If you read my article in Saturday's paper, you saw the little blurb at the end about "guaranteed win night." Don't be fooled into thinking it had anything to do with the players.
I heard one guy in practice Friday night say, "What's up with this guaranteed win night?"
When I chatted with players before and after practice, they also admitted it wasn't the players' idea. Even coach Dan Pifer kind of chuckled when I brought it up to him. He said that owner Rich Coffey came to him and talked to him about it, and Pifer was fine with it.
"It doesn't bother me one way or another," Pifer said. "He said it puts a little more pressure on us, and I said, 'Yeah, that's fine.' Whether we guarantee or not, we're still coming out expecting to win and we need to win."
I have no problem with Coffey trying to promote his team. Coming off a season-low attendance figure last week against Rock River, it makes sense you'd try to get people in the seats. He's throwing the caveat of a free ticket out there. If the Freedom loses, fans get a ticket for the next home game in late June. If Fort Wayne wins, fans don't get compensated in terms of tickets, but they would see the team snap a five-game losing streak.
My only issue with this specific promotion is that if anyone should guarantee a victory, I feel like it should be a player, not a coach, not an owner. It only makes sense that any potential "locker room material," which is what Lamar Martin called it, would come from someone who actually has an effect on the game's result.
- Randy Hutchison was the No. 2 quarterback, not Bryan White. White, last season's starter who had off-season shoulder surgery, played for the first time last week against Rock River. White didn't practice Friday and will spend Saturday in the press box with a head set to help direct offensive coordinator/coach Dan Pifer.
- Luther Stroder was on crutches after having surgery to repair a torn meniscus and a partially torn posterior collateral ligament in his left knee Friday.
- By Stacy Clardie, The Journal Gazette
Comments