This Has All Happened Before

Well, holy balls if it isn’t the first indoor football related blog post on this channel in years.  Life's funny sometimes, and doesn't leave a guy time to say what’s on his mind about various matters.  Sure “Jim” over at the Indoor Football Forum website/facebook group does a wonderful job keeping all of us up to date on the various comings and goings in the indoor world, but my thoughts and feelings get lost in the shuffle of the 39 different threads a week. This is not intended to be a coherent well written piece, nor will I spend a lot of time proofreading...just a fair warning.  So as always I’ll preface this whole blog with the standard disclaimer..

*Please Note*

The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed herein by the the author are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Sioux Falls Storm or the Indoor Football League, nor do they reflect official policies of the Sioux Falls Storm or the Indoor Football League.

Looking through this site I see that the last post I put up was in 2013, and my how much really hasn’t changed.  The Indoor Football League really needs to get over itself.  They operate the most expensive 50 yard american football league that doesn’t use rebound nets, and has had to fire not one, but two teams AFTER originally releasing the schedule back in October.  

Given the rather shady history of the indoor game, i’m actually impressed they pulled this off at all, let alone twice, and managed to keep all the home dates in tact for all the teams. Kudos on that.  However, here we are again, at a stagnant number of teams, in a league that has some serious western outposts.  Thankfully, we’ve added Billings (again) and Spokane to the mix since the last update so the fine folks in Tri-Cities that I’ve been trying to get rid of for years have a much easier travel budget.  

SO, in case you live under a rock, late in the 2015 season, the IFL announced that it was remaking its image and purpose from professional minor league to a “developmental” league designed to help players “move up”.  Now we could debate the various merits of moving to the Arena Football League, but there is also the outdoor Canadian Football League and of course the NFL.  One rule change that came along with the dramatic shift in league philosophy is a limit in the number of veteran players a team can have on their active game day roster.  Now, per usual the league has not publically issued the exact verbiage so I’m sure we’re just a roster audit away from some league shenanigans where SOME teams only have 7 veterans on their 25 man active roster, as opposed to the 21 man game day list.  I guess we’ll see.  

It’s a horse manure rule designed to limit the effectiveness of certain teams who have won themselves a lot of league championships with guys that have played 4, 5, 8 years...It’s also a thinly veiled attempt to cut costs, which is very odd in a league that allegedly only allows all of its teams to pay all of its players the exact same $225 a game.. but I digress.

It is what is is, and beating a dead horse, although inefficient, certainly feels good, but it’s time for me to move on.  Next up we have the feces fest that was the state of indoor football in the State of Minnesota this last year.  The Axemen out of Bemidji managed to finish the season , but shortly thereafter the GM resigned.  The local Pioneer newspaper chronicled the tales of a woebegone franchise here: http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/sports/3779705-axemen-trials-after-two-rough-seasons-bemidjis-first-professional-franchise-looks

Then in a November 23rd article it was revealed that they had not renewed their arena lease for 2016, the IFL announced their demise and a revised schedule the next day.  The press release, available here:

http://goifl.com/sports/fball/2014-15/releases/20151125qmoomw

states "The League has taken this proactive measure as a result of the Axemen organization failing to achieve operational standards and league commitments that are required of IFL member teams,"

SO, roughly translated, don’t try to run a substandard operation here, we expect professionalism.  Ok, that’s cool.. but if we’re being real that’s an extremely high standard for an indoor team to reach, and If i’m being honest, only about 10 teams in ALL of the Arena/Indoor world meet that standard.

Then we have the rise and fall of the Minnesota Havok.  The 2nd shortest tenure of all time in the IFL behind the Cheyenne Warriors.  They were announced in September, had signed indoor veteran Jose Jefferson as head coach and most of us hard core fans thought things looked like they just might work.. Then on December 28th, they team announced Jefferson was let go and a local semi-pro coach was hired.. sure signs of the impending doom which became official on January 30th.  The press release reads, in part ““As a result of the Havok organization failing to reach minimum IFL operational standards, the league has made the difficult decision to terminate the team’s membership,”  sounds vaguely like the Axemen release… but again the short story is they will not allow you to have a semi-pro organization in our league.  Reading between the lines based on commentary on Sioux Falls sports radio whose contacts in Mankato "weren't fit for air" things in Mankato were sketchy from jump, and doomed from the beginning. Which sort of begs the question about the vetting process to get into the IFL.

So, why do I say the league needs to get over themselves?  Well, as I fan I love to watch my team play.  Home or away, makes no difference to me.  Back in the original days of the IFL, we had teams in Omaha, Sioux City, and Wichita… places that, for me, are very cheap and easy to get to and watch the Storm play.  Those town still have teams, albeit in a league that requires a bit of a lesser product and professionalism.  In year one of the CPIFL I watched Salina and Wichita play to a PACKED Hartman Arena, and watched a very well run event, with two very talented and professional teams. I mused several time there HAD to be a way for the CPIFL to find some middle ground with the Sioux Falls, and Cedar Rapids of the world.  Let's make this a great regional league with great regional rivalries. It's past time, and the fans deserve better than what they're getting on both sides.

Things had dramatically dropped off by the time in season two of the CPIFL where I watched the scrubs that called themselves the Lincoln Haymakers attempt to play with a rather shabby bunch of players from Salina.  The level of game day operations in Salina was on par with anything I’d seen in the IFL, but the level of talent and professionalism on the field had taken a hit so noticeable, my wife said something about it.

For the 2015 season the CPIFL became the CIF after merging with the remnants of the Lone Star Football League, which was essentially the Intense Football League v3, a league based mainly in Texas and New Mexico.  For the first time ever a Texas based indoor team was actually competitive in a league with teams north of the Canadian River (which is central OK for those of you too lazy to Google it) . The Texas Revolution, run by good ole Tommy “Slappy B” Benizio former slimeball commissioner of the IFL who left during the 2012 season to run the aforementioned team, faced the Sioux City Bandits in the 2015 championship game in Sioux City.  I personally did not attend any games in 2015 but given that a championship game in Sioux City drew a measly 3700 paid attendance tells me everything I need to know.  

SO, the CIF or whatever it’s going by this year isn’t without its warts, but it has teams in geographic locations that would be very advantageous to the teams in the IFL.  If only the two leagues could meet some sort of middle ground as far is finances go.. yeah, I’d better pass that Dutchy on the left hand side…

So I don’t want to sound too bitter, but a decade following indoor football is bound to leave a sour taste in anyone's mouth.  The 2016 season is upon us, and in the IFL, we’re back to 10 teams, of which, eight make the playoffs for a three week playoff run ending in late July.  I suppose if at the end of last year you’d have told me we’d be swapping Bemidji for Spokane I’d have taken it in half a heartbeat, so here we are.  

TexXx’s 2016 kinda too early predictions:

United Conference

1. Sioux Falls
2. Cedar Rapids
3. Iowa
4. Green Bay
5. Wichita Falls

Intense Conference

1. Nebraska
2. Billings
3. Colorado
4. Tri-Cities
5. Spokane

I can’t guarantee a weekly update, but it was excellent therapy back in the glory days, so maybe...maybe not.  I’ve still got the login credentials for the old IFL Fan Talk blogtalkradio account, and they still work, so maybe I’ll find someone to do a podcast or two with… guess we’ll have to see what the interest level is.