Week One Developments

Well, that was interesting! We hosted the Pacific Warriors this week, and came away with a 73-31 victory. Those 31 points are the most the Surge have given up in a regular season game. So, while a lot of people look at the final margin and say, “Wow – what a blowout!” I found it interesting that both head coaches had about the same reaction: “Man, we have a lot of work to do.”

I want to congratulate the Warriors on several fronts: They’ve definitely found some athletes….numbers 43, 44 and 47 are all players for sure. They came up with a nice little play package on offense and executed it well. They played a very clean game, and given how well the players from both teams know each other, there was very little chirping that I saw. Their coaches seem to be very nice guys, and I think they’ll do a good job.

As is well-known, I’ve been hoping for more competitive teams here in the west for quite some time. It appears that the Warriors are on the right track for sure. The rematch in a few weeks could be a really good game.

Our next game is a business trip to Las Vegas. The newly reincarnated Sin City Sun Devils (rising from the folded Las Vegas Showgirlz) visited the more established of the two Arizona teams and came away with a 31-20 victory. Our rivalry with Las Vegas teams extends all the way back to 2006. I remember that the Silver State Legacy gave us a pretty good game in 2011 as an expansion team/spin-off from the Showgirlz, and of course the Showgirlz themselves gave us some tense moments throughout the series. So hopefully we won’t get too distracted by the bright lights of the Strip (which is always a danger) and go out and improve on what we learned from last week.

***

Outside of the first game, there were a couple of other items of note last week. First, there was an article posted about the Boston Renegades’ financial struggles in their new incarnation after their billionaire (yes, with a “b”) former owner opted not to continue the old Boston Militia team. The article took the position of eliciting sympathy for these players who were now left out in the cold, so to speak. It talked about having to take busses on three or four hour trips, and of having cramped hotel rooms. It talked about the players having to pay out $500 to play.

Well, sorry, but I have a hard time feeling too badly for them. Make no mistake, I totally respect them as football players and as a team. We’ve only lost 4 games since 2011, and two of them were against the Militia, both in national championship games. But an article that cries “poor them” after years of being flown to away games (and in some cases by charter jet) and presumably not having players paying to play leaves me with little compassion for them now. They should look at all the money they saved over the last few years and consider their time to be a bargain.  That $500 they have to pay now is less than every other team I know of – sometimes half of what others have to pay.  Again, I respect them as players and coaches – they do a great job on the field. But welcome to the real world, Renegades.

Second, and of more immediate impact to not only us, but the WFA as a whole, is the Utah Falconz’ decision to leave the WFA. I don’t pretend to know all of the behind-closed-door dealings that led up to their departure. All I know is this: A competitive team, which there are far too few of in the West, with a full 45-man roster and complete coaching staff and solid ownership has decided that the WFA isn’t the best place for them. That is sad.

It is sad for us, or anyone else that might have had to face the Falconz in the playoffs, because it means that a lesser team will take their place and fail to prepare their opponent for future games against the East as well as the Falconz would (assuming the opponent would have won, of course). 

It is sad for the WFA, because it is the exact league that a team like the Falconz belong in. Given the league they are going to, I expect the Falconz to now be in their version of the national championship.  It is sad for women’s football as a whole, because fractures like this only magnify to potential nation-wide sponsors that there isn’t a dominant women’s league to get behind.

And it is sad for the Falconz, because if they are fortunate enough to win the national championship with their new league, they will always have to wonder what they might have done in the WFA. Because for right now, this is still where the best 5-6 teams in the country are. The thing is, I remember not too long ago that the WFA was where the top 12-15 teams in the country were. I hope we can get back to that status again real soon.