Indoor Football Weekly #21: What a 'Creaming Shame.

Well this week has been . . . I can't say entertaining as much as I feel it's sad and disgraceful at what's happened. Usually there is something hilarious in these moments and that we can get some humor out of. This really isn't one of those times, peoples lives and businesses have been effected without the care of ownership. Now this is a story of course you've heard a thousand times over and over but this move could play the death in an entire league. Is this the death bell for indoor football? I hope not, I hope the Grim Reaper continues to stay away.

Credit: Indoor Football League

The IFL's Week 10 was extremely eventful, not only did a good amount of upsets occur but as well major news broke about Project Fanchise and it's two clubs (the Colorado Crush and Salt Lake Screaming Eagles). Normally at IFW we would recap the games then bring you the news. Due to the amount of news that broke and when it happened we're going to start out with Thursday. On Thursday April 20th the Wall Street Journal broke a story about Project Fanchise. In that story it was stated that the ownership group, Project Fanchise, had informed the Indoor Football League earlier in the week that they planned to start their own league in 2018. That league would be called the Interactive Football League and feature 8 teams playing out of just a single venue and be streamed exclusively on Twitch, which the Screaming Eagles are already using instead of YouTube as all 9 other IFL teams do. That article was later updated to state that Project Fanchise had reached a deal with the IFL to finish the 2017 season for the Screaming Eagles. That still left in question the other team they own, the Colorado Crush and whether or not they would finish the season let alone play next year. The next night on Friday the Crush would host Wichita Falls and in a THRILLING game worthy of Game of the Year (across all leagues) the Crush would beat the Nighthawks 77-73 in a game that came down to the final play. On Saturday morning more news broke about the Screaming Eagles and Crush in which it was said that originally Project Fanchise wanted to fold both the Screaming Eagles and Crush immediately, this would have been the first time since 2010 when the Alaska Wild only played 10 games in the 14 game season, that a team wouldn't have completed a full season in the IFL. Along with the news of Project Fanchise attempting to fold both teams to save money, it was also reported that players and coaches in Colorado have not been paid in a month (players have since been paid including back pay that was owed), and that both the arena and hotel have not been paid at all. The IFL has also fined the ownership group for moving the Salt Lake vs Colorado game to Twitch and breaking the contract the IFL has with YouTube. With these reports out a reporter for a Salt Lake area sports talk station retweeted a link of the news being broken, which both the Screaming Eagles and Project Fanchise twitter accounts blasted him for which you can see here. After Fiasco Friday, Saturday saw four more games being played kicking off with a rematch between Sioux Falls and Green Bay. The Blizzard kicked out to an early 17-0 lead but the Storm came back to edge out the Blizzard 56-49. Next up was the 2017 Iowa Bowl as the Cedar Rapids Titans hosted the Iowa Barnstormers. The Barnstormers had the lead the entire game but in the fourth quarter they tried their hardest to give the Titans the win, but Iowa came out on top 31-25 in a very undeserved win. Last up for the 7:05 starts was the Nebraska Danger hosting the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles. The Danger would control the game the entire night and would win 49-30. Wrapping up the night was the IFL Game of the Week between the Arizona Rattlers and Spokane Empire. This is the first of 3 meetings between the clubs and the first since 2015 in the AFL. The Rattlers would fight hard all night but a late field goal by the Empire gave them a 9 point lead and put the game out of reach for Arizona, The Empire would win 60-51 and stay in the top spot in the Intense Conference.
The new week started off again breaking some news, and again bad news coming from the Project Fanchise camp. Late on Sunday night the news broke that Colorado Crush head coach Jose Jefferson had been fired as head coach due to "cost cutting measures" and as of posting of this article a new head coach has not yet been named. This marks the second time this year that Project Fanchise has fired a head coach immediately after winning a game. A request for comment by the Colorado Crush, Salt Lake Screaming Eagles, and  or the ownership group Project Fanchise has not been responded too. All the news brings us to the IFL Week 11 kicking off on Friday night when the Nebraska Danger (5-4) host the Cedar Rapids Titans (1-8) at 7:05 PM CT. Saturday night features three games kicking off with the Iowa Barnstormers (6-2) hosting the Colorado Crush (2-6) at 7:05 PM CT, with the recent developments out of Loveland we'll let you know if anything changes with the game. Also at 7:05 PM CT sees the Wichita Falls Nighthawks (7-2) hosting the Sioux Falls Storm (8-0). Wrapping up the games on Saturday is the Arizona Rattlers (4-4) hosting the Green Bay Blizzard (2-7) in the first ever meeting between the teams. Wrapping up the weekend is a Sunday showdown when the Spokane Empire (6-2) host the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles (1-7) at 5 PM CT.

Credit: Champions Indoor Football

Champions Indoor Football had a much less eventful week, and that was for the good. Week 9 kicked off with just a single game on Thursday night, the CIF Game of the Week which saw the Bismarck Bucks knock off the visiting Omaha Beef 59-41. Four games were on the slate for Saturday all at 7PM CT as well. In the one of the most surprising games the West Michigan Ironmen crushed the unbeaten Sioux City Bandits 76-35. Another shocker of a game saw the Battle of DFW won for the first time ever by the Dallas Marshals, as the Marshals took down the Revolution 73-58 in Mesquite. Another shootout, but still blowout occurred on the Texas Panhandle as the Amarillo Venom cruised to a 94-63 win over the CenTex Cavalry. Capping off the week was another Northern Division clash as the Kansas City Phantoms traveled to Bloomington, IL to take on the Edge. The Edge would take a fairly low scoring victory over the Phantoms with the score 38-13.
As we enter Week 10, we come into the back third of the CIF schedule this week and it features just four games on tap. With just two games on Saturday the Omaha Beef (3-3) head to Salina, KS to take on the Liberty (0-7) at 6:35 PM CT. At 7:05 PM CT a rematch from last week happens as the Sioux City Bandits (6-1) host the West Michigan Ironmen (3-4), the Bandits will sure need to respond well after the thrashing they took last week. Sunday night features two games starting at 2:05 PM CT when the Kansas City Phantoms (1-6) host the Dodge City Law (6-1). Wrapping up the weekend is a 7:05 PM CT Lone Star State showdown when the Texas Revolution (4-2) host and get a rematch against the team that took away a perfect season, the Amarillo Venom (6-0). All games are viewable LIVE on Eversport.

Credit: National Arena League

The National Arena League, the newest and smallest of the leagues has been fairly quite with only 3 games over the past two weeks. Week 6 of the NAL had two of those three games and it started on Saturday night at 6 PM CT as the Columbus Lions hosted the High Country Grizzlies. The Lions would come out with a win at home in "The Jungle" 57-44 over the Grizzlies. On Monday night the Monterrey Steel hosted the Jacksonville Sharks in the NAL Game of the Week. The Sharks would be the kings of the unbeaten with a 60-21 win over the Steel.
The NAL was also back in the news this week in an article by the Trentonian about  the Jersey Flight, an expansion team in the NAL announced to start playing in 2018. A key statement in that article comes early on when interviewing co-owner Kyna Felder-Ruiz as she stated “It was announced a year earlier solely for marketing efforts and giving us time to build our fanbase, to connect with the community, to raise the dollars that we’re going to need to successfully run a whole season. I think that the other teams before us didn’t work out mainly because of poor management.” The key part of that sentence is "to raise the dollars that we’re going to need to successfully run a whole season." That's right it's just as bad as it sounds the National Arena League, which has not even completed it's first season, has admitted a team whose ownership group doesn't have money to play a full season. There is a great quote I read about his "If you don't already have money for three seasons, then you won't last more than one." I can't think of anything more true in this sport. Again I will clearly state I do not want to see the NAL or the sport fail out east but this is absolutely not how to do this.
The NAL's Week 7 sees three games being played this week. Both games are being played at 6 PM CT. The first games has the Jacksonville Sharks (5-0) hosting the Columbus Lions (3-2) from "The Shark Tank". Up north the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks (4-1) host the Corpus Christi Rage (0-4). And the final game this week is from Albany, GA as the Georgia Firebirds (1-4) take on the Wolfpack (0-3).

After a decent set last weekend with the Game of the Week this week looks to be of about the same caliber. This week the NAL Game of the Week kicks things off as the Jacksonville Sharks (5-0) host the Columbus Lions (3-2) at 6 PM CT from the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena. This will be the second meeting between these clubs, during the first in Week 1 the Sharks beat the Lions 56-41 in Columbus. Next up is the IFL Game of the Week as the Sioux Falls Storm (8-0) travel to Wichita Falls to take on the Nighthawks (7-2) from the Kay Yeager Coliseum. The teams have met one other time this season and the Storm took that game 55-21 at home in Sioux Falls. Wrapping up the weekend is the CIF Game of the Week on Sunday at 7:05 PM CT when the Texas Revolution host the Amarillo Venom from the Allen Event Center. Amarillo and Texas met just two weeks ago when the Venom beat the Revolution 70-63 in Allen. As always the IFL and NAL games can be seen on YouTube while the CIF can be seen on Eversport.

Indoor Football Weekly #20

We've just passed the midway point in the 2017 Indoor Football season. The IFL looks to have 3 of it;s playoff spots decided, the CIF playoff race continues to heat up, and the NAL looks to have 4 teams going for it's final two spots.

Credit: Indoor Football League

The IFL's Week 9 gave us great football action in more than one game. The weekend opened  up with the Wichita Falls Nighthawks hosting the Cedar Rapids Titans. The Titans held a surprising 20-14 lead after the first quarter but it all went south from their for the boys from the north. Wichita Falls would score 35 points in the 2nd quarter on the way to an 81-52 route of the Titans. Second up of the three games on Friday night was the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles hosting the Arizona Rattlers. Unfortunately, just like the last Screaming Eagles home game, it was NOT shown on YouTube like all other IFL games but rather on Twitch.tv. Yes Salt Lake, the new kids on the block, continue to do things their own way making the league look like a joke. But even with the game being streamed on Twitch.tv the Rattlers would beat Salt Lake 73-60. Friday night was capped off with the Spokane Empire hosting the Colorado Crush. After no scoring by either team in the 1st quarter, Spokane took the reigns in route to a very close 36-24 victory. Saturday night saw two more games wrapping up the weekend. Sioux Falls hosted Green Bay and Iowa hosting Nebraska in the IFL Game of the Week. After the slaughters that were committed inside the Denny the last few weeks, while Green Bay couldn't overcome the Storm, they did fight but to no avail as Sioux Falls won 55-33. Out in Des Moines was the IFL Game of the Week. The Barnstormers defense was the Stars of the night as they held the Danger to just 14 points with 6 takeaways (5 INT and 1 Fumble Recovery). Iowa's offense was potent as well and helped the Barnstormers to a 48-14 route of the Danger.
All 10 teams take the field again in Week 10 of the IFL. Opening up on Friday with just one game as the Wichita Falls Nighthawks (7-1) travel to Loveland, CO to take on the Colorado Crush (1-6) at 7 PM CT. Saturday will see four games played that night. With three games on slate for 7:05 PM CT the easternmost is a rematch of last week, as the Sioux Falls Storm (7-0) travel to the Resch Center in Green Bay (2-6) for the second half of a home and home series against the Blizzard. In the middle it's the 2017 Iowa Bowl as the Cedar Rapids Titans (1-7) host the Iowa Barnstormers (5-2). In the west the Nebraska Danger (4-4) host the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles (1-6). The weekend wraps up with a battle between former AFL rivals as the Arizona Rattlers (4-3) host the Spokane Empire (5-2) at 8 PM CT from the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, AZ. As always games are LIVE and FREE on YouTube.

Credit: Champions Indoor Football

Champions Indoor Football had all 14 teams play over the course of just two days (Thursday and Saturday) in Week 8. The CIF opened with by far the biggest game with the CIF Game of the Week between unbeaten Texas hosting unbeaten Amarillo. The game would go back and forth for the first 3 quarters with no one able to gain a significant lead. That all changed in the 4th quarter when Amarillo scored 21 straight points on the way to a 70-63 win over the Texas Revolution on the road. On Saturday night the CIF had the other 6 games all at 7 PM CT. Down in Texas the Dallas Marshals took down the CenTex Cavalry 48-41 in a Lone Star State showdown. An all Kansas showdown  saw the Dodge City Law take down the Wichita Force 62-39. In North Dakota the Bismarck Bucks would beat the Kansas City Phantoms 51-35 in a battle of expansion teams. Out at the Ralston Arena the West Michigan Ironmen fought another win but just couldn't get the job done as the Omaha Beef beat the Ironmen 30-28. Out in Albuquerque the Duke City Gladiators just barely escaped the Salina Liberty with a 52-50 win. Wrapping up the week was a battle between two of the top teams in the Northern Division as Sioux City hosted Bloomington. The Bandits would escape with a close 62-56 win over the Edge.
Week 9 will feature 10 teams playing 5 games kicking off on Thursday night. The only game on Thursday night sees the the Bismarck Bucks (2-4) hosting the Omaha Beef (3-2) at 7 PM CT. Saturday night has four games all of which start at 7 PM CT. First up is a clash of teams in DFW as the Dallas Marshals (3-3) host the Texas Revolution (4-1) from the Mesquite Arena in Mesquite, TX. At the US Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington, the Edge (4-3) host the expansion Kansas City Phantoms (1-5). Then another Lone Star State clash happens as the Amarillo Venom (5-0) host the CenTex Cavalry (0-6). Wrapping up the night and the weekend is the from Muskegon, MI as the West Michigan Ironmen (2-4) host the Sioux City Bandits (6-0). All games can be viewed on Eversport.

Credit: National Arena League

The National Arena League only had one game being played in Week 5 and that by default was the NAL Game of the Week. Lehigh Valley would take the game at home inside the PPL Center by a score of 56-31 over the Georgia Firebirds.
Week 6 sees two games being played in the NAL. The first game is at 5 PM CT on Saturday when the Columbus Lions (2-2) host the High Country Grizzlies (2-2). The weekend is capped off on Monday night at 8 PM CT when the Monterrey Steel (3-0) host the also unbeaten Jacksonville Sharks (4-0).

Last week the CIF Game of the Week was definitely the ONE to watch this week let's hope we have three great games. This week the games start on Friday night with the CIF Game of the Week. The CIF game will see the Bismarck Bucks (2-4) host the Omaha Beef (3-2) from the Bismarck Event Center in Bismarck, ND at 7 PM CT on Friday night. Saturday night features the IFL Game of the Week as a rematch between two old AFL rivals as the Spokane Empire travel to Phoenix, AZ to take on the Arizona Rattlers at 8 PM CT from the Talking Stick Resort Arena. Wrapping up the weekend is the NAL Game of the Week and Monday Night Indoor Football. A battle of the unbeatens as the Monterrey Steel (3-0) host the Jacksonville Sharks (4-0) from Arena Monterrey at 8 PM CT on Monday night. As always the IFL and NAL games can be seen on YouTube, while the CIF can be seen on Eversport.

Indoor Football Weekly #19

We are now hitting  the midway point in the 2017 season. The IFL is pretty much spoken for, the CIF is in a dogfight, the NAL well let's not get into that just yet.

Credit: Indoor Football League

Just like Week 7, Week 8 was again filled with close games yet again. The IFL kicked off on Friday night with the IFL Game of the Week as Nebraska hosted Arizona. In the Rattlers first ever trip to Grand Island they would be looking to come back with a W. With both teams scoring back and forth all night the largest lead of the game was just 7 points, held twice by Arizona in the first half. The game only got closer as Nebraska scored twice to take a 6 point lead. It wouldn't hold up as the Rattlers would score to take a 21-20 lead but the Danger scored just before the half to take a 26-21 lead into halftime. The Rattler defense would get two points on a safety early in the 3rd quarter. Late in the 3rd quarter the Danger would score the final touchdown of the game to take a 33-30 lead, but that wasn't the end of scoring as both teams alternated field goals the rest of the night. It capped off with Arizona kicking a game winning field goal with little time remaining on the clock to take a 36-33 road win. Saturday night saw three games being played starting with Cedar Rapids hosting Sioux Falls. After being held to just field goals early in the game and a delay due to issues with the boards, the Storm came out on top with a 46-21 win over the Titans. Down in Texas, Wichita Falls hosted Salt Lake. The Screaming Eagles would hold a close game to the Nighthawks all night but ultimately fall 39-33 to the Nighthawks. Wrapping up the week was a clash between former af2 franchises as Green Bay visited the Iowa Barnstormers. In a back and forth game that both defenses showed themselves tough to beat all night, the Barnstormers came out with a 27-26 win thanks to a late touchdown and interception on the following drive.
Week 9 will see all 10 teams playing 5 games over just two days. That's right no stupid Thursday, Sunday, or Monday night games!! Three games are played on Friday night starting off with the Wichita Falls Nighthawks (6-1) hosting the Cedar Rapids Titans (1-6) at 7:05 PM CT. The middle game Friday is an Intense Conference matchup as Arizona (3-3) travels to Salt Lake (1-5). While this is the first time the Rattlers play the Screaming Eagles this isn't their first trip to the Maverik Center. The Rattlers previously played in the building back in 2010 when they beat the now defunct Utah Blaze 83-58 on May 28th in the first year of the reborn AFL. Wrapping up the Friday trifecta is Spokane Empire (4-2) hosting the Colorado Crush (1-5) at 9 PM CT. Saturday has just two games on deck with an Inter-Conference matchup between Iowa (4-2) and Nebraska (4-3). Out in South Dakota the Sioux Falls Storm (6-0) host Green Bay (2-5). And of course all IFL Games can be seen LIVE and FREE on YouTube.

Credit: Champions Indoor Football

Champions Indoor Football had just 5 games last weekend it kicked off with Du
ke City and CenTex. The Cavalry was no match for the Gladiators as Duke City came off the field with a 79-29 road victory. Saturday saw four games get played and the first one was an upset as the West Michigan Ironmen beat the Bloomington Edge 56-34, this comes as a shock as the Edge pounded them earlier this year 64-20 in Bloomington, IL. Next up was the CIF Game of the Week, a battle of the unbeatens as the Texas Revolution hosted the Dodge City Law from the Allen Event Center. All night long there was no clear outcome and it came down to the final seconds when Chris Dixon hooked up with Clinton Solomon from 13 yards out, followed up by a successful 2 point conversion sealed the game for the Revs. Out in Wichita the Force took down the Phantoms 48-31 in a clash of Kansas and Misssouri, while wrapping up the night was Dallas and Salina. The Marshals would make a statement at the Mesquite Arena (that statement being they aren't the worst team in the CIF) with a 36-19 win over the Liberty.
Week 8 kicks off with the second straight battle of the unbeatens on Thursday night as the Texas Revolution (4-0) host the Amarillo Venom (4-0) from the Allen Event Center at 7PM CT. The rest of the league plays on Saturday night with all games at 7PM CT. Those games are CenTex Cavalry vs Dallas Marshals, Dodge City Law vs Wichita Force, Omaha Beef vs West Michigan Ironmen, Duke City Gladiators vs Salina Liberty, and Sioux City Bandits vs Bloomington Edge. And as always games can be seen LIVE on Eversport.

Credit: National Arena League

On to the newest of the bunch, the National Arena League. This league has been going through issues this season and not just normal first year league issues. There have been multiple reports that the Corpus Christi Rage have been taken over by the league. Then on gameday reports came in that Corpus Christi was having transportation issues both getting to and leaving the game in Albany. Unfortunately this isn't a surprise knowing the attendance problems they've had. The Rage, along with the Georgia Firebirds and Dayton Wolfpack have been in our death pool for NAL teams since they were announced. Don't expect to see any of these teams back next season and that would be for the best.
Last week featured 3 games played in the National Arena League starting off on Saturday with the delayed Georgia vs Corpus Christi game. The Firebirds wasted no time putting down the Rage and went on to win 76-26. Sunday saw two more games including the NAL Game of the Week between the Jacksonville Sharks and High Country Grizzlies. The Sharks held down the Grizzlies having a 41-0 shutout going by halftime. In the second half they let off the gas (just a bit) and cruised to a 68-21 win. Wrapping up the week was a showdown between two of the East's longest running franchises, as Lehigh Valley hosted Columbus at the PPL Center in Allentown, PA. The Steelhawks proved to be to much for the Lions to catch with a 60-54 win.
Week 5 features just one game this week originally there was two scheduled however with the Wolfpack now being a travel only team their home game vs Corpus Christi that was scheduled for Sunday the 16th was cancelled. But the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks (3-1) host the Georgia Firebirds (2-2) on Saturday at 6 PM CT.

 

With two great games and one beat down last week, this week looks to be about the same with the Game of the Week. The weekend opens on Thursday night from the Allen Event Center in Allen, TX with the CIF Game of the Week. Two unbeaten teams, the Texas Revolution (4-0) and Amarillo Venom (4-0), face off at 7 PM CT to determine whose on top in the South Division. The action continues on Saturday night with the NAL Game of the Week. At 6 PM CT the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks (3-1) host the Georgia Firebirds (2-2) from the PPL Center in Allentown, PA. Finishing off the week is the IFL Game of the Week when the Iowa Barnstormes (4-2) host the Nebraska Danger (4-3) from the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, IA. Both the NAL and IFL games can be seen LIVE and FREE on YouTube, while the CIF can be seen LIVE on Eversport.

Indoor Football Weekly #18

Seven weeks down now in indoor football, with both the IFL and CIF coming up on the halfway mark the NAL is coming up on a third of the way through the season. While the CIF playoff race is heating up the IFL seems almost decided and the NAL is just getting to the point of fighting for the playoffs.

Courtesy: Josh Resignalo 

Last week for 5 Questions we interviewed Wichita Falls head coach Billy Back, for this week we had the opportunity to interview Josh Resignalo, the Head Coach of the High Country Grizzlies of the National Arena League.

Q1 Ashle Norling: You are coaching a first year team (High Country Grizzlies) in a first year league (the NAL). Does that make this year any different from any other year?

Josh Resignalo: I don't think that it does. It's really like any other year for me. Even though the Grizzlies are a 1st year team, the roster is not. Quite a few veterans on our team. Yes we have a couple rookies, but most of these rookies have pro experience in the CFL or NFL. As far as the new league, I am excited to be in the NAL. 1st year league but the NAL has some really great teams.

Q2 AN: With the NAL playing Arena style and not traditional indoor football, is there a challenge to adjust to the style?

JR: Not at all every year that I have coached and played has been arena style rules. Have never been involved with the indoor rules like the IFL or CIF, I enjoy the Arena style.

Q3 AN: You have the highest scoring team in the NAL and just showed that against the Wolfpack. How do you continue that success throughout the year?

JR: I feel that we can keep the success going forward because it has been a total team effort. Our scoring has come from both sides of the ball. This is a QB league, and we have a great one in Stephen Panasuk. He is a great leader and the players give their all for him and that is why we are great on offense. Defensively we are lead by a great Coach in Damian Daniels. His experience has the defense playing great. We have one of the best defensive fronts in the league and that has really put the offense in some great scoring opportunities.

Q4 AN: As we enter the fourth week of the NAL who would you say have been your impact players thus far?

JR: We are really coming together as a team and that is really exciting to see. As of now offensively QB Stephen Panasuk leads the league in most categories offensively which he would definitely thank all his teammates for putting him in that position. WR Malachi Jones has emerged as an explosive play maker for us and excited to see his future unfold. Defensively we are lead by our defensive front, we rotate 5 guys that absolutely get it. They are DL Brandon Sutton, DL Larry Ford, DL Ethan Farmer, DL DeMarkus Berry, and LB Chase Blackburn.

Q5 AN: You have your first meeting of the season against a former AFL team, the unbeaten Jacksonville Sharks. What will you do to give the Sharks their first loss of the season?

JR: The best thing for us to do is to do what we do. Don't change anything and keep playing our game. We went into camp to be the best team that we can be, the only team that can beat us is ourselves. With that mentality anything can happen on any given night. Jacksonville is a great city, great organization, and a great team. (They) Have some of the best front office personnel and coaching staff in the game. Jacksonville will be a great test for us to see where we actually are as a team. Lehigh gave them a game, so I don't see anything less then a great game from both sides. Which that will be great for the fans.
I want to say thank you to Grizzlies head coach Josh Resignalo for giving me the opportunity to interview him and good luck the rest of the season coach!

Credit: Indoor Football League

Before we get into covering last weeks games, the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles and Project FANCHISE made another desperate attempt for publicity last week. The team gave the fans the opportunity to vote whether or not to sign Greg Hardy. Whether or not he was interested in actually signing doesn't matter at this point. Greg Hardy, was back in 2014 convicted of assaulting his ex-girlfriend. Everything this team has been doing has been making the club and the league look like a complete joke.

The Indoor Football League's Week 7 was absolutely filled with close games. As normal the week started off on Friday night with a single game as Colorado faced Salt Lake in round 2 of the FANCHISE Bowl. That game however, while archived on YouTube now, was ONLY available on Twitch.tv. The IFL who has stated that all games will be available FREE on YouTube was not on there. I'm not sure how the league is taking this but I would be upset about that stunt. But anyway the Crush managed their first win of the season, with a 52-49 road win over Salt Lake. The next three games were all on Saturday night. Opening with Green Bay hosting Cedar Rapids. The Titans would be the second team of the week to get their first win with a 41-37 upset win on the road against the Blizzard. In the second game of the night Arizona faced off with the Wichita Falls Nighthawks. The Nighthawks prevailed. In the IFL Game of the Week, the Spokane Empire played host to the Nebraska Danger. In yet another thrilling upset this week the Danger knocked off the Empire on the road to tie for first in the Intense Conference.

Week 8 kicks off with a bang on Friday night when the Arizona Rattlers head to Grand Island to take on the Danger at 7:05PM CT. Saturday night is a busy night with three games at 7:05PM CT as Cedar Rapids hosts Sioux Falls. On top of that game Iowa hosts Green Bay and Wichita Falls hosts Salt Lake. And of course all the games will be LIVE and FREE on YouTube.

Credit: Champions Indoor Football

Champions Indoor Football has now played 6 of it's 15 week season. Week 6 gave us plenty of both good and bad football. Kicking off with a single game on Friday it was the CIF Game of the Week. A fight to the finish saw the game go to overtime with Sioux City beating Omaha 63-56 at the Ralston Arena. Saturday gave us 5 games to watch starting with Dodge City crushing the Dallas Marshals 56-19. Next up was an All-Kansas clash between the Salina Liberty and Wichita Force. In a tight game from the Tony's Pizza Events Center the Force defeated the Liberty 34-28. In Belton, TX at the Bell County Expo Center the Texas Revs would manhandle the CenTex Cavalry 83-35. Out in Bloomington at the same time the Edge faced off with the Kansas City Phantoms. Bloomington edged out the Phantoms by a score of 55-43. Finishing off the games on Saturday was a matchup of two expansion teams as West Michigan traveled to Bismarck to take on the Bucks. The Ironmen prevaled in Bismarck winning 64-57 and the Ironmen's first ever win in the CIF. Sunday night saw the weekend end with Amarillo hosting Duke City. The Gladiators weren't able to overcome the Venom as Amarillo took a 62-59 win.

As with last week, this week also starts off with some big news on the coaching front. This time the CenTex Cavalry announced that Adrian Perez will be assuming the role as head coach. Now this comes as a very late announcement as Perez has already coached two games as Cavalry head coach.

Week 7 kicks off on Friday night when CenTex hosts Duke City at 7PM CT. Saturday has four games being played starting with West Michigan hosting Bloomington at 6PM CT. Three games will be played at 7PM CT with a battle of the unbeatens as Texas hosts Dodge City, Wichita hosts Kansas City, and Salina travels to Mesquite to play the Dallas Marshals. All games are viewable on Eversport.

Credit: National Arena League

On the National Arena League front all 8 teams saw action in Week 3 over the course of four games. On Saturday the NAL would start the week out fast with the NAL Game of the Week as Jacksonville hosted Lehigh Valley. The Sharks would take down a determined Lehigh Valley Steelhawks team by a final score of 57-43. The other game on Saturday saw the High Country Grizzlies host the Wolfpack. High Country would dominate the Wolfpack and almost get a shutout by a final score of 94-6. On Sunday afternoon the Columbus Lions hosted the Georgia Firebirds from the Columbus Civic Center. Even though the Firebirds were coming in with an 0-2 record they fought the Lions all game long but would fall to Columbus 63-50 as the Lions pulled away late in the game. The NAL's Monday Night Football game would be played as the Monterrey Steel hosted the Corpus Christi Rage for the second time in 3 weeks. The Rage again proved to be no match for the Steel as Monterrey won 57-28. 

Week 4 sees just 6 teams playing 3 games. Originally all teams were scheduled to play however the Dayton vs Monterrey game was cancelled when Dayton was replaced with the travel only Atlanta based Wolfpack. On Saturday night at 6PM CT the Georgia Firebirds host the Corpus Christi Rage from the Albany Civic Center in Albany, GA. On Sunday afternoon at 2:30 PM CT the Jacksonville Sharks take on the High Country Grizzlies in Boone, NC. Wrapping up the week on Sunday at 4PM CT is a well known matchup as Lehigh Valley hosts Columbus from the PPL Center in Allentown, PA. This week all games are viewable LIVE and FREE on YouTube.

Last week the Games of the Week brought another great set of games yet again. This week looks to be just as good. It all starts on Friday night with the IFL Game of the Week. From the Eihusen Arena in Grand Island the Nebraska Danger (4-2) host the Arizona Rattlers (2-3). This game is a great showdown between teams competing for a playoff spot in the IFL's Intense Conference. The action continues with the CIF Game of the Week on Saturday night at 7PM CT. A battle of unbeaten clubs will see the Texas Revolution (3-0) host the Dodge City Law (5-0) from the Allen Event Center in Allen, TX. It all finishes it out with the NAL Game of the Week on Sunday at 2:30 PM CT. The leagues highest scoring team the High Country Grizzlies (2-1) take on the former AFL club, the Jacksonville Sharks (3-0). Both the IFL and NAL games can be viewed LIVE and FREE on YouTube while the CIF can be viewed on Eversport.

Indoor Football Weekly #17

We are now one third of the way through the 2017 season, as we continue with 2017 we've seen some surprises, and of course some of the same old same old.

Credit: Wichita Falls Time News Record

This week we start a new segment called 5 Questions. This will be done throughout the season interviewing players, coaches, etc from teams around the CIF, IFL, and NAL. This week we had the pleasure of interviewing Wichita Falls Nighthawks Head Coach Billy Back.
Q1 Ashle Norling: Coach, you have one of the highest scoring offenses in the IFL and we know what happened in Sioux Falls last week. After that game are there any adjustments you'll be doing going forward?
Billy Back: No need to panic and make whole else changes, we missed out on a lot of opportunities early in the game. We rush play calls, tripped on open routes and had a few key wide open TD's batted down. We just need to get our rhythm back and move the ball like we know we can. I give Coach Hermanson and that Storm defense a ton of credit also, they are dangerous.
Q2 AN: You're playing Arizona this weekend, a former AFL team on the road in "The Snake Pit". Does that combination change your game plan at all?
BB: No it doesn't effect what we do. They have a great tradition 25 years strong with a great coach. We are looking forward to playing in a great venue with so much Arena football history in it.
Q3 AN: With the return of K Rockne Belmonte a few weeks ago, how has that changed and or improved your overall kicking game?
BB: He's hands down the best kicker in the league. He's equally a weapon (as) anyone on our team. Tanner did a great job filling in and has a future with us once Rock decides to hang them up... but we'll do everything we can to keep Rock kicking as a Nighthawk!
Q4 AN: We are a third of the way through the season now. At this point who would you say have been your impact players on offense and defense?
BB: On offense it's out QB Charles McCullum and our entire offense... we go as a collective group, if one piston isn't firing then we sputter... On Defense it starts up front with Big Walter Thomas and goes to DB Mike Green... We have to get Defensive ends to pick up their play to compliment what Big Walt brings to the table.
Q5 AN: With going to the playoffs last year and dropping it to Cedar Rapids. The slogan this year for the Nighthawks has been Unfinished Business. How is this team different from last year's and other clubs around the league?
BB: This year's team expects to get the job done and is playing with a chip on it's shoulders as where last season it was a learning experience and a guessing game on who we had and how we would perform... So far we have handled the business besides this past week but things will change in time, we have to get back to just worrying about us.
I want to say thank you too Nighthawks head coach Billy Back for being the first person we've interviewed for Indoor Football Weekly. Thank you coach and good luck the rest of the season.

Credit: Indoor Football League

The IFL's Week 6 felt well bipolar in terms of how games went. The games started on Friday with just a single contest as Spokane hosted Salt Lake. In a fairly close game (for Salt Lake standards) the Empire showed the Screaming Eagles whose boss with a 53-36 win at home. The following night both games we're played at the same time with Nebraska hosting Colorado and Wichita Falls traveling to Sioux Falls. At Eihusen Arena in Grand Island the Danger came through and dominated the Crush the entire night taking a home victory with a final score of 55-23. At the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center was a battle of the unbeatens in the IFL Game of the Week. Sioux Falls started out hard and had a 28-10 lead at halftime. The Storm would pull out to an even larger lead in the 3rd scoring 13 unanswered points. After 3 quarters of football the Storm would cruise to a 55-21 victory to move to 5-0 on the season. Sunday afternoon saw two more games as Cedar Rapids faced off with the Iowa Barnstormers and Green Bay faced Arizona. In Des Moines the Barnstormers, for (officially) the first time, beat Titans 46-23. In Green Bay the Rattlers just held on to beat the Blizzard by a final score of 30-29.
Week 7 in the IFL kicks off on Friday night when another round of the FANCHISE Bowl when Salt Lake hosts Colorado at 8PM CT. Saturday night sees three more games being played. Starting at 7:00 PM CT when Arizona hosts Wichita Falls. Next up at 7:05 PM CT (yes a whole 5 mins later) sees Green Bay play host to Cedar Rapids. The week wraps up with the Spokane Empire playing host to Nebraska. As always the games are LIVE and FREE on YouTube.

Credit: Champions Indoor Football

In Champions Indoor Football, Week 5 has come and gone but gave us plenty of exciting football. Opening up the weekend was a DFW Area clash as the Dallas Marshals traveled to Allen to play the Texas Revolution. The Marshals would get punished on the Revs red turf by a final score of 61-18. Saturday night saw the other five games get played. In the CIF Game of the Week the Amarillo Venom took on the reigning CIF Champion Wichita Force at the INTRUST Bank Arena in Wichita, KS. In a game that was close for 60 minutes the Venom got revenge on the Force with a 56-47 win. Also in Kansas an in-state showdown was happening again between Dodge City and Salina, the Law proved more efficient then the Liberty with an 87-42 win. Out in Albuquerque the Duke City Gladiators slaughtered the Cavalry in battle winning 75-14 over CenTex. Bloomington's US Cellular Coliseum was the setting not only for the closest (and lowest scoring) CIF game but also a fun Twitter battle between the Edge and the Bucks. Well Bloomington's fan supported the Edge who took down the Bucks 24-21. Wrapping it all up was the Kansas City Phantoms and Sioux City Bandits. The unbeaten Bandits flexed their muscles and showed why they are the team to beat knocking off Kansas City 62-35.
Week 6 starts with some HOT news as Salina Liberty head coach Eric Clayton resigned effective immediately on Tuesday night. Salina is currently sitting at 0-4 on the season and Clayton has a record of 2-14 as the only coach the club has known since replacing the Salina Bombers. Current offensive coordinator Mike Bonner has been named Interim Head Coach, while the Liberty conduct a coaching search, and John Ludas will move to the defensive coordinator role.
The games this week kick off with a single Friday night game when Sioux City travels to Omaha to take on the Beef at 7PM CT. Saturday night will again see 5 games this week starting when Dallas heads to Dodge City as the Marshals will try and break the Law for the first time this season at 6:30 PM CT. Also at 6:30 PM CT and also in Kansas is yet another in-state clash as the 1-3 Wichita Force play the 0-4 Salina Liberty. 3 games are set for a 7PM CT kickoff with CenTex hosting the Texas Revs, Kansas City hosting Bloomington, and Bismarck hosting a winless West Michigan team. The week caps off on Sunday night as the Amarillo Venom face off with the Duke City Gladiators at 7PM CT in Amarillo. As always the CIF games can be viewed on Eversport.

Credit: National Arena League

Now moving to the National Arena League and to get started let's go over how the league looks heading into Week 3. As much as I want this league to succeed things are not looking up for the NAL. With the Dayton fiasco, the anemic attendance in Albany (Georgia Firebirds) and now problems in Corpus Christi and Monterrey. In Monterrey the issue is that while they have live television in Mexico somewhere along the lines they have not streamed their home games live. With not showing the game live and moving back the broadcast and effectively lying about that is not a good start. In Corpus Christi things are much more severe. First the turf is reportedly in very poor condition, and considering it's the Corpus Christi Sharks (who last played in 2009). The goalposts were also very bent and uneven, along with being hung at 10' rather than the 15' that every other team in the NAL uses. Adding to the list of issues a player for both the Rage and the Lions was hurt and both were turf related injuries. This is not the start the NAL wanted or needed in it's first season.
Recapping Week 2 in the NAL two games opened the week at 6PM CT as Jacksonville played Georgia and in the NAL Game of the Week; High Country hosted Lehigh Valley. Down in Florida a very unsurprising outcome happened as the Sharks beat the Firebirds 55-26 in front of 7,156 fans. In Boone, NC a very entertaining Game of the Week happened. With both the Grizzlies and Steelhawks having streaks of scoring and no lead ever being safe the entire night it showed both teams came to play. Lehigh Valley just was the better team that night spoiling the Grizzlies first ever home opener 48-42. Sunday night saw the Columbus Lions travel to Corpus Christi to play the Rage. Just like the Georgia Firebirds the Rage had a very anemic attendance at the American Bank Center. At least the fans were able to get in the building unlike the now defunct Fury's home opener in 2016. As bad as it was off the field it was even worse on the field as the Lions roared to an 85-18 victory over the hometown Rage. And finishing off the week was the Monterrey Steel hosting the Wolfpack. The Steel would make the traveling Wolfpack regret the trip with a 61-24 win.
Week 3 again has 4 games with all 8 teams playing and just like Week 2, two games are on Saturday, one on Sunday, and one on Monday. On Saturday night at 6PM CT Lehigh Valley heads to Jacksonville at the same time the Wolfpack play the High Country Grizzlies in Boone, NC. On Sunday afternoon the Columbus Lions host in state rival the Georgia Firebirds at 5PM CT. And wrapping up Week 3 is their second matchup in 3 weeks, as the Monterrey Steel host the Corpus Christi Rage.

After a good set of games last week, this weeks games have a lot to live up too. First up is the CIF Game of the Week on Friday night when the Omaha Beef (2-1) hosts the Sioux City Bandits (4-0) at 7PM CT from the Ralston Arena in Ralston, NE. Both teams faced off back in Week 1 when Sioux City took out the Beef 63-44 at the Gateway Arena at Tyson Event Center. On Saturday at 6PM CT is the NAL Game of the Week as the Jacksonville Sharks host the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks from "The Shark Tank" Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena. Both Jacksonville and Lehigh Valley enter the game at 2-0 in the NAL's inaugural season. This will be the Steelhawks and Sharks first ever meeting in both clubs history. Wrapping up the week is the IFL Game of the Week as at 9PM CT the Spokane Empire host the Nebraska Danger from the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. Both the IFL and NAL games can be viewed LIVE and FREE on YouTube while the CIF is available on Eversport.

Indoor Football Weekly #16

Credit: Our Sports Central

We're through five weeks of indoor football now and coming up on week six. This week we have the most games played so far this year. 15 games, 5 in the IFL, 4 in the NAL, and 6 in the CIF, make up this weeks games.

Last week we saw what 2004 offered us, this week our trip through the history brings us into 2005. With 2005 saw the most leagues playing up to this point with four. Both the APFL and NIFL would return from 2004 while the Intense Football League would take 2005 off as it would be on a one year hiatus. Two new leagues we're also formed, United Indoor Football a league based mostly in the Midwest, along with the Atlantic Indoor Football League, a league based in the Eastern US formed by five expansion teams and one former NIFL club (Johnstown formerly Greeneville in the NIFL) for it's inaugural six teams.
The APFL who had four clubs in 2004 lost the Texas Thunder, who only lasted one season, but did add the Kansas Storm, Nebraska Bears, and Wichita Aviators too compete with six teams in 2005. The NIFL had 26 teams in 2004 lost 10 clubs (mostly to the new UIF and one to the new AIFL) to new leagues, 7 teams (Atlantic City, Colorado, Houma, Lake Charles, Tri-City, Utah, and Wichita Falls) that folded. That meant that only 9 teams returned to the league for the 2005 season, 13 new teams were added to give a total of 24 teams for 2005. The newly formed Atlantic Indoor Football League had six teams, with 5 expansion teams and from the NIFL the RiverHawks who moved from Greenville, SC to Johnstown, PA. In United Indoor Football it was made up EXCLUSIVELY of existing franchises. 9 of the 11 moved from the NIFL while Peoria (formerly the Pirates now the Rough Riders) and Tennessee Valley (formerly the Vipers now the Raptors) moved from arenafootball2.
The APFL's third season would see the Kansas Koyotes take on the Iowa Blackhawks, who had beat Wichita in the Semi-Final, for the APFL Championship. The Koyotes would reign supreme again barely edging out Iowa 26-24 at the Landon Arena to go 9-0 for a third straight season. While in the AIFL the playoffs looked a little different for a six team league as all six teams would qualify for the playoffs. After 2 rounds of playoffs the number one and two seeds, Richmond and Erie would play for the 2005 AIFL Championship. The Bandits would come out on top with a 56-30 road win over the Erie Freeze. The National Indoor Football League, even with all it's turmoil, saw this biggest amount of playoff teams at 16, just like the year before. With Indoor Bowl V being played at Three Rivers Coliseum in Kennewick, WA. With a sellout crowd seeing the expansion Fever taking on the Rome (GA) Renegades, Tri-Cities took the Championship 47-31. In the first year United Indoor Football 8 teams (of the leagues 11) would go into it's inaugural playoffs. UIF United Bowl I would be held at the Gateway Arena at Tyson Event Center in Sioux City, IA. The hometown Bandits would fall in a tough game 40-38 to their arch rival, the Sioux Falls Storm. United Bowl I was the Storm's first ever league Championship and set off the pace for the team that would win 10 titles in 12 seasons.

Credit: Indoor Football League

With the IFL's Week 5 in the books it was well not what we had expected at all. Kicking off the week was Colorado hosting Spokane. The Empire would put the Crush down in an avalanche by a score of 70-37. With no games on Saturday the next one was a Sunday matinee in Cedar Rapids, between the Titans and Blizzard. After a very close game and leading the entire time, the Titans would drop the game in the final minute to the Blizzard 34-28. To wrap up the IFL was a Monday Night clash between the Sioux Falls Storm and Iowa Barnstormers in our IFL Game of the Week. The game would be exactly the opposite of what was expected. Iowa made mistakes, everything from penalties to turnovers to bad snaps, and everything else you can think of all night long. The Storm would take those and use them to the fullest extent and absolutely massacre Iowa 70-13.
Week 6 has all ten teams playing once again this weekend. The weeks kicks off on Friday at 9PM (CT) with Spokane vs Salt Lake. It's followed up on Saturday with two games at 7:05PM (CT) with Wichita Falls visiting Sioux Falls and the Nebraska Danger hosting the Colorado Crush. Sunday finishes the week with two games, Iowa hosts Cedar Rapids in the Barnstormers home opener at 3:05PM (CT). While the Arizona Rattlers travel to Green Bay to take on the Blizzard also at 3:05PM (CT) from the Resch Center. As always the games are LIVE and FREE on YouTube.

Credit: Champions Indoor Football

In the CIF, Week 4 saw all 14 teams play 7 games for the first time this season. The opening game saw the Sioux City Bandits defeat the Bismarck Bucks 30-16 with the only game on Friday night. Saturday saw the other six games played. The defending league champion Wichita Force dropped their second game of the season 40-38 on the road against the Duke City Gladiators. Next up was another matchup between expansion teams as Kansas City traveled to Muskegon, MI. The Phantoms just edged out the Ironmen 50-47 to win their first game in franchise history, the Ironmen, who are last year's AIF Runner-Up, is still winless in the CIF. For the third straight week we had an all-Kansas showdown as Salina hosted Dodge City. The Law would edge the Liberty 34-32 putting Dodge City to 3-0 and Salina to 0-3. The Omaha Beef knocked off the Bloomington Edge in another close on 55-50. While in Amarillo the Venom hosted the Marshals and would take that game at home 59-32. The final game was our CIF Game of the Week between the Texas Revolution and CenTex Cavalry. And while yes it was the beatdown you expected with the Revs taking down CenTex 69-21, it featured the return of one of the sports greatest, Chris Dixon, who made his debut at Revs QB. Dixon looked as sharp as ever in that game.
The CIF's Week 5 will have six games, kicking off on Thursday when the Texas Revolution host the Dallas Marshals at 7PM (CT). Saturday features the other five games this week starting with yet another all-Kansas clash when Salina heads to Dodge City to play the Law at 6:30PM (CT). At 7PM (CT) Wichita will host Amarillo, Duke City hosts CenTex, the Bismarck Bucks travel to Bloomington to face the Edge, and Kansas City heads north to take on the Bandits in Sioux City. All games can be viewed of course on Eversport.

Credit: National Arena League

The National Arena League finally kicked off it's inaugural season this past weekend and it opened up with the NAL Game of the Week on Friday at 6PM. "The Jungle" the Columbus Civic Center with 2,456 fans inside the building the hometown, and two time consecutive (2015 PIFL and 2016 AIF) Champion, Lions hosted the former AFL club the Jacksonville Sharks. The game would NOT start very pretty and saw the Sharks storm out to an early lead and by halftime the game was 40-20. With a 20 point lead in hand the Sharks cruised out to a 56-41 victory to win the inaugural game in NAL history. With one game being played each night over the weekend Saturday saw the Georgia Firebirds host the High Country Grizzlies from the Albany Civic Center in Albany, GA. High Country would take this game by a score of 62-29 beating a team that just was terrible in the AIF in 2016. Sunday saw the Atlanta based Wolfpack travel up to the PPL Center in Allentown, PA to play the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks. Lehigh Valley would crush the Wolfpack with a final of 66-25. The final game of the week, which wasn't even shown live like promised by the NAL, was Monterrey hosting Corpus Christi. The Steel we're the much better team and held a shutout much of the night winning 55-12 over the Rage.
Now something that was very interesting is during the Lehigh Valley-"Dayton" game the Steelhawks owner stated that there would be four expansion teams coming in for the 2018 season. A league that hadn't even completed it's first week of play touting expansion teams. Plus add the fact that "Dayton" is based out of Atlanta and is not really known what will happen to them after this year. The NAL is sounder more and more like the winner that the AIF was. Well on Monday the NAL announced the first of the expansion teams for 2018, the Jersey Flight. This team will be based out of Trenton, NJ Sun National Bank Center. This market is one of the most well known for being terrible for all sports, multiple indoor football, hockey, and basketball teams have failed just inside that building.
For Week 2 of the NAL's first season the games start on Saturday with two being played at 6PM (CT). Jacksonville will host Georgia in the Sharks 2017 home opener. The other game on Saturday has High Country hosting Lehigh Valley in the Grizzlies first ever home game. Sunday at 7PM (CT) has the Corpus Christi Rage facing the Columbus Lions. This will be the Rage's first ever game at the American Bank Center as they replace the former Corpus Christi Fury who played there from 2004-06 and 2010-16. The final game of the week is on Monday night at 9PM (CT) when Monterrey hosts the Wolfpack. And per the NAL, and just like the IFL, all games are LIVE and FREE on YouTube.

Now that all three leagues are playing as of last week there will be three (one from each league) Games of the Week until the playoffs start. This weekend all three will be played on Saturday night and they start with the NAL Game of the Week. This week sees the High Country Grizzlies (1-0) host the Lehigh Valley Steelahwks (1-0). This will be the Grizzlies first ever home game in franchise history as they kickoff at 6PM (CT) from the George M. Holmes Convocation Center in Boone, NC. High Country vs Lehigh Valley is LIVE and FREE on YouTube. Next up is the CIF Game of the Week is a rematch from last years Champions Bowl II in the same building, the INTRUST Bank Arena as the Wichita Force (1-2) host the Amarillo Venom (2-0) in a South Division clash at 7PM (CT). The CIF Game of the Week is available of course on Eversport. And finally now the IFL Game of the Week, this has got to be the most exciting of all the games this week. A battle of the United Conference unbeatens is the game. At 7PM (CT) the Sioux Falls Storm (4-0) with the leagues toughest defense takes on the Wichita Falls Nighthawks (4-0) with the leagues highest scoring offense. If you only can watch one game the IFL Game of the Week is definitely the one to go towards.

Indoor Football Weekly #15

Credit: Topeka Capital-Journal

Week Five on Indoor Football is coming up this week. A full month after the Indoor Football League and the sport kicked off the 2017 season, all leagues finally enter the regular season. Yes that's right the last league to start, the National Arena League kicks off this week!

Last week we covered 2003, this week we step into our time machine going back to 2004. This would be the first season in the history of the sport that more than two leagues we're active in the same year. Both the APFL and NIFL would return from 2003, they would be joined by the Texas-based Intense Football League. The APFL after having 3 clubs in 2003 would go to four for the 2004 season as the Iowa Blackhawks and Texas Thunder we're added after the St. Joseph Explorers folded. The NIFL would see the league jump to 25 teams and the Intense Football League would start off it's existence with six brand new teams all based in Texas. In the American Professional Football League with the Koyotes looking to repeat as Champions they would face the Missouri Minutemen once again for the title. This time it was an even worse beatdown as Kansas would win 64-6 over Missouri to finish the season 9-0 once again. The Intense Football League would see four of it's six teams qualify for the playoffs after playing a 16 game regular season. Intense Bowl I would see the Amarillo Dusters take down the Lubbock Lone Stars 62-47 and win an Indoor Football championship before heading off to arenafootball2 for 2005. Finally after another marathon 14 game season in the NIFL, which saw four teams fail to complete the entire season, 12 of it's teams would make the playoffs. Indoor Bowl IV would be the first time that Sioux Falls would make a league championship, however they dropped the game and NIFL Championship 59-38 to the Lexington Horsemen. As of 2017 only Amarillo (now the Venom in the CIF), Omaha, Sioux City, and Sioux Falls still exist.

Credit: Indoor Football League

The IFL's Week 4, for the first time all season had all 10 teams play in one weekend. Saturday saw three of the five games being played on that night alone. Wichita Falls would move to 4-0 on the season with a 42-23 road win over Cedar Rapids. Sioux Falls for the second time this season barely squeaked away with a last minute 42-28 road win over Nebraska. And in the final game Arizona hosted the Colorado Crush, and in blowout fashion won their first IFL game 71-27. Sunday afternoon saw our IFL Game of the Week played for Week 4, the Iowa Barnstormers traveled to Green Bay. At the Resch Center on Sunday afternoon Iowa took down the Blizzard 49-30 to move up to 2-1 on the season. And on Monday night a closer than expected game was seen when Spokane edged out Salt Lake 41-35.
Now on to the IFL POWER RANKINGS by Banana Cat, no positions have changed since last week so at #1 is Sioux Falls Storm (3-0), #2 Wichita Falls Nighthawks (4-0), #3 Spokane Empire (2-1), #4 Iowa Barnstormers (2-1). In the bottom six: 5) Arizona, 6) Nebraska, 7) Green Bay, 8) Salt Lake, 9) Colorado, 10) Cedar Rapids.
For Week 5 we have 6 teams playing 3 games. On Friday night Spokane heads to Colorado to take on the Crush at 8PM CT. With no games on Saturday the next matchup sees Green Bay (1-2) head to Cedar Rapids (0-3) at 3:05 PM CT. Finally it wraps up again with the IFL version of Monday Night Football when Sioux Falls (3-0) hosts Iowa (2-1) at 6:00 PM. And of course all the games are LIVE and FREE on YouTube!

Credit: Champions Indoor Football

In the CIF's Week 3 we got treated to plenty of games and some GREAT football from Champions Indoor Football! It opened on Friday with the only game of the night (from any league) when Omaha crushed Salina 76-44 at the Ralston Arena. The busiest day was definitely Saturday with three games, starting with Bismarck and West Michigan. In a very close game between two of the four expansion teams Bismarck took the game 40-33. Up next was the CIF Game of the Week for Week 3 between Wichita and Dodge City. In a back and forth game that would take until the very end to be decided the Law beat the Force 42-39! And wrapping up Saturday Amarillo traveled to Albuquerque taking on the Duke City Gladiators. Duke City, who was wearing uniforms honoring the old AAA PCL Albuquerque Dukes, lost in overtime on a 2 point conversion 70-69 to Amarillo. Wrapping up the week was the CIF's version of Monday Night Football when Bloomington headed to the Silverstein Eye Care Centers Arena to play the Kansas City Phantoms. The expansion Phantoms managed to hold their own against Bloomington, but fell 43-37 to the Edge.
Now for our CIF POWER RANKINGS thanks to Banana Cat, staying at the #1 spot (thanks to signing legendary IFL QB Chris Dixon) is the Texas Revolution, Sioux City has moved up one spot to #2, Bloomington has also moved up one spot to #3, and Amarillo has moved up one spot and into the top 4. The next 10 are: 5) Dodge City (up one spot), 6) Wichita (down 4 spots), 7) Omaha (up one spot), 8) Kansas City (up one spot), 9) Duke City (down two spots). The bottom five, 10) Bismarck, 11) Dallas, 12) Salina, 13) CenTex, and 14) West Michigan, have all stayed the same.
Jumping now to Week 4 we finally see all 14 teams play this week. Friday again sees just one game when Sioux City heads to Bismarck at 7PM. Saturday sees a whopping six games and that all starts at 5PM CT when Wichita plays on the road at Duke City, 6PM will see another all expansion game as Kansas City will travel to Muskegon, MI to play West Michigan. Yet another all Kansas showdown for Dodge City as the Law play in Salina at 6:30 PM CT. At 7PM CT alone, Omaha at Bloomington, Texas Revs (and QB Chris Dixon) play their first game of 2017 against CenTex, and last but not least Dallas will play the Venom in Amarillo. All games are viewable on Eversport.

Credit: National Arena League

And now the last league to kickoff it's 2017, and in this case inaugural campaign, the National Arena League opens play this weekend. Before we preview the games let's take a look at our NAL POWER RANKINGS by Banana Cat. at the top spot is the former AFL club, the Jacksonville Sharks, at #2 is the 2015 PIFL and 2016 AIF Champion Columbus Lions, #3 is the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks, and at #4 is the Monterrey Steel who have just signed former NFL'er Jacoby Jones. In the bottom four is 5) High Country Grizzlies, 6) Corpus Christi Rage, 7) Georgia Firebirds, and 8) the Atlanta based Wolfpack saying their from Dayton. Now for anyone who is new to the NAL or to Indoor Football Weekly, let's clear up the Atlanta/Dayton Wolfpack. Dayton had been announced as an expansion club for the then named Arena Development League, the ADL would change it's name to the NAL when Jacksonville joined the league. Nothing had ever been announced of an official lease for Dayton to play in the Nutter Center, the only Dayton area arena left that could host indoor football. Just about one month ago the Dayton Wolfpack we're folded by the National Arena League and replaced by an Atlanta based travel only team playing under the Dayton Wolfpack name. This had the effect of the league going from each team playing 12 games to Dayton playing 7 and other teams playing between 10 and 12 games.
Now that the Atlanta/Dayton fiasco is out of the way let's go to the games. Now another drawback to the NAL (other than it picking up where the AIF led off) is that each team controls their own streaming, not the league like the CIF and IFL. *UPDATE* As of around 6PM (CT) on 3/15/17 the National Arena League announced that they would partner with YouTube for the 2017 season. All games with the exception of Lions home games will be streamed on YouTube, Lions home games will be streamed via CTV Beam online at a price of $9.99 per home game or $49.99 for the season. The NAL opens play with by far it's biggest game of the year on Friday at 6PM CT when the Columbus Lions host the Jacksonville Sharks. Saturday has two more games played as the High Country Grizzlies travel to Albany, GA to play the Georgia Firebirds and the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks host Atlanta (playing as the Dayton Wolfpack). The NAL also caps off the week with it's version of Monday Night Football when the Monterrey Steel host the Corpus Christi Rage.

For the first time this season all three leagues have a Game of the Week. Kicking off our games this week is the Friday Night Showdown in the National Arena League between the Jacksonville Sharks and Columbus Lions. This game is being played at 6PM CT at "The Jungle" the Columbus Civic Center, it's the first ever meeting between these teams and first game in NAL history. The Sharks first non-AFL game against a two time defending champion team, in a new league with new rules. You can watch the Lions vs Sharks online on CTV Beam. The CIF Game of the Week will be on Saturday night at 7PM when Chris Dixon comes back for the first time in two seasons to lead the Texas Revolution against the CenTex Cavalry at the Bell County Expo Center in Belton, TX. The CIF game of course will be on Eversport. And finally we end with the IFL Game of the Week, a Monday Night Showdown between the Sioux Falls Storm and the Iowa Barnstormers. Sioux Falls has never lost inside the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center and Iowa has never beaten the Storm, however the Storm do NOT look like an unbeatable goliath and have barely edged out two of three wins. On the opposite side the Barnstormers look to have their best team since their 2010 af2 playoff appearance. Sioux Falls vs Iowa kicks off at 6PM CT and can be seen LIVE and FREE on YouTube. And as always if you want to try the challenge you can pick the games here.