Wild Things

• New quarterback Dixie Wooten worked out with the Wild for the first time on Monday. I plan to go to practice tonight to get a look at him. Coach Ken Matous usually deliberates much of the week before naming a starter; obviously, it would be a shock if Wooten isn’t the guy.

• Assistant general manager James Bain has crunched the numbers and come up with some interesting stats involving workhorse running back Darius Fudge. Bain’s work follows:

In the world of indoor football gaining over 900 rushing yards in a season is a mark that very few have ever reached.  Rushing for 30 touchdowns in a season is also very rare territory.  Wichita Wild running back Darius Fudge could accomplish both of those feats this season.  Fudge currently has 774 yards and 23 rushing touchdowns with two games to play.

In the history of indoor football only seven players have rushed for over 900 yards in a season.  The last player to accomplish the feat was current Buffalo Bills running back Fred Jackson who ran for 1,388 yards for Sioux City in 2007.  The highest rushing total on record is held by Birdie Dockery who ran for 1,603 yards for the Ohio Valley Greyhounds in 2002.

Rushing for 30 touchdowns has only happened eight times.  Birdie Dockery holds this record as he ran for 48 touchdowns in 2002.  Marques Smith of the Sioux Falls Storm was the last player to rush for more than 30 TD?s.  He ran for 32 in 2007.  Also in 2007, Dan Alexander of the Nashville Kats ran for 41 TD?s.

Five players have run for 900 yards and 30 TD?s in the same season.  They include Dockery, Jon Hall (2003- Lincoln 1,108 yards and 31 TD?s), Wes Cates (2004- Tri-Cities1,016 and 33), Rayshawn Askew (2004- Ohio Valley 1,047 and 31), and Fred Jackson (2007- Sioux City 1,388 and 36).

Fans can vote for Fudge for IFL MVP by logging onto www.goifl.com and clicking on the PLAYERS tab.

James Bain is the assistant general manager for the Wichita Wild, which makes him the guy behind guy. He likes to go by James “You’re So” Bain, but we prefer “Jammin’ James.” While he is a little preoccupied with his hair, James is one of the reasons the organization is much more professional this season. He even produced a media guide, and I can’t remember a Wichita indoor team having one of those since the Af2 days. A Q and A with James follows:

KL: Give us a little information about you, Jammin’ James. Where are you from?

James: Besides about 5 1/2 years in Minnesota (college and jobs), I have lived in South Dakota. I moved to Wichita last August and I feel like I haven’t got a good haircut since I moved here. It can’t be that difficult to get a stylish do. By the way, I like the nickname JB way better than Jammin’ James.

KL: OK, keeping the topic centered on you, what do you think is the best story I have written this season?

James: I think the story about our victory over Abilene. Up to that point you had not seen us win……EVER. I was beginning to investigate how I could take the newspaper industry down even further, just to get rid of you. You missed our first victory this season and both wins last year were on the road. It was a monumental occasion for you. Things went really well that night. Quincy Carter got dominated by our defense, big crowd, AC in the Arena worked, the Wild won. I think that was the happiest I have seen our fans this season. They had a great time that night.

KL: There is another Wild in the IFL – the Alaska Wild. Do you ever get confused, hop in your car in the morning and drive to Anchorage for work?

James: The only time that the Alaska Wild (0-9 record) thing bothers me is when I read headlines of Anchorage newspaper articles that read something like “Wild remain winless” or “Hapless Wild Lose Again.” I want people to know that we are the furthest thing from hapless.

KL: OK, moving on to football matters. A big game for the Wild this week. I would guess Vegas, if it listed IFL odds, would have the Wild as 7.5 underdogs in this one. What do you think?

James: You know gambling is my only vice, right? I hit a big Daily Double on Preakness Stakes Day. I’m still pumped about that; 7 1/2 point underdogs? I would bet the farm on the Wild and take the points. Give me Wichita with the points and I will parlay that with the Royals losing and make some serious coin. We have lost four games by a combined 15 points this season and we are 3-1 at home.

KL: Omaha QB James McNear doesn’t make many mistakes. I think Justin Montgomery needs to get in his face a few times for the Wild to win. Agree?

James: Yeah, Justin has been a Manimal this season and leads the team with five sacks. It is going to take a team effort to beat Omaha. But our backs are against the wall and we are back home where we love playing in front of The Best Fans in the IFL at Hartman Arena.

KL: Finish the sentence. In order for Wichita to win, the Wild must …

James: In a lame John Madden impression, I would say we have to score more points than Omaha in order to win. BOOM! We have to have consistent play from the QB position. We have the league’s leading receiver and the league’s leading running back. QB play is critical in this league.

KL: Lamont Reid has been a stud all season. What do you like most about his game?

James: I like his versatility. He can play defensive end or the linebacker position with success at each. I think our defense has been the secret to our success this season. Even though we have a great offense, our defense has kept us in many games when we ran into offensive problems.

KL: Can you do me a personal favor and kick the AC on for Saturday’s game. It was so hot last home game I had a case of the back sweats.

James: Well I had face and head sweat. You can hide a wet back, but there is no way to hide a red face with sweat dripping down. I think we got the message about the AC and I am certain the issues have been taken care of.

KL: The Wild is using Myspace for a promotion. I am a Facebook guy myself.

James: My goal is to be the last person on earth without Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter. I can’t understand this Twitter thing. Why is it so popular all of a sudden? I happen to think Twitter is a complete waste of time.

KL: Which do you prefer: The hilarious David Letterman or lame-as-can-be Conan O’Brien?

James: Is neither an option? I did see the first Tonight Show with Conan and I don’t think I laughed at all. If there was a channel that showed just American Idol, TMZ, and Big Brother, I would be in heaven. What about Real World/Road Rules Challenge? Love that show too.

Derek Rasmussen gets the start at QB for a big game at Bloomington on Saturday. Coach Ken Matous indicated that Alex Melugin still isn’t 100 percent healed from a sore shoulder. Rasmussen is 2-0 since taking over for Melugin.

Ball hawks: Bloomington leads the IFL in interceptions with 23. Matous said that Bloomington plays more man than most teams in the league. I haven’t seen Bloomington play, but I doubt any of their D backs can play man successfully agaisnt the Wild’s Clinton Solomon. Matous hinted that Bloomington hasn’t played the best competition the league has to offer.

Bringing the Payne back: Donald Payne finally returns this week, bringing more depth to an already solid WR corps. It will be interesting to see what the tall, athletic Payne can do against IFL competition.

At least the weather has been nice: I am apparently the only one who thinks this is an issue, but I find it extremely odd that the Wild is being forced to practice outdoors — because Hartman Arena, which was supposedly built for the Wild, isn’t available to the team. The Wild has arguably its biggest game on Saturday, and the team is conducting workouts at at Maize High School.

Honors: The Wild dominated weekly honors. A team release follows:

The Indoor Football League (IFL) has announced that Wild linebacker LaMont Reid has been named Defensive Player of the Week and Wild kicker Dylan Pohlman has been named league Special Teams Player of the Week.  Both players were honored for their performance in Wichita?s 39-29 victory over the Sioux City Bandits last Saturday.  To view video highlights of the players, visit www.goifl.com.

For the second week in a row the IFL recognized a Wild player as Special Teams Player of the Week. Randy Kelly won the award last week for his dazzling return ability and this week Dylan Pohlman won the award for clutch kicking.  Pohlman was a perfect 4 for 4 on extra points, hit on 3 of 4 field goal attempts, and had two Rouges on kickoffs.  In total, he was responsible for 15 of the 39 Wild points.

I’m not sure how much credibility the newly formed Indoor Football League has. Indoor “professional” leagues form, fold and merge so often that they’re difficult to keep track of. I do know, however, that the IFL seems more professional than the American Professional Football League the Wild used to call home.

That’s why the IFL decision to let San Angelo quarterback Sonny Cumbie play last week against the Wichita Wild was so disappointing. The league’s credibility – whatever it is – took a clear hit. To review: Cumbie was the team’s coach who resigned and then announced he would play quarterback. Such a move is a clear violation of the intent of the league rule, designed to make sure teams don’t circumvent the salary cap. The IFL doesn’t want a coach making more than players make (200 clams a week) for a time, then becoming a player. It’s a necessary rule. What doesn’t make sense is why the IFL owners, who made the ultimate decision, caved and let San Angelo play Cumbie. I’m guessing the owners didn’t want another embarrassing controversy on their hands, so soon after the IFL made league power Sioux Falls forfeit five games for not securing proper workers’ comp coverage. (That it took the league so long to determine the coverage was lacking is another issue.) So Cumbie played, and the Wild still won, which seemed an appropriate result.

The biggest loser, though, was IFL “commissioner” Tommy Benizio. He decided that Cumbie shouldn’t play and explained the ruling to me in a way that made perfect sense. A day later, the IFL owners overruled the decision. Benizio explained that decision to me in a way that, well, didn’t make perfect sense. He played the good soldier and did his best, even saying that democracy is a good thing. I agree that it is. Clearly, though, Benizio, who seems earnest about doing his job, has no power whatsoever. In the future, he ought to simply run his decisions by all the league owners before announcing them. Or his title could be changed to IFL “spokesperson.”

On to football matters: I don’t know if tonight’s match-up with Sioux Falls is the biggest game in Wild history, as a team release put it, but it’s an important game. Based on Sioux Falls’ narrow victory in Wichita, the teams are fairly evenly matched. But I think Sioux Falls wins by 10-14 points tonight in Sioux Falls. Wild rookie QB Alex Melugin has been doing a solid job managing games in the Wild’s past two outings, both wins. But he’ll need to do more than manage tonight, and I’m not sure Sioux Falls will allow that to happen. A key stat to watch: Sioux Falls leads the IFL in sacks with 24, an average of three a game. The Wild has 10 in seven games. I will add this: If the Wild’s Clinton Solomon, the best receiver in the IFL, has a huge game (say 10 catches for 150 yards, three scores) the Wild has a shot.

The Wild has picked up another win, due to penalties imposed by the Indoor Football League on powerhouse Sioux Falls. Sioux Falls beat the Wild earlier this season. The following was posted on the Sioux Falls website last night:

Today, in an unprecedented decision by a professional sports league, the Indoor Football League nullified the Sioux Falls Storm’s first five wins of the regular season and unilaterally changed them into losses as part of League-imposed discipline for non-compliance with regulations related to worker’s compensation coverage.

In addition to changing all of the Storm’s first five wins into losses, the League has also given the remaining teams a competitive advantage on the field by reducing the team’s roster from 21 to 20 players for the remainder of the regular season and prohibiting the Storm from hosting a first-round playoff game. The League also imposed a $10,000 fine, which the Storm did not contest.

The Sioux Falls Storm, winners of the last four League championships, has not lost a home game since 2005, a streak of 33 straight home games. The team also holds the modern record for the most consecutive wins by a professional sports team at 40. The Storm, one of the most successful teams in professional sports history, has won 58 of its last 61 games dating back to 2005, helping draw national attention to indoor football.

“Clearly, these outrageously harsh punitive measures, imposed by a majority vote of IFL team owners, are intended to place the Sioux Falls Storm and its players at a competitive disadvantage against the other teams in the League for the remainder of the season and into the playoffs for a mistake that was totally unrelated to competition on the field,” said Colin Steen, President of the Sioux Falls Storm.

“This mistake, related to worker’s compensation, was corrected prior to our sixth game. All of our players’ medical bills are fully covered by the team and no harm resulted to the players or any other team. We feel horrible for our players and coaches. This mistake was made by the front office, and our players and coaches will bear most the punishment,” said Steen.

The Indoor Football League is the premier professional indoor football league in the United States. It was created in 2008 out of the merger of the Intense Football League and the United Indoor Football Association. The League is comprised of 19 teams spread geographically throughout the country, including Omaha, Nebraska; Rochester, New York; Odessa, Texas and Fairbanks, Alaska.

“While we accepted responsibility for our omission and agreed to pay the applicable fine, the sanction here is shocking, unfair and outrageously excessive for what amounts to an administrative mistake. Our players and especially our fans should not be punished for an insurance issue that has now been fully rectified and resulted in no competitive advantage on the field,” said Steen.

“This type of excessive punishment calls into question the competitive integrity of this League,” said team attorney, Scott Abdallah.

“No other professional sports league would strip away wins during a season and impose sanctions specifically designed to create an unfair advantage for the other teams on the field for an insurance violation,” said Abdallah.

All of the sanctions, including the sanction regarding the reduction of the Storm’s players, are effective immediately and will impact the team’s game tomorrow night in Montana against the Billings Outlaws.