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Post by stinger1 on May 5, 2007 22:06:58 GMT -5
to the players..you play hard and thats a plus.
to the gm bobby jackson, pack this team up and move them to another league.
tonights game in my eyes:
the worst indoor game i've ever seen. poor crowd turnout, and i'm afraid it's gonna get smaller. dasher board pads are terrible....high school gym mats....fans almost having to take balls and run in the stands, never been to any indoor game where fans had to return the balls......where was wendi carabello? hell, the mascot was'nt even there....and tickets read that we were playing the jacksonville lions, who do we get? the carolina express semi-pro guys....not knockin on them but it looks terrible for an indoor market to play a team with 5 different colors of helmets and to even play a semi-pro team......this league sucks and if bobby jackson does'nt wise up and step up the basics, this team will not be in good shape at all....
tonights win was nothing to be proud of......poor example of an indoor game......crowd attendance may have been 600.....will be half that on wednesday. i hate being negative but that was a waste of $10.
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mrbee
2nd String
Posts: 31
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Post by mrbee on May 5, 2007 22:21:08 GMT -5
Yes and no.
Yes, the Stingers need to join a different league.
Yes, the NIFL sucks and it wasn't great having the Express there.
But, I brought 6 people to the game who had never seen the Stingers before and they had a great time.
The kids got autographs, the players and coaches were all very nice and new fans were made.
I also saw a lot of new people at the game tonight who were also hooked on the team now.
This team needs a new league, that we all know.
But in the meantime they need MARKETING.
We aren't they giving away 500 tickets to Ft Jackson?
500 tix to the Boys and Gilrs Club?
The seats would be empty anyways, so if you give them to charity you fill seats or if you really want to get smart, sell those seats to Corporate sponsors and then give them to the charities.
More people at the game will breed more fans, create word of mouth advertising.
We've got 3 more home town games and they need to be promoted heavily.
I'll be there for each game and I commend Brian Elam for posting the info on the pre game meal. That's a great idea and please keep us posted on future meals.
Go Stingers! I'll be there Wednesday. Hope Ft Myers will too.
Mr Bee
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Post by augustaspartans on May 5, 2007 23:29:00 GMT -5
HOLD IT= HOLD IT
As a fulltime Augusta Spartan and parttime Stinger fan I want to talk
1) Bottom line the NIFL is finished and any team that stays in it will be just wasting time and money
2) The Stingers need a strong league to play in even if its not the WIFL any league would be an improvement over the NIFL even if it were the high school league.
3) I enjoyed tonights game it was a great public relations plus playing a local Semi Pro team from FT Jackson and my hats off to the Express minus a few mistakes could have made this thing interesting very interesting.
4) In case you folks dont know this most of the Augusta Spartans are GA Rajun Bulls nothing more than a semi pro football team.
In my next post entitled Advice for Bobby the GM from Augusta Spartan ill outline my ideas to clean up this mess. But in the mean time good job Bobby.
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Post by infernomom on May 6, 2007 6:10:45 GMT -5
Yesterday was my first game. I will post pictures soon. I was very disappointed in the whole evening. But I am aware of troubles going on from reading and I understand how it is to have a new sport in this city but...it looked like amature night.
Get an anthem singer that knows the words and sing it the way it was written...That is my biggest pet peeve. I'll probably give it another shot...
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mrbee
2nd String
Posts: 31
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Post by mrbee on May 6, 2007 8:27:36 GMT -5
Saturday foe fails to show
Plan B entails a hastily arranged pounding of local semi-pro team
By CHRIS DEARING - Special to The State
The Columbia Stingers’ inaugural season in the National Indoor Football League hit another roadblock Saturday night.
The schedule at the beginning of the season had Columbia playing Atlanta on May 5. But the Stingers found out last week that they would be playing Jacksonville instead.
Bobby Jackson, the acting General Manager in place of Tony Pewonski, said league operations director Cleveland Gary guaranteed him a team in town to play.
Come late Saturday afternoon, the Jacksonville team did not show.
“I had a lot of confidence in Cleveland Gary until today,” Jackson said. “I spoke to Cleveland on Thursday and he assured me we would have a team here to play. The Jacksonville franchise was supposed to be here and for whatever reason, they didn’t show up.”
Jackson was faced with the dilemma of canceling the game or finding an alternate plan. This would have been the second time in five homes games that the Stingers would have postponed on canceled. The April 15 game against Fort Myers was not played because recently purchased turf field did not arrive in time to be installed.
So Jackson turned to a local semi-pro team, the Carolina Express, to be the replacement. He said he did not have any other choice.
“We’re in the entertainment business,” he said “It just so happens they have a football team. I owe it to the fans and sponsors in this community to put on a show. So we contacted a local semi-pro team, the Carolina Express. I called them up and told them of our situation, that we had already pre-sold tickets and didn’t have a team to play. They said they would be honored to come over and play us.”
Playing against a team that did not have indoor experience, Columbia jumped to a 21-0 halftime lead and won 55-18.
“We’ve struggled and scratched and did everything that we could to make this thing presentable and then you get a mix-up by the league,” Stingers coach Corey Miller said. “We’ve had obstacles before us before but we continue to press on. We’re going persevere.”
The postponed game with Fort Myers has been rescheduled for Wednesday night.
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Post by infernomom on May 6, 2007 9:49:07 GMT -5
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Post by augustaspartans on May 6, 2007 10:19:46 GMT -5
Folks Im on the outside looking in The NIFL failed The Columbia Stingers by not sending them a team to play with. Run don't walk to the phones call the NIFL and tell them goodbye and dont even give them a notice just leave. My best piece of advice is leave the AIFA alone and go somewhere with a strong reputation if not create your own league The World Indoor football league is a good model even if its small its four teams now soon to be eight next season.
Im telling all of you from the bottom of my heart. Relax take it easy and remember its going to take time but in a few short months you will be okay.
Trust me you have a great market for football. You have football tradition less than 5 miles down the road. Youre a sports town use it to your advantage. I know times are tough but trust me it will get better. My hats off to Bobby at least finding you a team to play I thought the Carolina Express had some talent and anyway it made things interesting.
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Post by augustaspartans on May 6, 2007 10:30:04 GMT -5
As for the team needing marketing here is my take on it.
Call 800-956-7266 South Carolina Network sports ask for Phil Kornbult tell him you want to get a date that all the Stingers can ride over to UNOs Chicago grill in Lexington and talk on the radio about the team. Bring at least 20 free tickets to the next game to give away and take Phil a Stingers tee shirt.
Cost $ 20.00 value priceless folks he covers all of South Carolina
Next home game give a discounted ticket to Fort Jackson SC call it military appreciation night and call Shaw AFB tell them thank you for all they are doing to defend the country.
Offer them a chance to be the color guard before the game have the Army chaplin give the pray. and invite some of the soldiers down for competitions.
Attendance will increase by 500-1000 easy cost more than made up for in attendance
Find yourself a local pep band offer a high school, jr high are some local band a chance to perform doing game for that matter Battle of the Columbia Bands gets crowd involved and people love it. Free tickets for the band reduced tickets for the parents
just some food for thought from the office of Spartan
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Post by augustaspartans on May 6, 2007 10:38:07 GMT -5
I'm telling all of you if nessary ill take a weeks vacation from my job come to Columbia and do all this if needed. I care and I want you to be sucessful because its the right thing to do for Columbia and for arena football.
Marketing doesnt have to cost one thin dime call your local radio stations ask them if they would have a problem with a few Stingers going on one of their remotes and go. Take a few tickets give them away.
Buy 1 G1F tickets can fill the place and one of my favorites coop advertising. It paided for my tee shirts in Spartan land.
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Post by redzone on May 6, 2007 13:07:49 GMT -5
I agree Columbia needs to leave the NIFL, but I don't think creating another league is the answer. Say Columbia created another league, that would make Florence, Cola., and Augusta in 3 seperate leagues. that would be a shame considering the close proximity these cities are to each other. It would create a natural rivalry and each team would have great home crowds when these teams played each other. In an ideal world, Columbia, Florence, Augusta, Charlotte (Carolina Speed of the AIFA), Charleston, and Fayetteville would be a great draw in the same league.
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Post by augustaspartans on May 6, 2007 21:02:45 GMT -5
Okay ill buy that but Florence will not be welcome in any league with Augusta until Phatoms management apologizes to Spartan owners and settles some unfinshed business from a year ago.
Id like nothing better than to see this. Can you say the battle of I-20 we could all play for the I-20 cup and trust me it would be fun.
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Post by stinger1 on May 7, 2007 11:26:20 GMT -5
i'd love to see a team in charleston....but it will not happen because the coliseum has dealt with idiots like the nifl and has been ripped off.....the same thing will happen in columbia, unless bobby jackson moves this team to a new league next season, does alot of advertising and marketing, get fort jackson and usc students involved, and improve the looks of turf and padding....i agree with inferno mom....saturday night was like amatuer night....worst indoor game ever....sorry but true.
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