Brain Droppings

*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.

“The best laid schemes of mice and men” the Robert Burns saying goes… “often go awry” and so too do the best intentions of the off again, on...well, let’s be honest, off again indoor football blogger in me.   The 2016 Indoor Football League season has crept into its penultimate week, and I’ve nary a scheduled pitstop made.  I won’t bore you with the facts of the season, the playoff races, and all that. “Jim” over on the Indoor Football Forum group on Facebook/Twitter does a WAY better job of keeping up with things than I could ever hope to.  I sometimes think the guy never sleeps.  So what you’re about to read is a massive brain dropping of my thoughts and feelings about everything that’s gone on since I last posted.  

To the absolute shock of absolutely no one, the Sioux Falls Storm are, once again, leading the league in attendance, and wins.  But there aren’t the same numbers as last year.  Then I began to watch highlights from the other games and saw Sioux Falls isn’t the only one having troubles getting butts in seats.  It’s.. well... everywhere.. Iowa had a couple thousand, maybe, if I squinted and give them the benefit of the doubt for an in-state game against Cedar Rapids a week ago.  Sure, the Barnstormers were eliminated from the playoffs, but this is your rival from a few hours away.. Surely some fans from Cedar Rapids made the trip to boost numbers.. But sadly It didn’t look that way.  We’ve read articles in the Spokane newspaper about how Sho...err...Empire attendance is down by close to 50%... I’m neither a mathematician, nor an accountant, but that can’t be good for the bottom line.  

So what happened?  Could this possibly be the karmic repercussions of rule changes that switched the entire focus of a sports league?  I mean, surely there was one person on the Titanic that was like.. “I tried to tell them about that bleeping iceberg, but nooo.. No one listens to the people that actually watch for things like that”  Karma, maybe.. Has the sport finally jumped the shark...probably.  

For the most part, I think people don’t like developmental leagues.  There are a lot of markets that suffer from what I’ve called “D1 syndrome” where if it’s not top shelf, it’s crap.  This is why, attendance in every league that's attempted 100 yard professional “outdoor” American Football has been lackluster. The competitiveness, the athleticism, the quality could all be top notch, but no wants to see Bubby Brister throw passes to Chad Johnson if you know what I mean.  

There could be a lot more to the drop in attendance across the board, but to me that’s certainly part of it.  I know even my diehard interest has waned.  When I spend more time commenting during games about the Colorado kicker wearing the biggest thigh pads on the field (no lie) and telling the Colorado kick coverage team that black shoes don’t match navy pants.  Something about your product is flawed.  

SO, here is an incomplete list of incomplete thoughts about why he IFL sucks.

1. Veteran Rule. It’s led to sloppy penalty filled games, and an overall drop in the quality of the play.  It isn't until after most players have given up the hope of ever making the NFL that they truly become great indoor players.  They adapt their games to the field size, they make full use of their charisma with the proximity of the fans, and they actually start to care about something larger than themselves.  In Sioux Falls names like Blackburn, Bryant, Fluit, and Murphy, are used with reverence and without first names, because none are needed.  But we also would recognize Mark, Terrance, Nate and Leif on the street, and more importantly they’d recognize us.  
2. The games take TOO damn long:  This is probably more a Sioux Falls specific problem, but it sucks. 90,000 in game promotions, an inexplicable 20 minute halftime (that’s actually normally closer to 30 on my watch, and yes I've timed it, twice) and a kickoff that used to happen at 7:05 like clockwork is now more of a casual 7:18ish kind of thing.  You know, whenever… Surely the mom and 4 kids behind me can stay out until 11. I’ve heard talk of moving the games up to 6:05 or even worse, shortening the games to 12 minute quarters.. Yes.. let's shorten the ONE THING most of us came to see, and use timing rules these guys haven’t played since HIGH SCHOOL… Instead, how’s about we simply work to improve the pace of play.. 20 second play clock, since the refs can’t spot the ball with any urgency anyways. “Professional” on field staff.. I love the “promo girls” as much as the next guy, but the refs need to get the ball to get it spotted.  12 minute halftime.  The NFL uses this number and it seems to work for them.  I’ll even allow 15 for teams without a ton of media timeouts.
3. Geography: I love the fans that have driven and or flown all the way from Washington state to Sioux Falls for a game. Heck, I love ALL fans that come to Sioux Falls and watch games.  They stop by the tailgates, take pictures, talk football, and oddly, occasionally,  genealogy.  They bring cheese. They’ve brought local craft beer from their home towns, and footballs missing an entire panel. It sickens me that I have to drive past two indoor football markets that are still semi thriving to get to our closest road games in Des Moines, and Grand Island (4.5 hours each)  The level of professionalism and talent  isn’t the same between the CIF and the IFL.  It’s noticeable.  But you know, I’m not a “D1 Syndrome” guy, and the Wichita v Sioux City game over Memorial Day weekend was damn entertaining.  First, because dear God Chuck Wright is still playing football.  He’s 35.  He’s only slightly younger than his head coach.  Hell, I think they played together.. For sure against one another..anyways.. Second, it was a damn entertaining game.  Just as entertaining as anything Sioux Falls has been involved in over the last decade.  I know, it’s never going to happen… the bridges are burnt, scorched, demolished.. But man what a nice fan and travel  friendly league it would be with Wichita, Sioux Falls, Sioux City, Dodge City, Salina, Chicago, Bloomington, Grand Island, Omaha, Green Bay, Cedar Rapids and Des Moines... pass the dutchy on the left hand side
4. The players suck too.  No, not all of them.. But enough of them.  I’m not talking about their athletic ability.  Lord knows they’ve forgotten more football than I ever knew, and a good chunk of them we’re just born the last time I put on a helmet and shoulder pads.  But there are far fewer entertaining players than there used to be.  They’re all still trying to move up… trying to get the CFL tryout, that slightly bigger AFL check maybe.  They aren’t looking to make business connection, or find a home in Sioux Falls, or Green Bay, or Des Moines… it’s a different time...a different league…a different player.
5. Eversport…aka IFLLIve.tv you wanted me to PAY $110 dollars for a season of games that by all the 3rd hand accounts I've heard have barely worked.. No thanks.. Not when I can watch the CIF games, and listen worldwide to the audio streams for free.. Sure, I get what I pay for, and the ole Silver Fox ain’t as smooth as he used to be.  But hey, I’m not out any money for a substandard product either.  There’s a line in the movie The Shawshank Redemption…”Get busy livin, or get busy dying..” time the IFL did the same with its attempt at streaming its games.  Make training for team or arena staff that’s responsible for this mandatory, or just quit it altogether and save the time and effort.  

As for the league itself.. Well, in my opinion, things aren’t looking good.. Attendance in Billings, Colorado, Wichita Falls, Cedar Rapids and Des Moines is at a level that can’t possibly be making the wallets of those ownership groups happy.  Oh but wait.. Our saviors out of Utah… the FANchise.. Now, officially known as the Utah Screaming Eagles have signed on to compete in the IFL for the 2017 season.  The more I read, the less enthused I become.  Sure, these are smart businessmen by all accounts, and it looks like they might have the financial wherewithal to make a serious go of it.  But this notion of crowdsourcing teams names, an app to call plays, and not all fans being created equal, and some of the other things I’ve read..  I’m not buying any of it.  Seems like a sham at best, and a scan at the worst.   

So there you have it folks. A barely proofread, largely incoherent, completely grammar free rant.  Slainte!

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.  

An IFL Full of Cheaters

This morning a former IFL coach that i respect and admire had some public comments about the continued allegations of rampant league wide payroll violations.    I felt compelled to issue this as a response.

I'm game for a good rant this morning.  Swallowed too much ool water... (Notice no p, keep it that way, k?)  
The Storm are not alone... The only ones that suffer in the entire debacle are the fans.  You won't raise the player’s pay scale but yet you continue to force teams to travel to Kennewick, WA for 7 games a year.  You also force fans that choose to travel to road games to drive right past venues for teams that you used to play but have chosen to look after their bottom line and disassociate themselves with teams that are doing what Coach just talked about.   You can spin the PR any way you want, tell us they couldn't compete on the field so they took their ball and went home or, perhaps they got tired of ever escalating travel costs.  Mr. Scott and Mr. Hartman didn’t make their collective fortunes needlessly spending money in their businesses.  
If the money from just one trip out to Tri-Cities, WA were split amongst the players…I’m sure they would appreciate it. 

Another way the IFL as a league has failed the fans is with transparency.  Prior to last year I had NO idea that a third party letting a player use a car was against league rules.  Was I unwittingly violating league policy by letting an unnamed player use my car to run to the grocery store in my car?  Was giving him a ride home from the bar considered “additional compensation?”  I also know the Sioux Falls is not the only place where things like that go on. 
I understand the desire to keep your operations manual close to the vest, but there are a lot of things that are best opened up for public consumption, you know like playoff tiebreaker rules being published in the BEGINNING of the season. 
Some teams have needlessly spent untold thousands of dollars in the sake of being competitive.  Sure, everyone loves a winner, but if you can’t make it with your core group of fans and sponsors, minor league sports is the wrong line of work for you. 
OK, so there’s that rant.. now allow me to spend a small amount of time playing devil’s advocate from a historical perspective. 

NONE of the 4 major American professional sports leagues were built up on the idea of a level playing field from a salary standpoint.  Hell the Packers had to issue stock in the team, making them the first and to date only publically owned major professional sports franchise simply to stay solvent in the 1920’s, and then again in the 1950’s.    This notion of fairness and a level payroll playing field is really in its infancy in the history of American professional sports.  Team come and they go until you find area’s where the niche sport catches on.  The NFL was like this in the 1920’s.  There are close to 50 now defunct NFL teams from that era. 
If we are to accurately compare the birth and expansion of a sport one must look WAY further back into history.  For baseball we’re talking the late 1800’s.  Let us also not forget that American Football was also very much a niche sport, bordering on minor league until the mid 1950’s, some 3 decades after it began to be played professionally. 

The AFL (the outdoor league in the 60’s), and the USFL became popular and drive the NFL to up its game why? Money.  They, if even for a brief time out spent the NFL teams who were purposely keeping salaries down, to open up their pocketbooks.  Even in modern collective bargaining the leagues teams have refused to let the players see the books.  To get a really good look at how badly they’re getting jobbed.

Time to Pack Our Bags

____________________________________________________________________________

Indoor football, like life, is cyclical.  Leagues come and go, teams come and go and players come and go.  The only constant is change.  Rarely is the change for the good, but it’s change nonetheless.  If we narrow our historical focus studying indoor football to the 8 man 50 yard variety played in something resembling an arena, without rebound nets, then the history only goes back to 1998.  In that time three professional leagues stand out for having any sort of longevity.  The National Indoor Football League from 2001 to 2006, United Indoor Football 2005-2008, and the second coming of the Indoor Football League 2009-present.  These leagues, as you can see, last roughly 4 to 5 years before they implode, sometimes spectacularly like the NIFL.  

Anyone like me that can handle 3^rd grade math in our heads has figured out that based on history alone, the Indoor Football league is doomed.  Couple that with the fact that the current league spread from Wisconsin to Washington state, and from South Dakota to Texas.  All that real estate and the league has only NINE teams.    The IFL have had recent press releases claiming expansion to twelve teams for the 2014 season, but I for one am not going to hold my breath.  I kind of like oxygen as it turns out.  

Throughout my last decade following indoor football and specifically the Sioux Falls Storm, I’ve met some great people, and some not so great.  Every arena has “those” fans, and “those” fans have ranged from 9 to 90 years old.  But it was one of those great fans (and the coincidence of a Storm road game and Mother’s Day) that landed me in the Hartman Arena just outside Wichita, Kansas the other night to watch former Indoor Football league member Wichita Wild take on foes from 90 miles up the road in the Salina Bombers in a Champions Indoor Football League (CPIFL) matchup.  

Ah, what it must be like to have a team only 90 miles away.  That seems like it would be a lot of fun, and it seems like it would make travel for the team cheap and easy.  It’s also an away game that the fans of a visiting team could make.    I remember the good ole days when the Storm had TWO teams in the same league as them that were less than a three hour drive away.  Those days are long gone, and given the history between ownership groups in Sioux Falls and Sioux City, likely to never happen again.  

 It’s too bad really.  Between the skyrocketing costs of travel in the IFL, and the Storm’s dominance on and off the field, owners that knew they wanted a smaller budget to get ends closer to meeting, and that actually wanted to compete jumped ship to the CPIFL.  So far, by the extraordinarily low bar set by the dozens of now defunct, or soon to be defunct leagues the CPIFL has had a phenomenal year.  The have played all of their scheduled games, and there are few of the normal shenanigans that plague leagues at this level.  

The CPIFL does a few things drastically different than the IFL.  First, player compensation is a bit more transparent than the IFL, where the claims are players only make $200 a game.   But many people doubt that every team pays their players only that.  So much so that I’m often reminded of a story Ronald Reagan is often credited with telling, about a boy with eternal optimism, that his father wanted cured.  He took him to a doctor, and the doctor took his patient into a room filled with a mountain of horse dung. "This is for you." The doctor told him. With that, the boy smiled, so wide he could have eaten a banana sideways. Excited, he raced to the top of the mountain of manure, where, with his bare hands, he began digging into the pungent heap. Baffled, the doctor and the parents looked at one another quizzically, "Son," the father asked." What in heaven's name do you think you're doing?"

"Well", the boy replied, "with all this horse dung, I figure there's got to be a pony in there somewhere!"

The CPIFL requires most of its players for live within 125 miles of their home team.  This is obviously a bit flexible, but the idea is to reduce or eliminate the costs of housing most of your 25 man roster.  The players can get reimbursed for mileage to and from practice and games.   This rule is in place so that teams focus on bringing in local talent rather than forcing them to recruit from all over.  It’s not a perfect science based of the rosters I saw, but for the most part it seems to work.  The base salary for the players game checks is also lower with $125 per game being the figure I’ve seen the most.  And, with all of this frugality, the play on the field was barely distinguishable from what I’m accustomed to in the IFL.  Perhaps we’ve wasted a lot of money trying to win games to save a fan base that really didn’t need saving. 

The league currently consists of ten teams, the Wichita Wild, Omaha Beef, Sioux City Bandits, Salina (KS) Bombers, Kansas City Renegades, Bloomington Edge, Lincoln Haymakers, Oklahoma Defenders, Kansas Koyotes, and the Mid-Missouri Outlaws.  Of these, four have spent time in the same league as the Storm in the past.  From talking with Wild fans at the pre-game tailgate it’s obvious to them that three teams are in danger of not being around next season, Mid-Missouri, Kansas (Topeka) and Kansas City all have little fan support, and are not very good on the field.  

It would be nice if lining up to fill those fictitiously vacated spots would be three current IFL teams that have enjoyed strong fan support  this season with Sioux Falls, Nebraska, and Cedar Rapids.   All three of these teams fit very nicely within the confines of the current CPIFL footprint.  They also give distinct advantages to at least one other team in the league. In this fictitious league Omaha, for example, would have four teams within 3 hours.  How’s that for tidying up the travel budget?  

So here’s one fans plea.  A wish that next season is all about the fan experience, and the bottom line.  Let’s leave past transgressions in the past, and place the ego’s aside, and play by the rules for the betterment of the entire sport.  Let’s renew regional rivalries, re-kindle old hatreds, and impassion fan bases.    Let’s do this, otherwise the harsh reality is that I don’t see the Sioux Falls Storm making it over to the shiny new arena for the 2015 season.

*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.

The Curse of TexXx

2015-1-18 Update
The Packers just blew a 12 point lead in the NFc Championship Game in 3 minutes plus OT....
April 2014, TexXx visited Lambeau, again.. the Pack never had a chance...

Last night the Green Packers lost a football game in a crazy, bizarre fashion.  Sad Packer Fan Casey Lewis blames her "cursed" Clay Matthews jersey.  Then I suddenly realized.. It's all my fault.  Sorry Cheeseheads, I wasn't even thinking...

As a senior in high school the eldest son of my defensive coordinator was an assistant coach at the University of Houston during the Run & Shoot hey day... He had arranged for the seniors to watch UH play the Aggies of Texas A&M.  My buddy Anthony and I arrived late, found out way in through an administrative gate, and got led down to the field level.  walked through the actual Oilers locker room, made a right turn (Seen here at :55) and walked out of the players tunnel on to the floor of the Houston Astrodome during player warmups.  A trip and a tunnel I hoped to see again in a few weeks in the playoffs.  It was not to be.  We lost in the first round... Oh... What does that have to do with the Packers... The Oilers lost in the playoffs that season too.. To Buffalo..after being up 35-3

Fast forward to 2008.  The final season in the history of storied Texas Stadium.  As a life long Cowboys fan I had to go. I had to see the place where Danny White (odd first choice in this list, I know), Troy Aikman, Emmit Smith, Michael Irvin had played.  The tickets were bought, the plane tickets, stadium tour and hotel were booked.  Two weeks before I visit, Tony Romo breaks his thumb in a crazy, wild game in Arizona where the Cardinals won, in overtime on a blocked punt.  Backup Brad Johnson beat Tampa the day I went, but the Cowboys finished 9-7 and out of the playoffs.

Three years later, while visiting Kansas City I toured Arrowhead Stadium, the home of the then defending AFC West Champs.  Well for those that don't recall, last season the Chiefs lost running back Jamaal Charles on opening day, and slogged to a lackadaisical 7-9 record, and out of the playoffs.

Ok, now I've got Cheeseheads everywhere nervous.  and rightfully so.  In May, while in Green Bay for an indoor football game, I toured Lambeau...

2012 - *insert catchy marketing slogan here*

*Please Note*
The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the the author are the authors 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.

______________________________________
As an on again, off again sports blogger covering the winningest franchise in the sport and an indoor football addict and forum junkie for closing in on 8 years now, I’ve said a lot. Some of it on point and accurate, some of it way off base in the heat of the moment after a trade, a loss, a signing, etc. Some of it has been mindless angry ramblings about nothing of any substance. I’ve said things that people wholeheartedly agreed with, and things that people in certain positions have just laughed at, or taken personally, and I have even made a few people angry. Sometimes, those things were in the same blogs... but I digress. I’ve inadvertently made myself infamous in the tiny little circle that is indoor football, and even more infamous, perhaps even hated, inside the smaller circle that is the Sioux Falls Storm’s portion of that circle.


So at some point I said that Chris Dixon is ruining the Storm, and I meant it, but hear me out. It would be foolish to state, without any insider knowledge, that arguably the best quarterback indoor football has ever seen is actually causing any damage to one of the oldest franchises the sport has. He is, however the face of the “New Storm”.

The Storm built their tradition and first dynasty on the backs of guys who played at colleges that don’t exist anymore (Huron University, Huron, SD), local guys who played college ball in town, or just up (or down) the road a ways. I’d have to look at a stat sheet to verify this, but I’m thinking that in the 2005 UIF title game there were three starters who didn’t go to college nearby. (Mike Lawson, Ryan Terry, and Terrance Bryant)

The current Storm roster (based on goifl.com transaction reports) has a grand total of 5 guys from local and area colleges.

Cory Johnsen (St. Cloud State)
Blake Wilson (Southwest Minnesota State)
Parker Douglass (South Dakota State)
Lorenzo Brown (University of Sioux Falls)
General Parnell (South Dakota State)
Clinton Solomon (University of Iowa)

And, given the IFL’s new 25 man (down from 30) roster, I’d say it’s a long shot that Blake and General make the squad.

What this means, to me, is that the Storm have changed... when, in fact, the whole league has changed. The dynamics that move the needle these days are dramatically different than what they were 3, 5, or 7 years ago. Are these players looking to make Sioux Falls their homes? Do they want to become members of the community, or are they just transient entertainers here for a gig hoping they can become the next Fred Jackson?

Storm beat writer Matt Zimmer touched on the NBA D-League side of this same discussion here http://mattyzimmer.tumblr.com/post/17197894952/malcolm-lee-and-the-decline-of-skyforce-fever
While I certainly hope what has happened to the Skyforce does not happen to the Storm, it bears watching.

I’ve made no secret that I’ve traveled, a lot, to follow the Storm these past few years. I don’t wish to claim myself as their number 1 fan. I’ll reserve that title for folks who can offer more consistently positive support.

At some point, I started caring about the guys who wore the jerseys a bit more than the actual (ever changing) jerseys themselves, and that has made the travel much more worth it. I’ve gotten to visit the Oklahoma City bombing memorial (a trip I encourage everyone to make). I’ve gotten to visit Fort Collins, Colorado and met a great BBQ restaurant owner in Wichita, Kansas. I’ve had the distinct privilege of visiting such exotic locales as Grand Island, NE and Sioux City, IA and soaking up the wonderful local flavor of their fanbases.

So, having said all of that we come back to what role Dixon plays in my eyes to this team. He is without a doubt the singular most skilled quarterback to play the game to date. He has a canon for an arm and can light of unsuspecting defenses for 7 TD’s and 300 yards, or depending on the schematics of the gameplan become a game manager. He can pick up first downs with his feet, and has posterized many a defender in the process. But, he is a victim of unfortunate placement along the indoor football evolution timeline. He’s an indoor football lifer, much like those that came to the Storm before him, apparently lacking some unseen factor that’s kept them from getting real serious looks at higher levels of play.

Chris arrived with the Storm through a complicated set of circumstances that involve a tornado on father’s day, and a ruined arena in Billings, and the subsequent folding of the Outlaws franchise, and his own desire to take his football career in a new direction. He was THE arch enemy of a team he now leads. You’ll have to forgive some of us that have been really slow to warm up to him. Heck I wasn’t sold on Terrance Bryant until the end of the 2006 season, and during his and the team’s struggles in 2005 was ready to sell him on eBay.

So, yeah I’ve been critical of Chris. I’ve wondered aloud why suddenly after 13 games of brilliant play his production suddenly and dramatically dropped off. Now, I don’t have enough time to sift through game film and see if the change was a schematic one. Meaning, Coach Riggs knew his defense was so good, all we needed Dixon to do was not make mistakes and we’d win going away, so called the game accordingly. It’s completely possible that’s the case, and in that vein I applaud Dixon for being a team player, not worrying about his personal stats and playing the game Riggs called. However he himself admitted that at some point during the playoffs his house in Billings almost burned down. It would take someone not human to be able to focus 100% on football after that. So if he was a bit distracted, so be it, these things happen.

Chris has become the defacto face of the organization. He’s the marketing piece. He is the Storm. A Storm roster filled with superstars pulled from other teams like himself, and Randy Kelly and Clinton Soloman from Wichita. He’s the leader of a team with precious few guys with local ties. There is no Corey Walker, Nate Fluit, Casey Veenhof, or Austin Flyger on this team. There isn’t a Shannon Poppinga, a Mark Blackburn nor a Justin Landis on the team. We’ve had guys come through in passing, Matt Lien for example, and we still have Lorenzo Brown, Parker Douglass, and Blake Wilson… You would think from a marketing stand point landing Tyler Schulte would be huge…But I don’t run the team, and I don’t know Tyler’s plans. I do know that when local legend Jake Sharp signed up in Wichita, people came to watch him play, regardless of the Wild’s record.

So, Is Dixon ruining the Storm? In reality no, I’m sure he will lead us again to lots of wins, passing yards and touchdowns. Is he the face of a team that this fan is struggling to connect with? Definitely.