and made a statement. It was Memorial Day weekend and everyone was on a conference call rather than enjoying the holiday. It was the last straw.



Southern Indoor Football League Stories from May 25, 2009


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