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Post by parkers3 on Mar 13, 2008 12:54:05 GMT -5
Did Independence change their name to the Bulldogs, because of a semi-pro team that had the same nickname, that played in the South Central Football League about 10 years ago? They were called the Missouri Bulldogs, played in Independence, and had a logo that looks a lot like the CPFL's Independence Bulldogs. The SCFL's old Missouri Bulldogs played some excellent football! I was wondering if they decided to take advantage of the old-Bulldog fan base. That would have been an excellent idea if that's why they made the change!!
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Post by parkers3 on Mar 14, 2008 15:02:17 GMT -5
The CPFL's new expansion team, the Independence Bulldogs, has made me nostalgic about the old Missouri Bulldogs of the now-defunct South Central Football League. The SCFL's Bulldogs played their games in Independence at William Chrisman High School.
The SCFL was an 11-man, semi-pro outdoor tackle team. However, as you will see below, the old Missouri Bulldogs had some indoor history as well. I wrote a regular column, in the mid-1990s, for a newsletter called Right On Schedules. My column was about semi-pro/minor league football and was titled "Minor Mania." It just so happens that I wrote an article about the old Missouri Bulldogs. So, from the January-February 1996 issue of Right On Schedules (Issue No. 240), here is "Minor Mania":
The Missouri Bulldogs and Kansas City Jazz of the South Central Football League have developed quite an interesting history in their relatively short existence. The Jazz just finished their third football season, while the Bulldogs (from Independence) just completed their second year. In 1994 Kansas City swept the Bulldogs in regular season action on the way to an SCFL Championship Game loss on November 12th, to the now-defunct Wichita Warriors. Also in November, the Jazz were included in the filming of a TV commercial for Joe Montana's Sega "NFL 95" video game, when Montana was still a Kansas City Chief. The Jazz dressed as both Raiders and Chiefs in the commercial, and the Jazz General Manager was a stand-in for Montana. If you happen to remember the commercial, I'm sure that you'd agree that this was not exactly the sort of stand-in role that most folks would call fun -- unless you like being hit by semi-trucks!
During the winter of 1994-95, the Bulldogs and Jazz again strapped it up. This time the surroundings changed. Twice the teams played contests at Kemper Arena, during the soccer game intermissions of the NPSL's Kansas City Attack. The first halftime matchup was on December 28th, 1994, with the Jazz winning 14-6. The second "intermission collision" occurred on March 6th, 1995, a 6-6 tie. Back outdoors this fall, the Bulldogs and Jazz split their regular season contests. The SCFL final '95 regular season standings were:
Joplin Jaguars 4-2 Missouri Bulldogs 3-3 Kansas City Jazz 3-3 Tulsa Gunslingers 2-4
Missouri and Kansas City then met in the playoffs on October 28th, at Independence (a game I attended). Missouri came from behind to beat Kansas City, 14-13. The Bulldogs then traveled to Missouri Southern University in Joplin on November 4th, and defeated the Jaguars, 27-21, to with the SCFL crown.
The future of the Jazz and Bulldogs is unclear. When I talked with Kansas City's GM in September, he said that the team might join the Mid-Continental Football League next year. The Independence Examiner reported in November that the Bulldogs may switch to playing the American Football League's spring schedule. In anticipation of the upcoming Arena Football League season, the Bulldogs and the Joplin Jaguars hooked up during the Attack's halftime on December 23rd.
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Post by parkers3 on Mar 14, 2008 15:37:24 GMT -5
Here was an article about the March 6th, 1995, indoor game between the [Independence] Missouri Bulldogs and the Kansas City Jazz of the South Central Football League. The article was written by Mike Walker of The Pitch:
It's not unusual for a fight to break out during a hockey game, but on Sat., March 6, for the second time this season, a football game broke out during a soccer contest. Kansas City Attack fans were treated to an indoor rematch featuring the minor league football rivals Kansas City Jazz and the Missouri Bulldogs during halftime of the Attack-Baltimore Spirit clash. The 16-minute exhibition ended in a 6-6 tie.
At first glance, seeing a fully padded, eye-blackened, helmeted pro football player indoors was like seeing a primitive Klingon freshly beamed onto a tidy Starfleet ship. Before the game, both teams attempted to stretch out in the bowels of Kemper Arena, giving each other warm-up hits that, when viewed up close, seemed hard enough to make actual game contact seem light by comparison.
Teammates huddled in the hallway, going over last minute strategy, as the acrid smell of football players began to fill the area even before the action started. Each team bowed their heads, and then performed the contrasting ritual of saying a prayer immediately followed by some type of war cry. "Go Bulldogs!" shouted the team with the purple jerseys. The Jazz, decked in red, started a military rap that continued until they reached the darkened backstage entrance to the field. "Who makes your body ache?" "Jazz makes your body ache!" repeated the players, who were thinking over the nuances that are part of indoor football.
Indoor football, like indoor soccer, is a stripped down, fast version of the outdoor sport. Each team has eight players, and time is limited between snaps. While this was an exhibition and not all arena rules applied, a ball in regular arena football that bounces off the glass surrounding the playing area is still live. It's a short attention span fan's delight. The one thing not toned down is the action, as the blocking, tackling, running and hitting are all full blast.
The players looked like Robo-athletes as they ran on the turf at Kemper, compared to the sleek and slender members of the soccer teams that had just left the field. Without wasting a moment, the action began.
Both teams started out shaky, dropping a few passes and chalking up just a few yards on runs. But the Jazz awakened the crowd at Kemper with a pass interception, followed by a twenty yard completion from Jazz QB Farron Otis to receiver Greg Poremski. Otis tried a quarterback sneak on first and goal, fumbled, but scooped up the ball and took it in for the score.
The Bulldogs, who had previously lost to the Jazz in each of their four previous meetings, were on a mission. After what had appeared to be a routine running play for the Jazz, suddenly down the sideline streaked a Bulldog linebacker with the ball, scoring the tying touchdown and accounting for the final score of 6-6.
"I saw the back sweeping around the end and a couple of guys made the original stick, and I was able to strip the ball away," said an ecstatic, celebrating Bob Mann about his score. "A couple of players turned around and saw me heading down field. My buddies held on and the rest was history."
Now that he's had a taste of indoor football, Mann is hooked and thinks the city could become hooked as well. "I love this game," he said. "I'd like to see Kansas City pick up a team here. I think there's a great market for Arena ball here. People are getting tired of paying the high price for the big games."
After the game, the guys walked off the field together, guys who play a whole season of football, plus exhibitions, for no pay. They'll be back in action again in August, the Jazz for the third season and the Bulldogs for their second. At the rate things are going with Major League Baseball, they could be the only "Boys of Summer" we'll have this year.
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Post by parkers3 on Mar 14, 2008 15:52:03 GMT -5
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Post by Lightning#79 on Mar 14, 2008 20:40:00 GMT -5
I'm pretty sure that was the Chiefs!
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Post by parkers3 on Mar 14, 2008 22:07:33 GMT -5
I can't believe all the stuff I keep. I just found the press release that had information about the commercial. *laughs* Kansas City Jazz November 13, 1994 Christopher Shireman, Director of Marketing
Kansas City Jazz players and staff temporarily joined the Kansas City Chiefs and the Los Angeles Raiders on Tuesday, November 7. Joe Montana and Sega filmed the commercial for the video game, NFL '95 in Arrowhead on Tuesday. A film crew came in from California to shoot the ad with the Jazz filling out most of the line for both teams. The ad will air on ESPN on November 19. Jerry Rattway and Director of Marketing, Chris Shireman, were picked as the stand-ins for Montana and General Manager, Roger Ward, and Head Coach, Narwarrior Mackey, wore Raiders jerseys. Other Jazz players filled positions on both sides of the line.The concept of having semipro football players fill spots for commercials and movies is not new. However, it usually happens to involve players from teams in California when it is done. Having it occur in Kansas City, Missouri, is more unusual though. I did notice I made a mistake in my original report back in 1996, the Director of Marketing was one of the stand-ins for Joe, not the GM.
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