Rude awakening
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There are 35 teams in the National Indoor Football League.
No, make that 32.
Well, maybe it’s 33.
No, no, it really is 35 … Maybe.
Entering its fifth season this spring, the NIFL is continuing to grow its indoor, arena-style football league.
Yet the league doesn’t even know how many teams it will field in a given year until the master schedule comes out. And even then, a team folding is always just a press release away.
‘The new teams are not really structured,’ said Maurice McClain, a former Syracuse defensive back who plays in the league. ‘It’s basically a development league.’
McClain is just one of many former Orange football players in the NIFL, one of the lowest professional football leagues. The list of players who do play, or have played, in the league includes Jamel Riddle, LaTroy Oliver, Giovanni DeLoatch and Mark Holtzman.
For the few fans that actually care, they’re left to speculate whether the Show Me Believers or the Kissimmee Kreatures will be around to play on the 50-yard long, 28-yard wide field.
Players leave as frequently as the teams do. Most are just trying to prolong a career in football.
‘It’s been very positive for the players,’ Ohio Valley General Manager John Blackmore said. ‘This is a stepping stone for them. They know it.’
Such is the case for the few recent Syracuse alumni, some who have graduated as recently as 2003.
The NIFL draws fewer fans and interest than even the two Arena Football Leagues. Yet that hasn’t stopped the Syracuse players from a last attempt at a career in football.
DeLoatch used the league as an opportunity to move up in the ranks of professional football. The former Syracuse offensive lineman, once listed as a possible NFL draft pick in 2002, played for the Ohio Valley Greyhounds this year, along with Holtzman.
This season, the 6-foot-8-inch, 338-pound DeLoatch is trying to catch on with Chicago in the AFL, with an upcoming tryout and possible training camp invite.
‘Giovanni is in the best football shape of his career,’ Blackmore said. ‘He made some big plays for us.’
But for most, the life of an NIFL player is anything but luxurious.
Players are paid a rough, per game salary of $200. Teams don’t have their own weight-training programs. Instead, they merely give out local memberships to the YMCA. Meal per diems consist of local restaurant coupons.
‘A lot of the players can’t make that step,’ Blackmore said. ‘They don’t have the coaches on them. A lot of the guys don’t have the wherewithal. They’ve had everything given to them, including their shoes.
‘And they have to realize, it’s not big time here.’
Some teams, like St. Louis and Ohio Valley, offer to house their players in a motel. Ohio Valley estimates that about 50 percent of its players choose to live in the team housing for the season.
Usually, the players work during the day and practice twice a week at night for about two hours. Games are on Saturdays.
Teams usually play in small arenas. Ohio Valley, one of the most successful franchises in the league, averages roughly 4,000 fans per game, according to Blackmore, in an arena that seats just 5,300.
Blackmore said the team tries to recruit local college players, some that have played at West Virginia or others, like DeLoatch or Holtzman, who played in the Big East from recognizable schools like Syracuse.
‘The more Big East guys the better,’ Blackmore said. ‘They all know each other already and it’s interesting to see how they play together.’
Ohio Valley also tries to recruit players that already have jobs, or those with degrees who are interested in working. It wants players that are well rounded and that care about volunteering at a school or a church.
‘We usually pass on those guys who come in to town and are solely interested in playing football,’ Blackmore said. ‘We want guys that are motivated to play.’
But some simply chose to remain in the hotel every day.
McClain did just that in St. Louis. He stayed in his room, doing absolutely nothing, just trying to prolong his football career.
After taking a job at a Bally’s Total Fitness in New Jersey after graduating from Syracuse in 2003, one of McClain’s friends told him about the NIFL.
The friend worked on getting McClain a spot on Ohio Valley. Soon after, he was traded to St. Louis, where he spent all of last year, ending the year fourth on the team in tackles (43) and second in interceptions (4).
But at the end of the season, McClain moved back to New Jersey and got a job working at an after-school program. He works each weeknight until 9 and hopes to continue the job while playing for the New Jersey Xtreme.
If DeLoatch is an example of how the NIFL prolongs careers and helps players move to another league, McClain is the prototypical former college player who is on his way out.
McClain realizes that, in his mid-20s, football will soon be a story he tells his kids. He’ll tell them how he played at Syracuse, went to a bowl game and intercepted a pass in the end zone against Virginia Tech in 2002.
He wants to play just one more year, give his dream one more chance to try to catch the attention of a higher league. If not, he’s going to work and move on with his life.
‘It’s my last year,’ McClain said. ‘Maybe I’ll try to coach. Hopefully get a few arena workouts, or maybe the NFL.’
McClain will likely be a member of the Xtreme, New Jersey’s newest team, which recently moved from Staten Island.
The team is holding open tryouts on Dec. 4 to fill its roster.
D West, a television drill sergeant/motivational speaker for the ‘Maury Povich Show,’ who usually works on curbing the over-the-top sex habits of 13-year-olds, is advertised as a guest. He’ll assist players through various drills.
The tryout begins at 9 a.m. Players can pay $60 – cash only, of course – for the chance to play professional football.
That’s assuming the Xtreme doesn’t fold by then.
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Published on November 15, 2004 at 12:00 pm
