Southern Indoor Football League Newsletter
Published on May 7, 2009 under Southern Indoor Football League (SIFL) News Release
Welcome to the Southern Indoor Football League's E-Newsletter! We're pleased to offer our fans this means of keeping up with the latest developments from indoor football's upstart new league.
How committed are we to involving our fans? We let you select our weekly VIDSWAP.com Player of The Week and even the name of this newsletter, which garnered 57 percent of the vote last week.
We hope you enjoy receiving these updates and even more, we hope to see you in the stands on game night as we grow our league.
SIFL Committed To Houma Following a necessary two-hour delay to address safety concerns, the SIFL office is working with the Houma Conquerors in dealing with the aftermath of the April 25th opener.
Houma owner Franklin Thomas has offered full refunds or vouchers for half-priced tickets for the Conquerors next home game June 6.
Commissioner Dan J. Blum and President Thom Hager will be in attendance that night , and recently wrote a letter to the editor of Houma Today.
CLICK HERE FOR THE LINK SIFL Working on 2010 Expansion With the inaugural 2009 season settling into a routine, SIFL expansion efforts for 2010 have resumed and taken shape.
``By the end of May or early June, We'll be announcing our new markets,'' says SIFL President Thom Hager. ``We have strong ownership that'll have staff with experience and connections in their markets. We're going to grow this league wisely and not for the sake of growth itself.'' Twittering Has Its Place on Game Night Director of Creative Services Scott Blanchard wasn't sold on the concept of twittering at first.
But after vowing along with Commissioner Dan J. Blum that a SIFL player will never, ever Twitter during a game, Blanchard's successfully employing the new communications tool on the league's web site during the inaugural season.
Twittering allows users to provide instant updates up to 140 characters that can be sent and accessed on cell phones. Combined with the prompt response from each team's photographer and stat crew, internet users can get the most comprehensive game night coverage in indoor football.
``It's been great and I'm pleased with the progress," Blanchard said. ``When it comes to our internet presence, we're among the premier efforts of any sport on our level.
``At first I was skeptical of twittering, but after seeing it in action with LSU Sports.net and receiving updates from LSU baseball I realized how well it actually works." Blanchard added. "The League office wants to encourage fans around the league to do the same and I wanted to lead the charge by offering big time plays and scoring updates through the newest and latest social internet communications device''
Teams are also employing podcast and live video streams for free. SIFL PR Guy Calls AIFA Games What's the SIFL's PR Guy doing calling play-by-play for a team in another league? Enjoying a game day in person.
Dan Ryan's running communications out of Utah during the inaugural season so and he and his wife Donna could be there for the birth of their grandson April 4. While there, he offered his services to the AIFA's Utah Valley Thunder and serves as their audiocast play-by-play guy and host of the weekly coaches show.
The veteran indoor football communication professional can now say he's worked for three teams named Thunder in three different leagues in three different time zones. Only difference is that this Thunder is currently 6-1 and will finish with a winning record.
``Couldn't resist saying that,'' Ryan said. ``It's been fun. I can also say I've worked a game with my stepson and seen one of the best games [Utah Valley's recent victory over the storied Wyoming Cavalry] in my career. Good football is good football, regardless of the league.''
Is this success proof that the indoor leagues can co-operate?
`Only Dan could pull off something like this and what I like about it is that he sees the sport as a whole,'' SIFL president Thom Hager said. ``We're eager to communicate with other indoor leagues in furthering the sport and sharing strategies that will make all of us profitable and successful.'' They Said It "We're 2-0 going into the bye week, and it was another week without an injury. I'll take that any day." Acadiana Mudbugs QB Bo Bartik on his team's start.
``We'll take the points any way we can get them. We knew going in that the arena had a low ceiling and kickers would be going with line drives, so we made the effort to put pressure on the line and getting our hands up. I've never seen anything like that ... we're up 14-0 with just one touchdown.'' Austin coach Chris Duliban after the Turfcats special teams registered two touchdowns on returns, two safeties and a returned PAT for two points in a 64-32 victory at Houma.
``Calling games in Ogden (Utah) takes me back to my Intense League days in West Texas. Playing at a Fairgrounds, rug over a rodeo floor, the smell of horse and cow and the underlying sense there's a colony of polygamists nearby.'' SIFL PR Director Dan Ryan while calling the Utah Valley-Ogden AIFA game.
Southern Indoor Football League Stories from May 7, 2009
- Turfcats Bulk Up With Dallmeyer - Austin Turfcats
- SIFL Week 4 Game Capsules - SIFL
- Southern Indoor Football League Newsletter - SIFL
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
