“COFFEE WITH THE COMMISH II”; A Q&A TACKLING THE
LATEST ISSUES OF THE RMFL
Posted: Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Written by: Mort Snodgrass
RMFL – Once again, the well-funded RMFL sports writing staff had an opportunity to corner RMFL Commissioner, Jared Neumeier, on some of the latest issues facing the RMFL. With another regular season at an end and a new playoff season kicking off Saturday, there are certainly plenty of issues to discuss. As always, most of these questions are questions either e-mailed in or queried on the RMFL message board over the past two months.
M.S.: I guess the first question should be
on a general nature. How would you characterize this season over the many
seasons previous? Does anything stand
out?
J.N.
That is a big question. I really
think its been one of our best. Every
team has shown up for every game... and that’s always good. The outstanding parity in the AAA has just
made it an absolute joy to follow… and certainly noteworthy is that the
Rhino-Raiders were finally not the team with the most points at an end of a
game since… before I was commissioner of the RMFL.
M.S. What of that? I read the piece you did to commemorate the
Rhino-Raiders streak, but what are your personal feelings about it?
J.N. There’s always a mixed reaction, even if you have been hoping for it
to happen for a long time. Even though “all the world loves an underdog”, the
world also likes to see a champions.
How many golf fans out there watch a golf tournament on television just
to see Tiger Woods win? I know I
usually do. Now, I might feel
differently if he won EVERY FREAKIN’ TIME.
Its good to share the wealth of winning and its been a good year to see
what I honestly think are 7 teams with some kind of shot at the AAA
championship.
M.S. Boy, speaking of Rhinos, what about that finish last Saturday vs.
the Lionz!?!? What was the controversy
at the end of that game?
J.N. It was a great game, probably one of the top 5 greatest games in
RMFL history, the Rhinos/Lionz have probably had 2 of them now. The controversy initially was that on the
final play of the game, the Lionz contended that Dave Stireman was “well
beyond” the line of scrimmage when he threw the pass, making it an “illegal
forward pass” which would nullify the touchdown. Then the issue grew to where there should have even been a last
play; the 2.1 seconds showing on the clock came into question. Because we were talking about the LAST PLAY…
and there could have been no play after it, I agreed to review it. As it turned out, Stireman was certainly
around the line of scrimmage enough that I felt a “no call” was quite
appropriate and the clock timing turned out to be just fine. I guess two good lessons should be taken
from this for everyone. 1) in the heat
of battle, understand that your first impression of a call (or no call) may be
significantly skewed by your emotions, and/or which sideline you are standing
on. I guarantee, the officials are
right in almost every close play you think you got screwed on. 2) I do reserve the right to review LAST
PLAYS of games only if 1) There could be NO plays after that play, regardless
of how the call went, 2) a change of call would change who won or lost and 3)
there is undeniable visual evidence available in a timely manner. Since all of these criteria get met like
once every 5 years or so, I don’t know when the next time will be, but if its
soon, at least everyone knows my policy on the matter.
M.S. Moving on, do your really and honestly think all 7 of the top teams can win a championship? Even Pocatello!? Do we need to talk about Idaho Bias in this article (laughs)?!?
J.N.Very funny, very funny!
Actually, yes I do. I say this
because I think the Heat can beat anyone.
Pocatello just legitimately beat the Heat. I know that Pocatello
struggled in a couple of games early, but their quarterback is turning it
around and they are coming together. If
they can get their best lineman (Hancock) and their best defender (Troy Sutton)
back, they could be a problem for someone in the playoffs. Obviously, the Bears stand out at the real
favorite and, if they beat the Lionz on Saturday, you would have a hard time
convincing me that they won’t be one of the two in the championship game…
obviously with them hosting it.
M.S. How do you see the other teams?
J.N. Right now the Wolverines, Mustangs, Heat, Lionz and… oh yeah, the
Rhino-Raiders are all so equal in my book that I wouldn’t bet a plug nickel on
any of them in any game against each other.
That doesn’t mean that one can’t win comfortably over another, just
that… these teams with full squads are too close to call
M.S. Sorry, I didn’t mean to get into a big discussion about something
like this. I guess we got into the AAA discussion when you mentioned parity. If
we talk about anything, shouldn’t it be the AA playoffs? What would you say about the AA in 2007?
J.N. First of all, the comment
about NO forfeits really applies at that level, (although the AAA Matadors
forfeited in 2006), its been good to see the struggling teams stick together as
best they can and complete the season. That alone is success to build on. I never want to see teams go winless and I
really didn’t like all of the blow out games in the AA this season, so…
hopefully, those teams can do the work in the off-season to improve and be
ready to compete a little stronger next year..
M.S. What are you thinking right now for the AAA/AA next season. Who goes
up.. who goes down?
J.N. Well, obviously, the only
thing that might be for certain is that at least one AAA team will go to AA,
probably Boise for sure even if they do upset the Utah Heat. That move will help the Speed get a year to
pull it together and really shift the balance of the AA to Western Idaho. Its possible that we talk about moving up 2
or more AA teams to the AAA. The real
reason we have it is to avoid the big blowouts. Teams like the Vipers, Bear River Valley, Missoula and Bitterroot
have all proven that they are AAA type teams.
It would be nice to restore some semblance of parity in the AA as we
seem to have in the AAA..
M.S. Do you really think the Board would approve of up to 4 teams moving
up?
J.N. Obviously, there are several issues. The first is that in Montana, we need to leave enough AA teams to
make sure they have a legitimate conference.
If we move two up, we would HAVE to have at least two new expansion
teams form… which is quite possible; we already know of one… or two in
Billings. Almost every off-season I hear of at least someone thinking about getting
a Bozeman team back or starting a Butte team.
The other big issue is what if a team doesn’t want to go up because they
ultimately did not win the AA championship.
If we move more than one up, we would be moving up non-AA
champions. Personally, I believe we
make the decision on the playing level regardless of where THAT team wants to
play. If they don’t want to play at the
level assigned to them by the RMFL, they can go independent. What we can’t have is a team that just wants
to sandbag down to pick up an easy championship. That is certainly not what
this league is about.
M.S. Are you talking about any team in particular?
J.N. Ha ha. No, actually, I’m not.
I know this year it was the Vipers that refused to go up, however, next
year it could easily be someone else.
If the Vipers beat the Blaze for the championship or the Phoenix beat
the Rockets or any other plausible scenario, we are going to have several VERY
GOOD teams that did not win the championship.
Not only are these teams good, but they are also quality franchises that
know how to be organized and put on a good game presentation… other AAA level
qualities we want in our AAA.
M.S. Do you think the AAA needs to be more than just about playing
ability?
J.N. Absolutely. I’m also not the
only one that thinks so. Our AAA teams
need to be organized, responsible and competitive. I believe that AAA teams need to be able to travel with just
about as good of teams as they play at home, too. AAA teams should NEVER, I mean NEVER have uniform issues or
helmet color issues.
M.S. I’ve heard that you may propose something regarding the uniform
issues of this season, what is it?
J.N. Its simple. In the AAA, guys not in uniform are not allowed on the
field. In the AA, that rule kicks in by
the teams 3rd game. That
will mean that the helmet colors must match. The helmet decals we can show some
lee-way with, the jerseys must match, the football pants must match… and they
MUST be football pants.
M.S. You know, you don’t sound much like a “lame duck” commissioner that
is in his last season. What exactly will be your role in 2008?
J.N. I am staying on as the “overall” league commissioner. I will set up and run the Kick-off meeting,
as well as putting together the League Handbooks. I will coordinate the staff
an their duties. The staff will be our
Treasurer, the Head of Officials, Secretary and the AAA and AA
Commissioners. Everyone will have their
job to do and I’ll be there to support and help when needed. I’ll stay on, for now, as web master for one
more year, however, I might replace me with someone to do that in the mean
time. Then that person would be staff
as well. Just about EVERYTHING I
currently do right now will be taken over by the AAA and AA Commissioners,
except for posting articles to the web… and I might just train them and set
them up to do that as well.
M.S. What are you going to do with all the time?
J.N. Enjoy a little golf, enjoy doing nothing… enjoy watching the league without
having to formulate opinions or get too involved in the controversies.
M.S. Speaking of controversies, we know that the Cache Valley Bears’
great defensive lineman, Amos Fiefia was suspended for the season this year,
what can you add on that?
J.N. Not much. I’ve never met
Amos Fiefia, I’ve only met his brother Vaea, who is a great guy, a real student
of the game, too. Amos may be very
similar, however, he is a player that has been diving into quarterbacks knees
for a long time, he had been warned, suspended for a game last year and
finally, his style of play crippled a fellow player. His suspension is for the rest of the season and if the player he
hurt is capable of returning next year, then he will be too. If he plays again…
and injures another player again, I’m going to feel personally responsible that
it wasn’t a lifetime suspension.
M.S. How would that work next year.
What if a player does something like that in a game?
J.N. Those decisions, reviews and penalties will all be handled by the commissioners.
Even in the case of someone who had a previous infraction which I oversaw the
punishment on, it will be up to the commissioner.
M.S. Could you explain again how the All-Star game/selections will
happen?
J.N. As we speak, each team is putting together a ranking of their own
players, 7 on offense and 7 on defense.
They submit their own rankings based on all-star worthiness. They AA
teams have until Friday night to submit ranked lists and the AAA teams have
until Saturday night. On Sunday, when
the regular season is over, I will fill the teams from the ranked lists. The top teams are guaranteed to get no less
than a team of lower standings, further, they will have priority in their
rankings over a lower ranked teams.
Probably the best example is linebacker. It seems like almost all teams rank a linebacker as their #1
defensive player. Well, if you are the
10th ranked team in the standings, your #1 linebacker or #2
linebacker… or probably ANY linebacker, probably won’t make the squad… no matter
how good he is. The only caveat I can
add is that I will fill the team based on rankings up to 35 players. Then I will add 5 “Commissioner’s picks”. I will use these to prevent clear and
obvious injustices in the current system.
For instance, maybe you are a last place team, but your linebacker
really IS one of the best… he could still make it as a Commissioner’s
pick. Also, I will fill the 35 with 2
quarterbacks, however, there might be 3 great quarterbacks in a particular
division and it would be a travesty to leave one out, etc. If, however, I fill an extra spot for a last
place team with a “Commissioner’s Pick”, then I’d have to make sure THAT team
didn’t get more players than the teams ahead of them… so, there’s some
balancing that must be done. The bottom line is: How your GM/Coach ranks you as
a value to your team AND being on a team that was successful is the surest way
to make the all-star team.
M.S. What about MVP’s? We know the board voted not to have a voting, so
how will that happen?
J.N. Similar to the ALL-RMFL selections, the Board will review a list of
top candidates at the All-Star meeting and discuss, argue for and vote for
MVP’s at that time.
M.S. Quickly… new teams for next year. What do you know?
J.N. For sure, I’ve had two contacts from Billings, Montana, one from
Meridian, Idaho, one from Heber, Utah and another from the Salt Lake area… But
it’s a long off-season.
M.S. Predictions for the AA Playoffs?
J.N. No.
M.S. Awe.. come’n!! Spineless!??
J.N. Yep… I don’t see an upset this weekend. Great Falls just doesn’t seem to have the offense and Idaho just
doesn’t seem to have the defense. There
could be an upset on June 23rd though. If I’m Bear River Valley and Missoula, without taking away from
preparing for this Saturday, I’d be lining up all my ducks to make sure all the
boys can make the road games. Who knows?
M.S. Any other issues you want to mention before we close?
J.N. Only to tell the guys… Start treating the officials with more
respect and keep yourself under control.
This without game officials, we don’t have a game. We have asked them to officiate our games
under a modified rules system that is different than they are used to. IN the heat of action, it is a lot harder
for them to re-think things than you believe.
This league will be looking at some major changes in the off-season to
address making our games more enjoyable and desirable for officials to want to
come to. Part of that will be cracking
down on players (and coaches) who do not treat officials with all due respect.
There will be other things we do to make sure the game is called more
consistently and fairly for both sides… but for now, I’d encourage all players
to evaluate their own behavior and decide if their actions exude the kind of
class that we all want to stand for.
M.S. Finally, quick hits for the weekend?!?
J.N. Actually, I’ll be releasing an article on that whole evaluation
tomorrow (Thursday)… Have pen will travel for this Commish.
M.S. Well, thanks again for your time and… until next time…?