Post by Banana Cat on Jun 18, 2012 12:02:29 GMT -5
Their version of how things are and reality is quite a bit different. I sure hope the IFL looks in to the Walker's hard and realize what a train wreck they are and deny them entry.
www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2012/06/17/sports/19sports_06-17-12.txt
www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2012/06/17/sports/19sports_06-17-12.txt
Moving on
By Alex Riley / wyosports.net
17 June 2012
Alton Walker sits in the office of the Cheyenne Warriors indoor football team.
He uses his shoulder to hold the office phone to his ear, his left hand to look at texts on his cellphone and his right to go through files on his computer for more information.
Playing Cover-2 defense was easy for him during the season. Sorting out the mess that has become the Warriors’ end of season is harder stuff.
No more games remain on the schedule after the franchise’s inaugural season was shut down last week. Walker and his wife, Mystie (co-owner and director of marketing), tried to keep things going, but it simply wasn’t possible.
And that’s all right, they say. There are bigger things at stake.
Upgrades to the Cheyenne Ice and Events Center, possibly joining the Indoor Football League, building a squad that can compete for championships and putting out a product that Cheyenne can be proud of n are all on the Walkers’ plate.
“It’s what you do when people aren’t watching,” Mystie Walker says. “It’s those little things that matter most.”
A sour ending
The Walkers wanted to keep managing. The players wanted to keep playing. The coaching staff wanted to keep coaching.
But it wasn’t meant to be.
On May 21, Ethan Henson, co-owner of the Mid-Missouri Outlaws, filed a list of grievances by email with American Professional Football League president Ralph Adams.
The email touched on several subjects including poor officiating, violations of league rules and safety concerns. But its effect on Cheyenne was simple: If the problems weren’t solved, the Outlaws would not play the Warriors in Cheyenne on May 26.
With that game in question, Alton Walker sat down with Warriors head coach Damon Ware who also is the director of operations for the American Professional Football League 2, to piece together a backup schedule in case problems with the league got worse.
The Warriors played the Colorado Wolfpack on May 26 (a 73-7 win) and the Wyoming Knights on June 2 (a 76-0 win).
“I don’t have to want to resort to playing minor league teams because that’s just like the University of Wyoming going to play against Central High School,” Walker said.
“If we’re going to be a professional indoor football team, we need to be playing other professional indoor football teams.”
The Walkers tried to get the Sioux City Bandits on June 16. The Bandits were the team originally scheduled to play that day.
After lengthy discussions, it was determined the game simply could not happen. The Warriors then were set to play the Denver Titans of the American Professional Football League 2 as a backup team, but the Titans backed out, leaving Cheyenne with no opponent for its final game of the season.
Cheyenne finished just 2-8. That might sound harsh, but Walker is still optimistic.
“For me personally, as a GM, it was disappointing,” he said. “Not the record. I can eat that. I can understand that. Somebody’s got to win and somebody’s got to lose.
“The day I got that email, I said, �Look, we can’t go through this because we as a team and our fans deserve better than this.’ That’s when I decided to make the call and do the diligence for the (Indoor Football League).”
Stepping up
Walker harps on stability constantly. And it’s something he thinks the IFL provides.
Back in 2008, the Intense Football League and United Indoor Football merged to form the Indoor Football League. It covers 12 states with 16 teams.
“We’re already going that route and not because we feel like we’re better than everyone else, not because we’ve just got money like that or whatever, but the thing was, like I said at the beginning, I was look for some stability,” Walker said.
“This is a league that has had its problems. But the visual data from the IFL, the players that are coming and going from the IFL n the whole model is a lot better.”
Geographically, the Indoor Football League makes more sense than the American Professional Football League.
The Colorado Ice (Fort Collins) and the Wyoming Calvary (Casper) are relative short drives compared to Topeka, Kan., or Tulsa, Okla., both 12-plus hours away.
Cheyenne’s closest team in the American Professional Football League was the Colorado Lightning in Aurora before it folded. The next closest was in Council Bluffs, Iowa, nine hours away.
Nothing is guaranteed yet and the Cheyenne franchise will know in early August if it has been accepted into the league. And there are a lot of contingencies to being accepted.
Financially, the Warriors are in good shape to pay league fees and dues, Walker says. That makes upgrading the Ice and Events Center the next hurdle.
The Walkers already plan to add around 1,500 seats on the floor for next season, but the roof is the biggest concern. The ceiling must be raised to allow for higher passing. That must be addressed sooner than later, but an extension from the Indoor Football League to raise the ceiling could be given to the Warriors. That would allow them to join immediately.
The Walkers have met with the city in hopes of getting the ball rolling on renovations and upgrades.
Everything around the program might be changing, but the mission is still the same, no matter the league.
“Our concept was: No. 1, it’s affordable. You can take your kids and you can leave actually feeling like, �Wow we got our money’s worth,’” Mystie Walker said.
A new look
The league could change. The facility could change. And, yes, the roster could change.
In fact, Alton Walker guarantees those changes if the Warriors are accepted into the Indoor Football League.
Before the last few games of the season, Alton Walker and Ware told their current players that the final games were their audition for next season.
If they could contend for one of the 25 roster spots next year, they would be asked to come back. If not, the Walkers already had a plan to start an outdoor team, possibly in the American Professional Football League 2, as a development team for talent.
The rest of the roster will be filled with new faces.
“It’ll be a lot tougher to make the team,” Walker said. “We’re doing that for two reasons n No. 1, if we’re telling people that we are a professional organization, I need to be able to put (players) out there on the field like (Warriors wide receiver Lemans Casimier). But I need 21 of them.
“I need someone like Peyton Manning and Tebow, but I need 21 of them. They don’t have to be as known as those guys; they don’t have to have two, three or 15 years in the NFL, but they have some experience. That is the caliber of player we want to focus on next season.”
Starting in the next few weeks, Walker will travel around the country, recruiting players. They will be players cut from NFL, Canadian Football League or Arena Football League training camps, college seniors who didn’t get drafted or signed or veterans who are looking to prove they still have what it takes.
All that said, Mystie Walker reminds her husband of four years that while this team is about winning, it’s also still about community.
And that might be what matters most.
“We also are that team that is going to give everyone an honest look,” she says. “We encourage (players) to come and try out because a lot of people (running teams will) look at your registration and be like, �Nah.’ We will give an honest look.”
By Alex Riley / wyosports.net
17 June 2012
Alton Walker sits in the office of the Cheyenne Warriors indoor football team.
He uses his shoulder to hold the office phone to his ear, his left hand to look at texts on his cellphone and his right to go through files on his computer for more information.
Playing Cover-2 defense was easy for him during the season. Sorting out the mess that has become the Warriors’ end of season is harder stuff.
No more games remain on the schedule after the franchise’s inaugural season was shut down last week. Walker and his wife, Mystie (co-owner and director of marketing), tried to keep things going, but it simply wasn’t possible.
And that’s all right, they say. There are bigger things at stake.
Upgrades to the Cheyenne Ice and Events Center, possibly joining the Indoor Football League, building a squad that can compete for championships and putting out a product that Cheyenne can be proud of n are all on the Walkers’ plate.
“It’s what you do when people aren’t watching,” Mystie Walker says. “It’s those little things that matter most.”
A sour ending
The Walkers wanted to keep managing. The players wanted to keep playing. The coaching staff wanted to keep coaching.
But it wasn’t meant to be.
On May 21, Ethan Henson, co-owner of the Mid-Missouri Outlaws, filed a list of grievances by email with American Professional Football League president Ralph Adams.
The email touched on several subjects including poor officiating, violations of league rules and safety concerns. But its effect on Cheyenne was simple: If the problems weren’t solved, the Outlaws would not play the Warriors in Cheyenne on May 26.
With that game in question, Alton Walker sat down with Warriors head coach Damon Ware who also is the director of operations for the American Professional Football League 2, to piece together a backup schedule in case problems with the league got worse.
The Warriors played the Colorado Wolfpack on May 26 (a 73-7 win) and the Wyoming Knights on June 2 (a 76-0 win).
“I don’t have to want to resort to playing minor league teams because that’s just like the University of Wyoming going to play against Central High School,” Walker said.
“If we’re going to be a professional indoor football team, we need to be playing other professional indoor football teams.”
The Walkers tried to get the Sioux City Bandits on June 16. The Bandits were the team originally scheduled to play that day.
After lengthy discussions, it was determined the game simply could not happen. The Warriors then were set to play the Denver Titans of the American Professional Football League 2 as a backup team, but the Titans backed out, leaving Cheyenne with no opponent for its final game of the season.
Cheyenne finished just 2-8. That might sound harsh, but Walker is still optimistic.
“For me personally, as a GM, it was disappointing,” he said. “Not the record. I can eat that. I can understand that. Somebody’s got to win and somebody’s got to lose.
“The day I got that email, I said, �Look, we can’t go through this because we as a team and our fans deserve better than this.’ That’s when I decided to make the call and do the diligence for the (Indoor Football League).”
Stepping up
Walker harps on stability constantly. And it’s something he thinks the IFL provides.
Back in 2008, the Intense Football League and United Indoor Football merged to form the Indoor Football League. It covers 12 states with 16 teams.
“We’re already going that route and not because we feel like we’re better than everyone else, not because we’ve just got money like that or whatever, but the thing was, like I said at the beginning, I was look for some stability,” Walker said.
“This is a league that has had its problems. But the visual data from the IFL, the players that are coming and going from the IFL n the whole model is a lot better.”
Geographically, the Indoor Football League makes more sense than the American Professional Football League.
The Colorado Ice (Fort Collins) and the Wyoming Calvary (Casper) are relative short drives compared to Topeka, Kan., or Tulsa, Okla., both 12-plus hours away.
Cheyenne’s closest team in the American Professional Football League was the Colorado Lightning in Aurora before it folded. The next closest was in Council Bluffs, Iowa, nine hours away.
Nothing is guaranteed yet and the Cheyenne franchise will know in early August if it has been accepted into the league. And there are a lot of contingencies to being accepted.
Financially, the Warriors are in good shape to pay league fees and dues, Walker says. That makes upgrading the Ice and Events Center the next hurdle.
The Walkers already plan to add around 1,500 seats on the floor for next season, but the roof is the biggest concern. The ceiling must be raised to allow for higher passing. That must be addressed sooner than later, but an extension from the Indoor Football League to raise the ceiling could be given to the Warriors. That would allow them to join immediately.
The Walkers have met with the city in hopes of getting the ball rolling on renovations and upgrades.
Everything around the program might be changing, but the mission is still the same, no matter the league.
“Our concept was: No. 1, it’s affordable. You can take your kids and you can leave actually feeling like, �Wow we got our money’s worth,’” Mystie Walker said.
A new look
The league could change. The facility could change. And, yes, the roster could change.
In fact, Alton Walker guarantees those changes if the Warriors are accepted into the Indoor Football League.
Before the last few games of the season, Alton Walker and Ware told their current players that the final games were their audition for next season.
If they could contend for one of the 25 roster spots next year, they would be asked to come back. If not, the Walkers already had a plan to start an outdoor team, possibly in the American Professional Football League 2, as a development team for talent.
The rest of the roster will be filled with new faces.
“It’ll be a lot tougher to make the team,” Walker said. “We’re doing that for two reasons n No. 1, if we’re telling people that we are a professional organization, I need to be able to put (players) out there on the field like (Warriors wide receiver Lemans Casimier). But I need 21 of them.
“I need someone like Peyton Manning and Tebow, but I need 21 of them. They don’t have to be as known as those guys; they don’t have to have two, three or 15 years in the NFL, but they have some experience. That is the caliber of player we want to focus on next season.”
Starting in the next few weeks, Walker will travel around the country, recruiting players. They will be players cut from NFL, Canadian Football League or Arena Football League training camps, college seniors who didn’t get drafted or signed or veterans who are looking to prove they still have what it takes.
All that said, Mystie Walker reminds her husband of four years that while this team is about winning, it’s also still about community.
And that might be what matters most.
“We also are that team that is going to give everyone an honest look,” she says. “We encourage (players) to come and try out because a lot of people (running teams will) look at your registration and be like, �Nah.’ We will give an honest look.”