Proposal For Reg Rutlege And Jimbo To Combine Forces And

[mantaraydre]

Begin a all out college football tourney/league. Both men time are limited but we can all help. Im talking creating a webste strickly for college play. This can work if details can be worked out. Reg wants to run a college league, jimbo runs a college tourney so lets kill two birds with one stone. Many coaches express an interest in playing in a league devoted solely to college play.
If both camps are willing to try, we can work out something great.

how many coaches would be willing to play i a national college tourney with all the fixins ?

1) Myself for one ( with the syracuse orangeman).

**** we need to keep playing all year round, THIS IS WHAT WE DO

PLEASE DONT LET THIS POST GO BY AGAIN WITHOUT A RESPONSE.

THE OCEAN WATER'S ARE BEGGING TO PERCULATE
MANTARAY-DRE

[Reginald Rutledge]

I will respond. I want to be very candid about what I say here 'Dre just so it will be understood at this point.

First, I want to point out that Jimbo and I are wonderful friends, always have been, and always will be. Now that I've got the niceties out the way, I will tackle this subject in this manner.

First and foremost, the ruleset. Jimbo has expressed an interest in creating a ruleset that would be more in line with what he's trying to do. For me, that would be the only drawback. There are other concerns and I will point some of those things out.

We have a tried and true set of rules that have been in play for more than 30 years. The DFW has played under this system for 13 years. The ACEFL for 7 years. The LAEFL for going on 10 years. The LVEFL for 3 years. The Texas Shootout tournament has been conducted under this rule system since 1995. Thus, you've got experience coaches who would be willing to come in right away and know how to manage and officiate ball games. Changing or trying to re-identify new rule sets take time and effort to put together, something I don't have ANYMORE!

People that play under this system and give it an honest chance fall in love with the system. For us, the game is to be made fun. You hear guys talk about their great runners being injured during the course of a game or a holding penalty backed them up or a key turnover was caused by a fumble and we find ourselves not wanting to play under any other style of play, PERIOD. A case in point, Kevin Boddie, who plays in the Maryland area, can't wait to get back to Texas to be a part of the magic of the ruleset and the camaraderie of the league.

Another point is that I have basically walked away from the national scene. I probably will never travel to anything national. As much as I would love to share my ideas, for many years they came on deaf ears. I was the renegade, the trouble maker, the rebel without a cause. For that alone, I just want to stay home. I may do the SWB because may wife enjoyed going to the Atlantic Ocean and we want to get the kids out that way. Yes, national coaches do come to the Texas Shootout and perform well here but I consider my tournament a little tournament with no expectations. When I start expecting things from coaches as far as their availability, I am often disappointed. Every year, there are coaches who say they will come and have me change dates and never show up. That's very defeating because I have always been trying to do things for the best interest of the hobby. No matter when you say you're gonna have the tournament, it's never good for everyone. Extenuating circumstances causes guys to stay home. I think your word is your bond but I also know, sometimes even in your best intentions, things may keep you home. I've done that to in the past and then other reasons kept me home. However, one guy should never stop a show!

So my thoughts is that you go back to a date you had in mind and stick to it. If guys show, wonderful! If they don't, you're not disappointed. I know the MFCA is scheduling their convention on August 1. For me, that's a really bad date. Four weeks later, I was to have the Texas Shootout. You asked me to consider changing the date. You did not feel that I would get the turn out that it could potentially be if I did not have it later in the year. While I will consider that, I also know guys would even say they will come in November only to stay home. Our tournament has such a local flavor and I ponder, would it even matter?

Labor Day Weekend works well for us because it kicks off the football season. My guys here are fired up to play at that time of the year. The Shootout energizes them to move into a long football season. It is a major time of the year to recruit new guys into what we do. I would love desperately to allow someone else to "caretake" the TSO. Guys love coming to Texas to be a part of the TSO so we will see where that goes.

I was talking with Andre Baxter a few weeks ago about the combining the TSO and the College tournament. One of the things that Andre and I discussed was allowing guys to create conferences such as the ACC, SEC, PAC10, Big 10, Big 12, etc., and playing under the Shootout system. Then come to the TSO and play inter-conference games, say SEC vs. PAC10 games. Once a set number of games was done, create the tournament bowl system. For instance, if you have 32 teams, there would be 16 bowl games. The winner of each bowl would advance to the next round and awarded the trophy of that bowl game. So, with a tournament of 16 games, you could win 5 trophies on one weekend with the final one culminating as the national champion. I respect Baxter's thoughts and he said this would be more likeable because in the other scenario, the national champion was crowned based on coaches poll voting. This way, everyone had a shot. And for those who struggled during the regular season, you could still qualify through the Independents division. This would allow all who could not join a division and those who did not have great records to still qualify and be a part of the Coalition championship.

The props such as stadiums, game day shows, interviews could easily be done. People who are coming here for our DFW Championship will see first hand how this is done. To me, this is more important to making the game worthwhile from a credibility standpoint than playing the game. No doubt, the ruleset helps but my feelings are (and this is just my lasting opinion) is that the game will never reach the credibility that most are seeking unless you can show how closely it can be mimicked to reality. That includes the one thing that guys never caught on to-the stadium. It is a marketing bonanza and the easiest way to recruit people to your league, PERIOD! So that would be crucial in what I would want in my college league.

I would love to see games played at the Rose, Fiesta, Sugar, Orange, and other various Bowls. Those actual Bowl games are available. I can't put my Rose Bowl online because a certain company told the Rose Bowl committee that I had it on my site. However, that company would have benefited from this league being formed as people would have certainly zombishly continued to buy more of their products to compete in this league.

The blueprint is out there. I know we will have the college league no matter what. Like I said, if the right caretaker would step up to run the Shootout, I would have no problem with that. The Shootout does not have to be held in Arlington. For that matter, it could be held in Vegas, Los Angeles, Florida, New York, or anywhere. However, people try to change what works when its taken out of your hands.

I could go on discussing this with you but others may not be too interested in what is talked about here. I much prefer to get with you this weekend and discuss it. I will have some time. I am not trying to get pulled into anything national, not at this point. But I will discuss ways to help those across the country who desire to be a part of what I do here in Texas. I am just tired.

Reg

Adrian (BAXTER) and I must be lost brothers or something - or does anyone else share that same sentiment, that the winner of each Bowl game should continue on toward THEE National Championship game instead of the popularity contest? I thought I was the only one!?!

Anywhooooooooo...I would LOVE to Coordinate a NATIONAL College Tourney. It was suggested that having mine 2-3 weeks before Miggle would only allow Coaches within driving distance to attend due to the financial strain to attend 2 Tourneys in one month. So, aside from being told I had to work all weekend and then finding out - after A LOT of moaning and groaning - I got the weekend off, I still would like to do a College Tourney better suited to national attendance later in the year. Maybe SWB IV in 2009???

With that said, I have combined my favorite aspects of a few different Rulesets (MWEFL, DFWEFL/TSO, MPFL) that I think everyone from coast to coast would be happy with. So, Rules wouldn't be an issue, since the endgoal is to make the mini game play as close to the real game as possible. And in College there has to be realism i.e. Options, Statue of Liberty, HB Option Pass, Wishbone, Double Reverses, 1 foot In Bounds, wide hashes, OT, XP/2PAT from the 3, etc.

I'd have NO problem combining forces with The TSO or using the SWB to launch THEE Be-All End-All College Tourney of every year.

[mantaraydre]

Jimbo,

We can make this work if you want to get this off the ground. I like your combined rule set that everyone will like.



MANTARAYDRE

[Reginald Rutledge]

Jimbo,

I think this can be done too! I think Andre had mentioned something like combining the Texas Shootout Weekend and the college thing together. That could probably work. I know a lot of guys want to come back to Texas and I want them too! We had a great time. There is a possibility to combine the events but still have the Shootout as a separate entity from the College Bowl system.

The only split I see is the split between pass placement and TTQB. Other than that, the times can be coordinated. That may be something to discuss. Also, if Arlington is not a feasible spot, there are other parts of the country to explore such as Vegas or Philly or Florida.

If the pass placement and TTQB is an issue, there is always the possibility of having two divisions. One that uses pass placement and the other using the TTQB. So let us talk this weekend and discuss a manner to approach this. I am game if you are.

Just get everyone under one roof and let's see what happens.

Take care!

Reg

I phased them out of my new Rules, so no more close calls!