So everyone is probably as sick and tired or hearing about the NFL lockout. Its a crying match between millionaires (supposed slaves???) and their billionaire owners. If you still have the urge to watch some football the NFL network is still the place to be. Every Friday night they feature Arena Football Friday. Yes the league that everyone thought was gone is back. After a slight takeover from some crazed owners the AFL took a one year hiatus, and staying alive from little brother, the af2. Well in late 2010 a few owners from the af2 and new ownerships from former AFL cities decided to redevelop the league. The 2010 year was not as great a year as years past, but may have been the best year in my short life. I was hired in May 2009 as an intern for the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz I loved the job, marketing the team, sales, game operations, you really got to learn every bit of the business side of sports. I also managed to learn a few key ways not to run a team.
After the 2009 season the OKC Yard Dawgz, owned by Phil Miller decided to make the jump to the AFL. The Yard Dawgz attendance had been dropping for a few years due to several aspects. New sports teams were coming to town, the city was turning into a “big league city” We were forced to move buildings, from the arena formerly known as the Ford Center to the 900 year old Cox Convention Center….(please hold back the chuckling). The jump to the AFL brought new hope to us in the front office. Who wouldn’t want to come out and see us. Well one problem we ran into was lack of funding. Has anyone ever made money without spending money? My grandfather taught me one key phrase in life, “money talks and bull shit walks.” With the lack of help from the pocket book the Yard Dawgz front office was left to work on a budget of, “what can I get for free???” Well the answer is not very much. The front office did the best it could with the tools we were given. Unfortunately a lot of people could see things were not going well for this team. The team averaged just over 5000 a game and could not break the stigma of outside individuals thinking it was “backyard football.” Corporate dollars were hard to find, to help keep the team afloat. The big time OKC Thunder had taken over the local market. The lack of profit and lagging attendance, the future did not look good.
Although money was a major contributing factor to the the Yard Dawgz collapse, one other individual was a very key contributor to the demise. Head Coach Charles McEwen, also know as Sparkles….oh I mean Sparky. He began his career in the AFL as a backup quarterback for the Grand Rapids Rampage, after failing to produce (anything) he transitioned into the coaching side. He was an assistant coach on the Rampage in 2001 when they won the Arena Bowl. Luckily he had one of the legends of the sport in Clint Dolezel as his starting quarterback! McEwen took over in 2004 as the Head Coach and coached the team to a 13-34 record in 3 seasons. He came to the Yard Dawgz half way through the 2008 season and helped coach the team in a miracle comeback win against archrival, Tulsa Talons. There was hope for the upcoming season, but then again Sparky failed to live up to his name and finished the season 7-9 and was bounced from the playoffs in the first round. He got a second chance in the AFL when the Yard Dawgz jumped up in leagues. He slowly built a very talented team with veterans from the old AFL: Dustin Barno, Mike Brown, AJ Haglund and Howard Duncan. Young up and comers; Tommy Grady, David Hyland, and Kevin McCullough. The team was maybe the most athletic team in the AFL, it was just lacking one thing, LEADERSHIP. I noticed this early in the season when the Yard Dawgz traveled to Iowa, live on the NFL Network. The game came down to us trying to recover an onside kick, in the pre-snap huddle I heard Sparky yell hey maybe 20 times. He could not get the attention of the team….. What is going on, this game is huge, why is no one listening? People pay respect to others when others give respect to them. Throughout the season drama circulated the locker room. Cutting a stud DB and letting him sign with the soon to be champions, uncertainty around the legendary wide receiver. I could not believe what was going on. Talking to guys through the season made me realize that we were pretty much screwed. Being a stat guy I looked up some of Sparky’s coaching history to find one glaring hole…. in 4 years of coaching in the AFL, Sparky had totaled 3 wins on the road. Not even one win a year. Apparently not winning is a way to keep your job. News to me :). The team failed to beat the Orlando Predators late in the season to secure playoff spot. How is a front office supposed to sell a losing team?
As the 2010 season came to an end, drama continued to swirl except this time in the office. Rumors talking about the Dawgz moving to Seattle, or folding. No one knew what was going on. Should I quit, stay what should I do. Our owner was not being honest with anyone and would not say anything to anyone. I quit 2 weeks before the 2011 seasons schedule came out. What do you know, the Yard Dawgz were not listed any where on it. Shortly after a “press release” came out stating, “We will not be playing in the Arena Football League in 2011,” or at all. The team closed doors shortly after that and a new Indoor Football Team moved in, which is another story. All in all, I made some great friends and learned a lot. Arena Football is one of the best sports to watch in person. If you have a team near you I recommend getting out and watching it. Its cheap, fun and great for the whole family. If you are not near one still check it out on the NFL Network on Fridays at 7 pm, or niftytv.com
okcsportsrant 