Football News

Having taken a long weekend for a family trip to Iowa this past weekend I had some down time to read a few newspapers so I noted several football (American-style my soccer loving friends overseas) stories which I comment on below --

• Big 12 Conference (university football) Forecast -- Sportswriter, Chip Brown of the Dallas Morning News, offered his pre-season ratings for the Big 12 Conference's 2007 football season. Leading the conference's North Division is the University of Missouri with the South Division's predicted winner being the University of Oklahoma. Coming in dead last for the North Division is my alma mater -- Iowa State University (ISU). Now while this is merely Mr. Brown's predictions it is still psychologically powerful since the first game is only two months away. As a season ticket holder at ISU I am understandably concerned especially since we spent a lot of money to hire a new coach out of Texas and because the athletic department has increased season ticket prices for the 2008 season.

• United Indoor Football (UIF, http://www.unitedindoorfootball.com/)-- Years ago I attended a Sioux City (Iowa) Bandits UIF game with my brother and sister-in-law which was a very fun evening out on the town. It is great to see the Bandits still playing after all these years regardless of their current 3 and 9 record. I read about their recent player trades which included a player acquired from the Bozano (Italy) Giants of the European Football League - a league I did not even know existed until I read the Sioux City Journal newspaper so just another friendly reminder to read local newspapers.

• European Football League -- Other than the mention of the Bozano, Italy team in the Sioux City Bandits article I can't find any information about the EFL other than a website for "The EFL" which is a "soccer" not American football league. Do any readers have insights for me?

• International Federation of American Football -- http://www.ifaf.info/, while searching for information on the EFL I stumbled across the IFAF which is hosting its "World Cup 2007" being held from July 7 to 15th in Kawasaki, Japan. National teams involved in World Cup include -- France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Sweden, and USA.

Overall an amazing range of American football options to consider which can be reviewed at this VERY extensive website devoted to American football - http://sportsvl.com/ball/gridiron.htm

There is no off season anymore.

Todd