Dave’s Football Blog

A quick note from the road, just in case you decided to visit this blog after I told you that I’m not liveblogging the draft…

Someone emailed me yesterday to ask how he might follow the NFL Draft on his non-Sprint phone. The best advice I can give you is to point your crappy little phone browser here:

http://wap.oa.yahoo.com/

Then pick “Sports > NFL.” Yahoo’s feed has AP headlines, and AP should have the draft listings.

If you’re on a Treo like me, go to Swkeezer and enter nfl.com/draft into the address bar. That should be enough to get the most current picks, though you should make friends with page reloading. Oh, and don’t trust ESPN’s mobile site. They’ll tell you that Houston surprised almost everyone by signing Mario Williams instead of Reggie Bush, but their draft ticker still shows last year’s picks. Even the Raleigh Rebels’ web site is updated more often than that.

One more indoor football story before I roll into the weekend — and there was no way I was going to pass on this doozy. This should give you an idea of how at least one team in the National Indoor Football League rolls:

Montgomery Maulers owner Jamie LaMunyon had an emphatic response to her players’ demand for back wages: You’re fired.

LaMunyon said she will field a replacement team for the National Indoor Football League game at Osceola, Fla., on Friday, and next week at home.

“I have cut all the football players,” she told the Montgomery Advertiser in a story Thursday. “Fans will see a whole new team next week in Montgomery. Maybe they can win a game.”

The mass firings came after four Maulers held a news conference at a local attorney’s office Wednesday saying the team wouldn’t travel to Osceola if LaMunyon didn’t pay money they claimed she owed them.

Attorney Donald Jackson said some players were owed as much as $800 or $1,000 and the average was about $650.

“In all my years of a sports-based legal practice, I have never seen anything quite like this,” Jackson said. “But it’s not really surprising. The owners of this team are apparently in dire financial straits. Whether you call this a termination or a refusal to pay, it’s all the same. What she’s doing now is grasping at straws.”

LaMunyon disputed the players’ claims that some have not been paid for as long as four or five weeks.

So that’s, what, about $200 to $250 a week? Yeah, keep those day jobs, guys.

Here’s the recap for last night’s Raleigh Rebels v. Richmond Bandits game. The box score link, however, goes to a completely different game. I don’t know who’s doing the web work for the AIFL, but they should get their money back. Any sports league worth its salt really needs to get its Internet presence together.

Granted, they’re doing better than the Raleigh Rebels’ web site, which is in desperate need of a content update…

Here’s how indoor football makes fans: I paid five bucks to get into Dorton Arena and watch this football game, and I walked out with an official AIFL game ball, which was spiked by the Rebel’s best player after he scored one of his three touchdowns and floated right into my hand. Five bucks.

The cheapest football on NFLShop.com is $15, and the new official game ball is $90. Hell, an official Arena Football game ball is $80.

This sort of thing makes me more inclined to go back to the Big Taco for another game next month. Maybe I’ll ask for press credentials next time. I’m sure this league and all the teams in it will take any publicity they can get…

Indoor football downplays the running game in favor of passing and quick scoring. It always has. That said, the Rebels could have used a guy like Richmond running back Brandon Isaiah last night. Isaiah made several big runs and was crucial in helping Richmond run out the clock in the last few minutes. I hear Ricky Williams is free these days. If that doesn’t fill an AIFL arena, nothing will…

I wonder if those guys out on the field last night dream about moving up to the AFL or even AF2 after this. Lots of AFL QBs probably dream of being the next Kurt Warner, but I suspect that a significantly smaller number think about becoming the next Aaron Garcia or Clint Dolezel. Arena ball salaries aren’t very high; the average AFL player makes $40,000 a year, and very few crack $100,000 a year. Imagine how low the salaries are for these smaller indoor leagues. You really have to love the game to stay in it at this level…

While the low-budget nature of a Raleigh Rebels game is part of its charm, I’d really like to see the AFL re-do its TV contracts and go back to starting the season in April instead of February. That’s what drove the Carolina Cobras out of Raleigh in the first place; February was the middle of hockey season, and the RBC Center had to give the Carolina Hurricanes priority over Arena Football. The Cobras folded after a season in Charlotte, and I’m sorry I missed them when they were here…

I wonder how many of these indoor leagues can sustain themselves over the long haul. Most of these NIFL and AIFL teams probably struggle to break even. You have to think there will be more mergers and more teams shifting leagues in the next five years. Perhaps some regional patterns will emerge, and I’ll actually get to go see the Rebels play the Fayetteville Guard or the Greensboro Revolution. Regional rivalries will do more to build these leagues than anything else…

That’s enough for now. The NFL Draft is still on for tomorrow, and lots of folks are liveblogging it. I won’t be, but I’m sure I’ll have something to say about it on Monday. Until then, I’m road-tripping. See you next week.

A tough loss for the home team tonight, as the Bandits exploded in the fourth and ran out the clock in the last two minutes. The Rebels fall to 6-3 and find themselves behind both Richmond and Rome. I have no idea how the AIFL playoffs work, but Raleigh has some catching up to do.

Overall, though, I had fun. I got a souvenir, I got a picture with a Reb Belle - thanks, Rachel! - and we all got to see a few really good catches. The refs really need to ease up on the flags, though. Penalties killed the flow of the game.

If I’m a scout for the AFL, I’m keeping an eye on Rebels wideout Lavell Bailey. He may make it out of the minors and into… the higher minors. And I’m not just saying that because he spiked a ball in my direction. Kid’s got some skills.

I may have to come back to the Big Taco for another game. In the meantime, though, I’ve got to find the men’s room…

But mostly for the gentlemen.

The kickers are having fun hitting this poor, defenseless scoreboard on extra points. The crowd loves it, too. They’re shouting, “Scoreboard! Scoreboard!” at the kickers.

Richmond went on a scoring frenzy in the 4th. With 2:53 left, it’s now 49-40. Raleigh needs a turnover here…

And the blogger gets a souvenir…

Dawn and her friend, unimpressed, left early, so Albert and I moved up a few rows at the start of the 3rd, then he went to go get a beer. Two plays later, Lavell Bailey caught another TD pass, did a dance and spiked the ball. It proceeded to float in the air above me for a few seconds, and I somehow managed to bring it in with my right hand while holding the Treo with my left.

Albert came back a few minutes later with drinks — a beer for him and a Coke for me. He saw me with the ball, said something about these seats being his call and said, “In THAT case, that’ll be two dollars for this Coke! Plus tax!”

Meanwhile, Rebels QB David Malino ran it in for another TD after seeing the field open wide in front of him. Raleigh missed the extra point, and the Bandits came back with a TD to start the 4th. This one could go down to the wire…

The kid in the orange shirt won a halftime dance contest by being first to do the worm. As for the Reb Belles, the picture is terrible, but trust me, they’re too good for this league. They should be AF2, at least.

Just when things start looking bleak for the hometown team, the defense gets a key 4th down stop deep in their own territory, and with less than a minute to go, David Malino fires a 40-yard strike to Sammy Henderson to tie it up at 21. Sammy and the O-line proceeded to do a dance together in the end zone. They can’t do that in the NFL. I like this league already.

A Rebels sack fired up the crowd, but Richmond quieted it down with a 33-yard TD on the next play. Raleigh had one more chance in the half with 14 seconds left, but they were unable to convert.

Brandon Isaiah is the running back for Richmond. His mom is sitting in the stands behind us. She wasn’t happy when her boy gave the ball to a friend instead of her after a TD.

Y’know, I kind of like it in here. It’s ghetto, but it’s a good time. More pictures in the 2nd half…

“Dorton brings it raw,” says Albert, and he’s not kidding. This is about as minor league as football gets. A few of the Rebels have friends in the stands. They’re getting on the players’ cases for dropping sure interceptions.

One guy who’s not dropping balls? Lavell Bailey. This kid has some pass-catching skills. You may see him in an AFL game one day.

Richmond isn’t having much trouble moving the ball. I can see why they won it all last year. They’re woofing like the top dogs, too. This could be a long night for the Rebels. Good thing the cheerleaders are hot…