Thursday, June 30, 2011

"Kicking the Uno" to air live on Sports Radio 910 July 9th

As part of "Walk on Week 2011" on Richmond Sports Radio 910, a 60 minute show dedicated to professional indoor football will air at 12:01pm on July 9th. 

"Kicking the Uno" will be hosted by myself, Ruben Foster, and will include in studio guests Richmond Raider Business Operations Manager Gary Criswell and former Richmond Raider Lawrence "The Law" Lewis.  SIFL PR guru Dan Ryan, IFL commish Tommy Benizio and Richmond Raider kicker Joshua Smith round off the guest list.  Listeners are encouraged to call in to the show by dialing 804-345-0910.

Topics will include the current state of indoor football, long terms plans for local teams and player backgrounds.

For more information on "Walk on Week 2011".
http://www.sportsradio910.com/pages/walkonweek2011.html

To stream live on July 9th outside of the Richmond, VA area.
http://www.sportsradio910.com/

Follow me on twitter @rubenfoster or email comments to coachingubigr@aol.com

Richmond Revolution Returning in 2012

For months now the indoor football community has speculated that the Richmond Revolution would fold sometime between now and next Spring.  Apparently the Revolution are planning to move forward and field a team in 2012 proving us all wrong.

http://www.richmondrevolution.com/tickets/ticket-info.html

The team has posted rates for 2012 season tickets on their official website, a clear sign that Steve Burton has no intention of calling it quits even after finishing the season 3-11 and playing many a rainy outdoor football game.  It remains to be seen if the Revolution will play indoors next year given the lack of facilities at the SportsQuest campus.  Eventually they will have to play indoors since it is the Indoor Football League.

Also, please forgive me Revolution fans reading this, but it is time to stop clinging to "2010 Franchise of the Year". The Revolution and the Raiders have both won an equal amount of playoff games: 0.  Its time to move on already.

My apologizes to Robbie and Shawn.

Follw me on twitter @rubenfoster or email comments to coachingubigr@aol.com

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

SIFL Playoffs

The end of the SIFL playoffs are in sight and here is where the league stands.

In the Eastern Conference semi-finals the Columbus Lions beat out the upstart Trenton Steel 62-60 and the Albany Panther crushed the high power offense of the Erie Explosion 68-43.

In the Western Conference semi-finals the undefeated Houston Stallions defeated the Rio Grande Valley Magic 65-62 while the Louisiana Swashbucklers silenced the Corpus Christi Hammerheads 59-20.

The Eastern Conference title game pitted the Albany Panthers against the defending SIFL champion Lions in a heated rematch of the bitter rival teams. Albany was able to pull off the win 75 - 61.

The Western Conference title game had the undefeated Houston Stallions against the Louisiana Swashbucklers.  The Swashbucklers were able to pull off the upset and defeated the Stallions 56 - 41.

Just this afternoon the League announced the SIFL Championship game will take place this Saturday 7/02/11 in the James H Gray Civic Center in Albany, GA.  Pre-game festivities begin at 7pm and kick off at 7:30pm.

Good luck to both teams.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

The Current State of the Richmond Raiders

It is officially the offseason for the Richmond Raiders, and while the team missed the playoffs again, the Raiders did finish first in their division and were .500 on the season.  While matching their win total from the 2010 season in 2011, they played two fewer games when compared to the inaugural season which does show some improvement.

New front office staff Steve and Gary Criswell and new head coach James Fuller worked diligently to bring a great product to the Coliseum and overall better football was played.  The glaring problem this season was five different starting quarterbacks.  Officially the team stated changes at quarterback were injury related, but to the fans it appeared that Mike Potts and Aaron Alexander struggled when the pressure was on.  Both Potts and Alexander had difficulties with interceptions, with all Raider quarterbacks throwing 23 total INTs on the season.  Only the Fayetteville Force and Harrisburg Stampede had more INTs.  Antwon Young ended the season at quarterback after being released from the IFL Tri-City Fever, and showed he may have a future in Richmond.  New kicker Joshua Smith brought stability to special teams and the combination of Noland Burchette, Law Lewis, and Michael Woodhouse made for one of the top d-lines in the entire SIFL, with Woodhouse being number one leauge wide in total sacks. Lastly, DB Rece Thorne, who played minimally in the first half of the season, played well for the Raiders late replacing injured DB Stephen Cason and DB JR Rosegreen.

The SIFL itself is a complete train wreck.  League President Thom Hager sold off his stake in the Louisiana Swashbucklers last month and it appears the league will be toast as soon as championship game is over.  John Morris has made a commitment to the city of Baltimore to bring back a team to the Charm City under the AIFA, of which Morris will serve as its commish.  Current Texas based team owner Chad Dittman has openly expressed disgust with Hager and is rumored to be starting a new Texas only league. This all bodes poorly for the survival of the SIFL.

So where does that leave our Richmond Raiders? My money is on the IFL.  Team ownership is very familiar with John Morris and I think it's very unlikely they would be chomping at the bit to get back in business with the man.  But the IFL already has a team in the area, the 3-11 Richmond Revolution.  Whether the IFL would field two teams in the same city remains to be seen, but there have been rumors that the outdoor Revolution will fold before the year is over.  While this can not be confirmed, two things can be confirmed. There is no actual indoor football arena construction going on at the SportsQuest campus and there are no links for 2012 season tickets sales on the Revolution website.  This is either a sign of the teams inevitable failure or just laziness on the part of ownership. (The Revolution received special permission from the IFL commish to play outdoors in 2011.)  Lastly, I believe the IFL will be the home of the Raiders in 2011 because I spoke directly with IFL commish Tommy Benizio last month.  While it was a short conversation, he demonstrated an enormous interest in the Richmond Raiders and their ownership.  Benizio would love to have stable team in his home town.

Personally, I would love to see the Revolution and Raiders play each other 2012 as part of the IFL. Having a 'Richmond Bowl' would garner a ton of media coverage and could be a great thing for the sport.  Plus the bragging rights would be epic and travel costs minimal.

Follow Ruben Foster on twitter @rubenfoster or email comments to coachingubigr@aol.com