[Treks1]

I had a great weekend around my fellow efler's, But I admit I expected more, probably because I had some pretty Lofty expectations of auto show like crowds and tables of vendors ...THE SHOW to END ALL SHOWS. But reality was far different from my expectations. There were some coaches I hoped would attend (and some were expected.....), but I prefer to think how blessed we were with the coaches who DID attend. Many others again showed their dedication to the hobby and support who traveled great distances to attended and had a great time. I expected for more from our league, but some could not attend. Some GLEFLers (like myself) had a chance to bring their whole family to the Convention for the first time. This family time was priceless for me... We also got the home team base colored yellow bases (I predicted they would be yellow for the hometown Wolverines). They met with rave reviews and forevermore will be the DETROIT tournament bases.

AWESOME.

I think we all try in our own way to bend circumstances to our will, and there is always a bit of a let down when people and things don't "fall in line" the way you think they should. In other ways the Convention exceeded my expectations. We had a GREAT tournout from mid-west coaches in Illinois, Indiana and OHio and some heavyweight talent with CHAMPIONSHIP coaches like Adrian Baxter, Pat Casey and Simmie Lassiter. I also met some local guys from Detroit, Clarkston, Pontiac and Warren. As a League we truly hit a home run as we were all named coach of the year (I didn't expect this) and a Champion emerged from our own ranks (2008 Miggle Champion Greg Hardmon), no small feat considering the High quality of competition in the field of players. As well as playing two wild card games over the weekend exposing the Convention to Great Lakes Playoff football (Congrats also to Frank Johnson, Pat Morris, Chuck Pitchford and Tony Jones! All four Champions and ELF legends in their own right). We also had a skills competetion for the first time, and I think that the participants had a good time playing.

Thanks to Miggle Toys, Silverman Media and Marketing, The Great Lakes and others, we had a TREMENDOUS amout of media attention. A spot on the Friday morning commute on WRIF 101 FM Radio, articles and TV spots in Bloomberg Business News, Local Hometown Eccentric and Observer newspapers, and the wall Street Journal and local stories in Grand Rapids and the Traverse City area.

All this in the background of a lot of change in the community. For the first time a UNITED EFL organization was in place (our own MFCA!!), no NFL license for Miggle and new manufactures entering the arena. So now the event is in out rear view mirror, and the fellowship, press, enthusiasm and excitement it brought made all of the hard work and preparation worthwile. I hope we can build on this event to improve our (MFCA) relationship with Miggle Toys and other companies and build momentum for our own awesome first time event during Hall of Fame Weekend (here we come, Y'all....)

Again to all of our coaches and friends, new and old, Miggle Toys, family and friends both near and far I thank eveyone who attended who made this convention a very special event. Truly our cup runeth over!!

Steven M.