Heart of a champion? Not on the Express team.

The Reading Express got out to a 21-6 lead in the first quarter of their semifinal game against the Canton Legends. After that, the Express took their foot off the gas pedal and off the collective neck of the Legends, allowing them to take a 27-24 halftime lead. That was alright, I mean the Express were going to get the ball first in the second half, so things were going to be alright, right? WRONG. The Express came out looking like they did back in week one. Tom Stetzer was throwing up prayers and overthrowing passes. Receivers dropped balls, and the defense was on the field so much that they ultimately caved. Twice in the third quarter, the Express had excellent opportunities to score and take the lead, but didn't. Eventually, the Express players were worn down and shutout, 17-0 in the second half. The players on the bench were leaning over the boards, exhausted and noone was talking. There was noone on that team being a vocal leader or anything, which leads me to believe this team didn't have the heart of a champion. They just kind of gave up in the second half. Eric Rockhold, who is usually reliable for several rouges and anywhere from 12-15 points per game, missed several field goals and had no rouges. He scored six points. Give credit to the Legends for never giving up and for their offensive line constantly breaking down Stetzer's pocket, but the Express pretty much gave up in the end. Even with the defense creating opportunities, Reading couldn't take advantage. The Legends will represent well in the American Bowl against either Rome or Raleigh.

BREAKING NEWS: Canton Legends Advance to American Bowl

Tonight (Thursday) in a not-so-surprising upset, the Canton Legends defeated the Reading Express 44-24 and will advance to the AIFL Championship game the American Bowl. Canton will either host the game if Raleigh upsets Rome on Monday night for the Southern Conference Championship.

Raleigh and Rome play Monday night at 7PM in Rome. Should Rome win, they will host the championship game.

Indoor Fan was at the game in Reading and will have a full report later.

Tupelo next on AIFL list

Tupelo, Mississippi is next on the expansion list for the American Indoor Football League. The Northeast Mississippi Journal is reporting that the AIFL will hold ownership of the team until an owner steps forward (usually how it happens) but the article is an intersting read. This caught my eye:

"The feedback was so positive on this league," said Skinner, who did his homework, contacting AIFL facility directors and owners.

Skinner is the director of the BancorpSouth Center in Tupelo. Who exactly did he call again? And the article also begins with a gleaming note and certainly would draw any pro team to town. It speaks for itself...

Tupelo's not a pro sports town, but darn if we don't keep trying to be one.

Oh boy! Here we go again. Remember, te AIFL wants to expand to 24 teams for the 2007 season. One has already defected which leaves them with 15. Add Tupelo and Danville and they are up to 17 with only seven more to go.

Opps!

Well, Jim Terry is at it again. Spreading more rumors, but then again, that is all he is really good for. Terry stated in a Tribune Chronicle article that three AIFL teams were joining his "EIFL:" Miami Valley, Steubenville, and Huntington.

The Eastern Indoor Football League, which consists of the HitMen, the Bay City Brawlers (New Jersey) and 3 Rivers Rats (Pittsburgh-Monroeville, Pa.), have established franchises such as Huntington (W.Va.), Steubenville, Miami Valley (Dayton-Troy) and Cincinnati looking at joining the league, Terry said.

Well, he's wrong on all three, and the Miami Valley Silverbacks issued a statement today, posted below.

(Troy,OH)—The Miami Valley Silverbacks, Northern League members of the American Indoor Football League (AIFL), have no plans to join the Eastern Indoor Football League (EIFL) and deny public claims made by Jim Terry, general manager and coach of the Mahoning Valley HitMen.

“The Silverbacks have no plans to join the EIFL,” stated Jeff Kolaczkowski, owner and president of both the Miami Valley Silverbacks and Steubenville Stampede. “As you can imagine, we were quite surprised to see this erroneous information in the media.”

Kolaczkowski was referring to a news article that appeared in Monday’s Mahoning Valley Tribune-Chronicle. The article focuses on Terry’s new indoor football team that will play in the Mahoning Valley area. A portion of the article, a direct quote from Terry, states that Steubenville, Miami Valley and Huntington, also an AIFL team, will join the EIFL for the 2007 season.

“I spoke with the ownership at Huntington this morning and they were equally shocked at the information,” continued Kolaczkowski. “I’m not sure where this information came from but I want to assure our fans that the Silverbacks, Stampede and Heroes have no plans to join the EIFL.”

ArenaCup in San Juan?!

The AF2 has announced that the ArenaCup will be held in San Juan, Peurto Rico for this season and the next. It appears that the league has forgotten about its fans, with this slap in the face. Roundtrip airfare is incredibly expensive for most fans that don't live in Florida and going out of the country for a championship game is relatively unrealistic for most. The AF2 is putting the game in San Juan because they want a team there eventually, and of course, none of the owners will be paying their own way to the game. So how do we fix it? Let's bring back the "old school" playoff system, where the team with the best record hosts the ArenaCup! Or at least put the game in a reasonable neutral site, such as Las Vegas or Oklahoma City.

Unfortunately, it looks like we will never return to the old system. The AF2 has lost sight of the fans that made this league and its teams popular. One thing is for sure: these next two ArenaCups were not planned with the fans in mind and will not be in the least fan friendly. Shame on the AF2 for making such a selfish decision.

The NIFL's lawsuit

As many of you know, the NIFL has filed suit against the UIF, IFL, APFL, and AIFL for violaitng the patent that Carolyn Shiver holds on indoor football. Well it seems that Andrew Haines and the AIFL don't think their league is worth fighting for, as they have given in to the demands of the NIFL. They will apparently change their rouge rule and will pay the fines as per the lawsuit. Meanwhile, the UIF is getting the venue changed from Louisiana, which will is a delay tactic that will cost Ms. Shiver more money. The IFL and APFL will battle the lawsuit in court and people on Danthefan.com are saying that the judge is heavily in favor of the APFL and IFL already. I mean, how can a league that has been listed as having "questionable business practices" even begin to file a lawsuit against another league? It's ridiculous. Perhaps Carolyn is so miserable with her failure of a league that she has to make everyone else miserable. A "if I can't have it, noone will" kind of attitude. Hopefully all involved in this lawsuit will see that the NIFL is incredibly unstable and is quickly falling apart. Why, just this past weekend we had 5 forfeits. That's 10 teams and half the scheduled games.

Of course, a good number of the NIFL's teams are replacements or semipro teams. Tennessee, Montgomery, Dayton, West Palm Beach, Big Sky, Lincoln/St. Joseph, and Twin City have all had or still have replacement players. How can you honestly run a league like this? The competitive balance is an absolute joke. Four times the winning team has scored over 100 points on one of these replacements. That doesn't even begin to touch the several 74-14 or 90-8 scores that we see week in and week out. Look for six of those this coming weekend, as there will only be one forfeit and several replacement teams will be on the road.

Then we have the NIFL2, or the AIFL as it is actually called. Now don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of the Reading Express. That organizaiton is doing it right in just about every way. But the league itself is nothing more than a joke. Replacement teams, forfeits, traveling teams, you name it, the AIFL has got it. Most recently, the Richmond Bandits left the AIFL at playoff time, foregoing their shot at defending the league title. Somehow, the Haines administration managed to spin this so it looks like Richmond was suspended from the postseason for not being in good standing. And just a few days after another mess blows up in his face, an expansion team in Illinois is announced. Haines has said he plans to play with 24 teams next year, which is no good. He couldn't do it right with 6 or 16 teams, so what will happen if they add 14 or so more? I say 14 because a lot of teams will jump ship after this dismal season. Richmond was just the first in what will probably be a flood.

I'll wrap this relatively brief rant up by saying ROOT ON THE IFL, APFL, AND UIF! There's no way Carolyn Shiver and the NIFL should get anything from these leagues....

A couple expansion notes

Intersting notes on GLIFL and AIFL expansion.. Detroit is being added to the GLIFL for the upcoming season. And Rumors are circulating that the AIFL has invaded UIF territory and swiped up Danville, Illinois for 2007.

It's almost sure that both leagues will expand for next season. The GLIFL appears to be the most stable and the AIFL is going to be needing teams anyway. Looks like Danville could replace Richmond in the Southern Conference. One would assume with the current expansion underway, there will be significant realignment of the teams into divisions for 2007. That means, three years, three different setups.

More as it comes...

Welcome!

The Indoor Football Guys welcome you to our blog. Here, we'll discuss the fawcets of five leagues we follow, the AIFL, NIFL, IFL, UIF, and AF2. We'll offer commentary, news, and maybe the occasional interview. Comments are welcome, but please be nice--or else. Check back daily for updates from The Indoor Football Guys.