COFFEE WITH THE COMMISH V – “INDEPENDENCE DAY”, PLAYOFFS AND THE FUTURE…

Another Hard-Hitting Story by RMFL Beat Writer: Mort Snodgrass

RMFL – In an attempt to keep the RMFL readership completely informed, or at least as informed as humanly possible, the well-funded RMFL writing staff has struck an agreement with RMFL Commissioner, Jared Neumeier, to conduct a monthly series for the web site, we want to call: “Coffee with the Commish”. In this monthly segment, we will sit down with the long-time RMFL Commissioner and ask a series of directly pointed and relevant questions of the day. The staff will also entertain questions from players, coaches and fans around the league that will be used in future Coffee with the Commish segments. This weeks chain of questions comes direct from the staff itself, however, the questions will be direct… no punches pulled.

MS: A look back on the playoff month and the AA Championship. Comments?

COMMISH: With the AA Division, what an extremely perfect championship game! It all came down to a potential field goal attempt even. The Vipers and Muddogs definitely proved themselves ready for the AAA and although they didn’t exactly prove that the Blaze and/or Raptors don’t belong, I think that their winning at least allows us the luxury of keeping the Montana group in the same division for another season… at least until another expansion team or two can get going. Lets face it, there are at least 4 teams, and I expect Glacier to continue to improve, that need to see each other on their schedule next season. There really haven’t been any real big surprises in the AAA playoffs; the first round was a little more one-sided than you would hope but last weekend we saw two great games.

MS: You opened up a couple of points. First of all, you said the AA Championship came down to a field goal attempt!?! Most of the web site readers wouldn’t know much about that game. How come there hasn’t been a game story posted yet?

COMMISH: I still don’t have stats sent in from the Vipers. I received the Muddogs stats on Sunday, but I’m still waiting for the Vipers to do the story. I also need the Cache Valley Bears in order to finish that story.

MS: Why would it be so difficult for teams that should be among the league’s best and most organized to report on their games; especially a playoff game!??!?

COMMISH: I have no idea. I am from the school that you make the commitment and you follow through. Hopefully, I will see them today and everyone can get more details on those two games. I will be at the AAA championship game and plan on taking stats for both sides. You can be sure that the Championship game story will be posted, including pictures before you get out of bed on Sunday morning.

MS: So what about next season’s AAA and AA situation. Are you saying that there won’t be a Montana team allowed in the AAA in 2006?

COMMISH: Not at all. That will be up to the board; more specifically, that will be up to their top two teams, Bitterroot and Missoula. I think that since they lost to the top two Mountain Conference teams, it would be a harder sell. However, I also think that even if we do pick up another Montana expansion team, that it will be in those teams’ best interests to play the more local regular season schedule at least for another year. Lets face it, there is some great fan support when you play local rivals and there are some great local rivalries developing right now. Some of these teams can play outside of the area by scheduling a couple of pre-season games. They could probably draw interest from Eastern Idaho, Eastern Washington and even Northern Utah.

MS: So we are gathering from the last talk that it looks like you will be around in 2007 after all?

COMMISH: My retirement has been delayed slightly. I know for my own quality of life, I need to get out of this horrendous schedule that I have for 5 months of the year. But I am in no position to turn everything over to someone else, no matter how qualified. Of course, I don’t really make the decision to be back for next season, I still am an employ off the RMFL Managing Board and they may decide at the next meeting to “go a different direction” anyway. I guess if they want me back for another season, I will do this one more time. I will, however, aggressively work in the off-season to narrow the replacement candidates down to one or two and then present them to the board for evaluation and discussion during the 2007 season. I would like to “hand the keys over” at the 2007 all-star game and then quietly ride off into the sunset..

MS: What do you mean? You wouldn’t even go to any future games or follow the league?

COMMISH: I love the RMFL and I treasure the experience. We have made a difference in thousands of players lives, including my own. I will stay in contact and be around to help the new commish, if necessary. But I will try to spend more of my springs golfing, playing softball, fishing or just relaxing.

MS: I know there are just a lot of issues that come up that really give you heartburn. What about the situation a few weeks ago where a player intentionally hit an official?

COMMISH: Yes, that was bad, very bad. For those who don’t know, that player was going to be an all-star, now he is not. Also, that player has received a one-year suspension with a one-year probation. For some, this sounds severe, for others, not severe enough. But what EVERY PLAYER needs to realize is this is absolutely the biggest bonehead maneuver you can do. Period. What the RMFL can and will do to a player that does anything to an official palls against what civil and legal action that the official himself can and will likely take. Game officials in all sports are protected by additional laws and penalties that make any action taken against them tantamount to almost shooting a policeman. You don’t do it, you don’t think about it. It is something that could absolutely ruin your life. In this day and age, players better realize that there is no play that isn’t being watched by a hundred eyes and cameras from just about every angle. It is just stupid to be stupid on the football field.

MS: Wow!

COMMISH: There will be more on this issue in a post-season article that we will be publishing. We just don’t want to take anything away from the great teams and great players that are still playing. .

MS: So how do you evaluate your pre-season predictions now that its “all said and done”?

COMMISH: Honestly, the pre-season “predictions” are more about introducing the teams and what has changed. The only reason we do any rankings is to generate discussion and it has been a tradition. If we stopped now, I think we would take more flack for “copping out”. In the AA, it was a dice roll for me on the Montana teams, and I rolled wrong with the Titans, I guess. Although, they were still a pretty good team. Great Falls was a nice surprise and gave that group 4 teams all capable of beating each other. Bear River Valley was the big surprise in the lower bracket and of course, the Muddogs surprised all, not just by winning the championship, but never losing in the process.

MS: So in retrospect, how do you feel about your decision to “oust” Ed Descamps and recognize new management for the Muddogs?

COMMISH: It was probably the best decision I made all season. I don’t think they would have made it otherwise.

MS: What do you see as the biggest off-season issue?

COMMISH: Again, there will be some expansion questions. There might be some new management taking over some teams, there might even be a team or two fold, as usual. I don’t think the AA/AAA discussion will be too difficult. I think we are all zeroing in on what sort of teams need to be in AAA and which sorts should not. This was our first stab at it. We need to revisit our add players deadlines and we need to re-address stat reporting. Some of our problems generate from GM’s missing the pre-season meetings, so we may need to talk about making those mandatory. I know we will agree to hold the initial meeting earlier than the third week of February, that was just too late.

MS: If you are back for next season, any new changes that you see?

COMMISH: If I am back and I am still living remotely (in other words, I won’t be attending many games), I would like to implement the “Real Time” game reporting that we experimented with last weekend. For those who didn’t know, while the games were going on, you could continue to refresh the homepage and as scores were being made, I would get the call and input the information on the changed score AND go into the game report for that game and input the how and when the score occurred. So you could click into the article and find out how and who scored. Of course, this will require more work for me, but more importantly, greater cooperation from the teams playing… particularly the home team. If we implement this system, however, I would then allow the teams until Monday night to submit their stats for the game. This will eliminate some of the late stat penalties that we had to enforce this season AND be a lot quicker turnaround to those who want to read as to what happened during the games. You may have to wait a little longer for the specific stats, but in the meantime, everyone will at least get some idea as to what happened in that game. Again, however, we need compliance from the Managing Board and enforcement with enough “teeth” to make sure it happens if we go to that system.

Anything else?

COMMISH: We have a pretty good thing going and I think we need to focus on keeping all the positives in this league and be prepared to get rid of the negative elements… permanently?.

MS: Negative Elements… like certain players?

COMMISH: Yes. Any player that doesn’t get that this league is about having fun and enjoying the sport, but instead decides to turn the football field into some kind of arena for a vendetta or thinks that the game is about “making a statement” we need to scrub out of this league. The message I would send to the GM’s and all of the players, “keep the camera’s rolling”, I won’t hesitate to take action against a player that even borders on the possibility of a late, unnecessary or potential hit with the apparent attempt to injure… will be gone. I stand behind my players, but I stand behind the 99% majority that have it right. This is about class and respect. We will continue to look for the opportunity to suspend players that do not understand that.

MS: Changing the subject, I know you don’t have much more time, what about expansion in 2007, what do you know right now?

COMMISH: Right NOW, I don’t know of any particular expansion teams for certain. But that is right NOW. I guarantee there will be some. In fact, I will guarantee there will be one that will start up in Utah, Idaho and Montana before the off-season is over. If that doesn’t happen, we may just need to go back and edit this question out of this article…ha ha.

MS: What are your predictions for the AAA Championsihip game?

COMMISH: Now Mort, you know I will be expected to write that in a completely different article!! I’ll just say what many are thinking already, it should more high scoring than last season’s 24-19 final and if anyone thinks they know who will win, they are kidding themselves. I think this one’s real coin toss… and that is GREAT!!!

MS: Okay how about the all-star game… speaking of which, why are the AAA and AA stars together? Shouldn’t there be two games, a AAA all-star game and a AA game?

COMMISH: Man I get this one a lot! I think one of the reasons that causes this question is that even with 40 player rosters, so many teams get disappointed as to whom on their team is not selected to go. They figure with two games, that’s more guys … and that’s all good… and they are right. HOWEVER, just like anything that is “rare”, the less of them, the more valuable they become. The less all-stars we have, the bigger an honor it is for those that go. You are balancing between making it a REAL big honor and just having an event with as many of the top players as possible. Hopefully, the fact that it is such a big honor and the fact that so many players that would have loved to play got left, will inspire that 3-6 players that, for whatever reason, simply don’t show up each year. If we had two games, I guarantee there would be more no-shows. Besides, two games is twice the expense in both jerseys and officiating. Not to mention the miscellaneous expenses surrounding the game. Finally, having an event that brings all of the players of the RMFL together is really what it is all about; this is the perfect forum to do this.

MS: So will it be another South on-slaught like last season?

COMMISH: Last season was the anomaly. Most years they are very tight games. I think it will be the North this time, however. I think they are due.

MS: Any other issues?

COMMISH: Just a comment. In 2000, I received all sorts of flack from the then management of the Great Falls Rangers because they had to travel to play at the Idaho Falls Mustangs in the semi-finals of the playoffs. The reason was that the two teams finished with the same record, but per our tie-breaking scenario that we still have today, the Mustangs had won their only regular season contest against the Rangers head-to-head. The Rangers wanted to argue that they were “division champions” and shouldn’t have to travel to a “wild card team” (the Mustangs finished second to the undefeated Wasatch Wildcats). That was a big controversy then, even though the RMFL had decided that divisional separations were more for scheduling and not playoff seeding.; but they would hear none of it and in fact the whole animosity over it boiled over at the game and became a real black mark in the league. In 2006, the Madison Lionz won their division and yet had to travel to the home of a “wild card”, the Cache Valley Bears. There was no controversy, no arguments. No one even batted an eyelash over the whole situation. My comment is congratulations to the league and those teams involved for accepting the structure, the schedule and the policies this league sets; approaching controversy ore disagreements with class and sportsmanship. We try to make this league as fair as possible and we don’t always succeed. We try to seed our playoffs so that the best teams qualify, but we don’t always succeed. But what we can always be successful with is to understand that we make decisions and we try to be fair and if we make a mistake we can accept it with dignity and class…. And try to move forward striving to not make that mistake again. This is a real attribute of a GREAT league.

MS: Commissioner, Neumeier. Thank you for doing these interviews this season. We hope they have been informative to the readership and that we have not skipped over any important issues. One final question, what are your plans for the off-season?

COMMISH: Well, besides narrowing down a replacement; I think I’ll play with kids, play a little golf and NOT nag anyone for their stats for at least 8 months!.

MS: Well, thanks again and from the well-funded RMFL writing staff… we’re looking forward to a very relaxing off-seaon!!!! So until next year…