Post by Banana Cat on Aug 10, 2009 11:32:37 GMT -5
Wow. Just, wow.
You know, you can kind of see an image of Michael Jackson and Elvis in that trophy too.
I'm curious though, while God was outlining the SIFL budget, why didn't he clue him in on the troubles Texas, Houma, and Florida would have with the budget? You would've thought he would've told Hager, "whatever you do, don't bring in Florida."
It also brings up the question of when god actually "spoke" to him. Was it after drinking a flaming doctor pepper at the restaurant where he announced the formation of the SIFL, also saying the future is bright. If you say the future is bright enough times, does that make it fact?
I wonder what his 10 commandments were? Or was it 20 commandments and he accidentally dropped the other stone tablet containing the other 10 that had don't bring in Florida and others.
He says the league played all the games, I guess he forgot about the Florida/Texas game.
I also like how he's talking about how god spoke to him in the SULPHUR Daily News...very appropo.
Unbelievable.
The league president had a feeling that it was not going to work out to transfer with the other owners into the Indoor Football League and had started looking for an alternative route.
“I had anticipated something funny happening and it’s because I had prayed about it a lot, then I listened intently to what God had to tell us,” Hager said on his thought process. “And He had told me directly that I had to refigure budgets, I had to be more frugal, and so we did.
“We put together the budget he told us. So I’m not that smart, I’m just a good listener. I took that direction and I think that we succeeded. I think we are very successful and a lot of people are looking at our business model now going ‘hmmm, that makes sense’.”
-----------------------------------------------------
www.sulphurdailynews.com/sports/x1678044298/SIFL-looking-at-bright-future
9 August 2009
SIFL looking at bright future
Mickel Ponthieux / Southwest Daily News
Louisiana Swashbuckler owner and SIFL president
Thom Hager holds the President’s Cup trophy for
winning the SIFL championship and the trophy for
best franchise in the SIFL. For the wrap-up of the
Swashbucklers’ championship season, check out
Tuesday’s edition of the Southwest Daily News.
Lake Charles, La. - On July 27, the Southern Indoor Football League concluded their first season in existence with the Louisiana Swashbucklers winning their third championship in a row as a franchise.
After a trying season as SIFL president, Thom Hager discussed what challenges the league faced and the new things coming in 2010.
“The first observation I have is that it was a rougher, tougher, more intense season that I thought it was going to be,” Hager said on the inaugural season of the SIFL. “It was more difficult to launch a league by myself than I thought it was going to be.”
“We launched with the teams that called us,” Hager said. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough time for those teams to generate finances to get them through the first season. Because of that they struggled because they were all start-up teams, with the exception of Austin.
“They had no clue what it was going to take to play indoor football. So it was a bigger challenge than they thought just to start their individual teams.”
After the season ended on July 27, owners met for their summer meetings. During the meetings, rules were at the top of the discussions.
One rule change will affect kickoffs and kickoff returns. If a team intentionally kicks a ball out of bounds into the stands, the ball will be placed in the red zone at the 10-yard line. However, if the kicking team puts the ball through the uprights, the team will be awarded a point.
“I’m tired of people kicking footballs out of the arena,” Hager said in regards to the rule change. “We went through 68 in one game and 73 in another.”
Some might question the rule as kicking the ball out of bounds is respect for the talent of the kick returner and might compare that to intentionally walking a player in baseball, and Hager agrees to an extent.
“I say that fans do not like seeing their favorite players walked. I understand it is part of the deal, but on every kickoff? It gets old. Sammy Knight should have the opportunity to run the ball back. Derrick Wallace should have the chance to run the football back and Thom Hager shouldn’t have to go through footballs like that. It’s too costly. That’s $900 a game for footballs.
“I don’t mind it when a receiver misses it and it goes into the stands and a fan catches it. That’s apart of the game and that’s good. That’s why we have ‘McCatch it, McKeep it’. Or if a field goal attempt misses and a fan catches it, that’s a good thing.
“And if you are afraid that you can’t perform, then you shouldn’t take that kid’s ability away from him to be able to run the ball back. It’s his stats you are impacting and that’s one of the most exciting things in our sport and you are robbing the fan of being able to see that.
“That is a great thing when a player can run the football back on a kickoff. We are going to insert a rule that if can kick a field goal, you are going to get a point for that.”
Other rule changes coming in 2010 will regard the red flag challenge for rule interpretation and not allowing the taking a knee in the last minute of a half.
Not far behind the rules discussions was the optimistic outlook for the expansion of the league. Attending league meetings were owners interested in becoming expansion teams in the SIFL. Owners from Beaumont, Houston, Corpus Christi, Waco, Belton, Tupelo, Augusta, GA, Columbus, GA, Orlando, Sarasota, FL, West Palm Beach, FL, and FT. Myers, FL have expressed interest in joining the SIFL in the future.
Hager said that five, eight, or even 12 teams could be added for the 2010 season.
“I’m very excited about that,” Hager said on expanding the SIFL. “So we will see. It will be exciting that’s for sure.”
Hager said that officials are also in talks with a former member of the Intense Football League.
When asked on how the league has succeeded through its first season, Hager attributed it to the business model of the SIFL.
“Had we not had adopted this business model, this would have been our last year,” said Hager. “Our sales were down this year due to the economy. We were able to get across the finish line, but not like we wanted too.”
The league president had a feeling that it was not going to work out to transfer with the other owners into the Indoor Football League and had started looking for an alternative route.
“I had anticipated something funny happening and it’s because I had prayed about it a lot, then I listened intently to what God had to tell us,” Hager said on his thought process. “And He had told me directly that I had to refigure budgets, I had to be more frugal, and so we did.
“We put together the budget he told us. So I’m not that smart, I’m just a good listener. I took that direction and I think that we succeeded. I think we are very successful and a lot of people are looking at our business model now going ‘hmmm, that makes sense’.”
On the issue of the bankruptcy of the Arena Football League, Hager said that other leagues’ success helps validate what he and other SIFL officials do for a living.
“As you know the Arena Football League declared bankruptcy this week,” So they are out. And they had owned 51-percent of the af2, so those guys lost their money. So the af2 is going to fall apart. Not that I want it too. I’d love to see it continue. Because it makes what I do creditable.
“In my business, if one team succeeds or if one league succeeds it’s just good for the whole industry.”
Looking forward into the future of the SIFL, Hager sees many rivalries blooming. Austin and Louisiana are well on their way in forming a strong rivalry.
“There are going to be two big rivalries that I see,” Hager states. “Austin and Louisiana will have a huge rivalry and Lake Charles and Lafayette, because they are trying to steal our players from us.
“If we launch Waco, Waco and Austin will have a huge rivalry. There will be some rivalries in the Florida league if we launch that too cause it is all so close. Ft. Myers and Sarasota are close. Orlando and Tampa, which would be huge if Tampa would come on. Orlando and West Palm Beach are close. Everybody is ready to move forward.”
The first season of the SIFL was not without it hiccups. Problems with the Florida Kings, Texas Pirates, and Houma Conquerors made headlines during the first season of the SIFL.
The problems started for Hager and SIFL officials as the Louisiana Swashbucklers kicked the season off with an 81-0 win over the Florida Kings, a SIFL travel team.
“Florida was comprised of amateurs,” said Hager on the Kings franchise. “Amateur general managers, amateur coaches, amateur players. They need to stay in the amateur league. They shouldn’t have pretended to be a professional football team. That was a huge disappointment.”
The Kings were dethroned from the SIFL when league officials expelled the team from the league.
Later in the season, the SIFL had to contend with problems with the Texas Pirates franchise.
“(Texas) just ran out of money,” said Hager on the Pirates’ turmoils. “They had three guys running that show and none of the three had the funds to run a football team.
“That was our greatest fiasco.”
But the Pirates were bought in the middle of the season and moved to College Station, TX and became the Texas Hurricanes.
“Thank God for Terry Williams, who picked up that team and now its great,” Hager said on the transition.
The Houma Conquerors were the last franchise to experience problems, but they had apparently been in motion before the 2009 season even started.
“(Houma) went into default immediately,” Hager said on the Conquerors issues. “(Franklin Thomas) had not paid his membership fee in full and to this day he claims he has a team in the SIFL.
“I was just reading that he is going to part ways with the SIFL.”
Hager stated that the Thomas was not present in Lake Charles for the Conquerors playoff game on July 20. Thomas didn’t send jerseys for his players to wear during the playoff game and thanks to a contingency plan by the SIFL, the Houma players had jerseys for their contest against the Swashbucklers.
“So that was our second biggest issue we had this year,” said Hager. “But luckily, a great group that has been involved with football in the past are going to run the Houma team. “They are going to change the name, change the logo, and change the look.”
In addition to Houma, the Acadiana Mudbug franchise will undergo a name change for the 2010 season.
“Lafayette has new owners and will change their name,” confirmed Hager.
One of the successful teams of the SIFL came out of Austin. The Turfcats gave the Swashbucklers their only loss of the season and played a tough match for Louisiana in the President’s Cup game in Lake Charles on July 27.
“Austin was a group that had played under the name of Central Texas Barracudas in the Intense Football League under Coach (Chris) Duliban,” said Hager on the Austin Turfcats.
“When Austin had launched their membership in the SIFL, that whole group from Belton, TX just moved over to Austin. So they were already intact and that’s why they were a great team.”
Hager said that the team was successful due to their highly qualified coach.
“Duliban was a star at the University of Texas and he graduated and became a Dallas Cowboy. He’s a great guy and a great coach with a lot of passion and knows the game very well. He assembled an exceptional team.”
Hager also attributed the success of the Austin team to its owner Albert Martinez.
“Albert Martinez is a great owner and just has done a wonderful job for us.”
Despite all of the trials and tribulations at the end of the day, Hager said that he was pleased with the 2009 season of the SIFL.
“The bright side is that every challenge we faced this year, we overcame,” Hager said. “We were able to make lemonade out of lemons every time. We finished the season, we didn’t drop any games, and everybody got their money’s worth.”
You know, you can kind of see an image of Michael Jackson and Elvis in that trophy too.
I'm curious though, while God was outlining the SIFL budget, why didn't he clue him in on the troubles Texas, Houma, and Florida would have with the budget? You would've thought he would've told Hager, "whatever you do, don't bring in Florida."
It also brings up the question of when god actually "spoke" to him. Was it after drinking a flaming doctor pepper at the restaurant where he announced the formation of the SIFL, also saying the future is bright. If you say the future is bright enough times, does that make it fact?
I wonder what his 10 commandments were? Or was it 20 commandments and he accidentally dropped the other stone tablet containing the other 10 that had don't bring in Florida and others.
He says the league played all the games, I guess he forgot about the Florida/Texas game.
I also like how he's talking about how god spoke to him in the SULPHUR Daily News...very appropo.
Unbelievable.
The league president had a feeling that it was not going to work out to transfer with the other owners into the Indoor Football League and had started looking for an alternative route.
“I had anticipated something funny happening and it’s because I had prayed about it a lot, then I listened intently to what God had to tell us,” Hager said on his thought process. “And He had told me directly that I had to refigure budgets, I had to be more frugal, and so we did.
“We put together the budget he told us. So I’m not that smart, I’m just a good listener. I took that direction and I think that we succeeded. I think we are very successful and a lot of people are looking at our business model now going ‘hmmm, that makes sense’.”
-----------------------------------------------------
www.sulphurdailynews.com/sports/x1678044298/SIFL-looking-at-bright-future
9 August 2009
SIFL looking at bright future
Mickel Ponthieux / Southwest Daily News
Louisiana Swashbuckler owner and SIFL president
Thom Hager holds the President’s Cup trophy for
winning the SIFL championship and the trophy for
best franchise in the SIFL. For the wrap-up of the
Swashbucklers’ championship season, check out
Tuesday’s edition of the Southwest Daily News.
Lake Charles, La. - On July 27, the Southern Indoor Football League concluded their first season in existence with the Louisiana Swashbucklers winning their third championship in a row as a franchise.
After a trying season as SIFL president, Thom Hager discussed what challenges the league faced and the new things coming in 2010.
“The first observation I have is that it was a rougher, tougher, more intense season that I thought it was going to be,” Hager said on the inaugural season of the SIFL. “It was more difficult to launch a league by myself than I thought it was going to be.”
“We launched with the teams that called us,” Hager said. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough time for those teams to generate finances to get them through the first season. Because of that they struggled because they were all start-up teams, with the exception of Austin.
“They had no clue what it was going to take to play indoor football. So it was a bigger challenge than they thought just to start their individual teams.”
After the season ended on July 27, owners met for their summer meetings. During the meetings, rules were at the top of the discussions.
One rule change will affect kickoffs and kickoff returns. If a team intentionally kicks a ball out of bounds into the stands, the ball will be placed in the red zone at the 10-yard line. However, if the kicking team puts the ball through the uprights, the team will be awarded a point.
“I’m tired of people kicking footballs out of the arena,” Hager said in regards to the rule change. “We went through 68 in one game and 73 in another.”
Some might question the rule as kicking the ball out of bounds is respect for the talent of the kick returner and might compare that to intentionally walking a player in baseball, and Hager agrees to an extent.
“I say that fans do not like seeing their favorite players walked. I understand it is part of the deal, but on every kickoff? It gets old. Sammy Knight should have the opportunity to run the ball back. Derrick Wallace should have the chance to run the football back and Thom Hager shouldn’t have to go through footballs like that. It’s too costly. That’s $900 a game for footballs.
“I don’t mind it when a receiver misses it and it goes into the stands and a fan catches it. That’s apart of the game and that’s good. That’s why we have ‘McCatch it, McKeep it’. Or if a field goal attempt misses and a fan catches it, that’s a good thing.
“And if you are afraid that you can’t perform, then you shouldn’t take that kid’s ability away from him to be able to run the ball back. It’s his stats you are impacting and that’s one of the most exciting things in our sport and you are robbing the fan of being able to see that.
“That is a great thing when a player can run the football back on a kickoff. We are going to insert a rule that if can kick a field goal, you are going to get a point for that.”
Other rule changes coming in 2010 will regard the red flag challenge for rule interpretation and not allowing the taking a knee in the last minute of a half.
Not far behind the rules discussions was the optimistic outlook for the expansion of the league. Attending league meetings were owners interested in becoming expansion teams in the SIFL. Owners from Beaumont, Houston, Corpus Christi, Waco, Belton, Tupelo, Augusta, GA, Columbus, GA, Orlando, Sarasota, FL, West Palm Beach, FL, and FT. Myers, FL have expressed interest in joining the SIFL in the future.
Hager said that five, eight, or even 12 teams could be added for the 2010 season.
“I’m very excited about that,” Hager said on expanding the SIFL. “So we will see. It will be exciting that’s for sure.”
Hager said that officials are also in talks with a former member of the Intense Football League.
When asked on how the league has succeeded through its first season, Hager attributed it to the business model of the SIFL.
“Had we not had adopted this business model, this would have been our last year,” said Hager. “Our sales were down this year due to the economy. We were able to get across the finish line, but not like we wanted too.”
The league president had a feeling that it was not going to work out to transfer with the other owners into the Indoor Football League and had started looking for an alternative route.
“I had anticipated something funny happening and it’s because I had prayed about it a lot, then I listened intently to what God had to tell us,” Hager said on his thought process. “And He had told me directly that I had to refigure budgets, I had to be more frugal, and so we did.
“We put together the budget he told us. So I’m not that smart, I’m just a good listener. I took that direction and I think that we succeeded. I think we are very successful and a lot of people are looking at our business model now going ‘hmmm, that makes sense’.”
On the issue of the bankruptcy of the Arena Football League, Hager said that other leagues’ success helps validate what he and other SIFL officials do for a living.
“As you know the Arena Football League declared bankruptcy this week,” So they are out. And they had owned 51-percent of the af2, so those guys lost their money. So the af2 is going to fall apart. Not that I want it too. I’d love to see it continue. Because it makes what I do creditable.
“In my business, if one team succeeds or if one league succeeds it’s just good for the whole industry.”
Looking forward into the future of the SIFL, Hager sees many rivalries blooming. Austin and Louisiana are well on their way in forming a strong rivalry.
“There are going to be two big rivalries that I see,” Hager states. “Austin and Louisiana will have a huge rivalry and Lake Charles and Lafayette, because they are trying to steal our players from us.
“If we launch Waco, Waco and Austin will have a huge rivalry. There will be some rivalries in the Florida league if we launch that too cause it is all so close. Ft. Myers and Sarasota are close. Orlando and Tampa, which would be huge if Tampa would come on. Orlando and West Palm Beach are close. Everybody is ready to move forward.”
The first season of the SIFL was not without it hiccups. Problems with the Florida Kings, Texas Pirates, and Houma Conquerors made headlines during the first season of the SIFL.
The problems started for Hager and SIFL officials as the Louisiana Swashbucklers kicked the season off with an 81-0 win over the Florida Kings, a SIFL travel team.
“Florida was comprised of amateurs,” said Hager on the Kings franchise. “Amateur general managers, amateur coaches, amateur players. They need to stay in the amateur league. They shouldn’t have pretended to be a professional football team. That was a huge disappointment.”
The Kings were dethroned from the SIFL when league officials expelled the team from the league.
Later in the season, the SIFL had to contend with problems with the Texas Pirates franchise.
“(Texas) just ran out of money,” said Hager on the Pirates’ turmoils. “They had three guys running that show and none of the three had the funds to run a football team.
“That was our greatest fiasco.”
But the Pirates were bought in the middle of the season and moved to College Station, TX and became the Texas Hurricanes.
“Thank God for Terry Williams, who picked up that team and now its great,” Hager said on the transition.
The Houma Conquerors were the last franchise to experience problems, but they had apparently been in motion before the 2009 season even started.
“(Houma) went into default immediately,” Hager said on the Conquerors issues. “(Franklin Thomas) had not paid his membership fee in full and to this day he claims he has a team in the SIFL.
“I was just reading that he is going to part ways with the SIFL.”
Hager stated that the Thomas was not present in Lake Charles for the Conquerors playoff game on July 20. Thomas didn’t send jerseys for his players to wear during the playoff game and thanks to a contingency plan by the SIFL, the Houma players had jerseys for their contest against the Swashbucklers.
“So that was our second biggest issue we had this year,” said Hager. “But luckily, a great group that has been involved with football in the past are going to run the Houma team. “They are going to change the name, change the logo, and change the look.”
In addition to Houma, the Acadiana Mudbug franchise will undergo a name change for the 2010 season.
“Lafayette has new owners and will change their name,” confirmed Hager.
One of the successful teams of the SIFL came out of Austin. The Turfcats gave the Swashbucklers their only loss of the season and played a tough match for Louisiana in the President’s Cup game in Lake Charles on July 27.
“Austin was a group that had played under the name of Central Texas Barracudas in the Intense Football League under Coach (Chris) Duliban,” said Hager on the Austin Turfcats.
“When Austin had launched their membership in the SIFL, that whole group from Belton, TX just moved over to Austin. So they were already intact and that’s why they were a great team.”
Hager said that the team was successful due to their highly qualified coach.
“Duliban was a star at the University of Texas and he graduated and became a Dallas Cowboy. He’s a great guy and a great coach with a lot of passion and knows the game very well. He assembled an exceptional team.”
Hager also attributed the success of the Austin team to its owner Albert Martinez.
“Albert Martinez is a great owner and just has done a wonderful job for us.”
Despite all of the trials and tribulations at the end of the day, Hager said that he was pleased with the 2009 season of the SIFL.
“The bright side is that every challenge we faced this year, we overcame,” Hager said. “We were able to make lemonade out of lemons every time. We finished the season, we didn’t drop any games, and everybody got their money’s worth.”