I’m not to worried about what happened 10 years ago. All I was looking to do at the time to was to play one last college game and wasn’t looking to extend my football career beyond that. Linfield did more than they needed to in paying my way when they didn’t even need to do that.

All I was trying to express is for any senior that gets asked to play in these games is to make sure the organization is legit (like the AFCA) so they don’t wind up in a bad situation.

BTW…I don’t think Joe Smith would leave anyone out in the cold either!

I am hopeful that Linfield continues to help my son, however they can, in his pursuit of his dream….! I am confident that if Jay Locey were still head coach, no one would be left out in the cold!!!!!!!

No crying but I did try a hurricane down on Bourbon Street.

Back then there was a site called usafootball.com. At the time this site claimed to be the source for all things small college and specifically division III. One of the main hooks usafootball.com had been their “first class” all-star games they hosted at various locations. Now you have to remember this is still back in the wild, wild, west days of the internet and D3football.com was just a glimmer in d3hoops.com’s eye so many of us were just getting an education on the diversity of DIII.

After my senior season wrapped up I received an invite from usafootball.com to participate in their Mardi Gras All-Star Bowl. Here is where I should have known something was up. The participation fee to play was $450 and my airfare was on my own dime. Thankfully, Linfield was nice enough to hook me up and I was on my way in early February to this all-star game.

Upon arriving at the airport I met a couple of guys from the WIAC and the Empire 8 that were also playing in the game so right away I felt good about the game…that was until we arrived at our dirt bag hotel 20 miles outside of New Orleans. This place was a dump and it was only a few hours later that the few of us there were really starting to figure out this was a bad joke. My roommate (a kicker from Simpson) and I were on the “Red” team and we started to track down some of the other members of the “Red” team but we were having the toughest time finding anyone from the “Blue” team. Of course there wasn’t a “Blue” team and the individual who ran usafootball.com forgot to mention that he didn’t get enough players to field even one full team. Uh-oh.

I think the turning point was our first night there when we were supposed to have a “media day” meeting with the local press about the game. What it turned out to be was a mold infested room in the basement in the hotel with a few metal folding chairs and a flat half-full keg of beer in the middle. The only people there were the few guys from the “Red” team to B.S. and start putting the pieces together on why this wasn’t going to turn out good.

Basically what happened was the players called the organizer to the carpet and all he could do was back peddle. He said he was trying to get a local JC to come and play but by then nobody was buying what he was selling. Most guys pulled the ripcord and left within few days but most stayed and just enjoyed Mardi gras (which was a blast).

My advice to any seniors is you should be very careful about any “all-star” game where they ask you for a fee to play. Make sure the people behind are legit.

Sidenote: The a-hole than ran usafootball.com sold the domain to the NFL in 2003 and is nowhere to be found.

Thanks again and best of luck to our guys

http://www.afca.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=67754&SPID=7653&DB_OEM_ID=9300&ATCLID=1327569

One of my friends son’s, Lenny Trusnik of ONU, is playing in the game. His brother Jason (who is now on the NY Jets roster) played in the game last year.