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by Hal Lamar Grid playing Atlanta ladies end 2009 season with bittersweet win(ORLANDO,Fla)- The Atlanta lady punters, passers and tacklers known as the Atlanta Xplosion came from behind Saturday, June 13 to defeat the Orlando Mayhem 19-14. It gave the relatively young Xplosion elevens a record of 7-1 which usually qualifies any team at any level of play into post-season action. Everywhere but the Independent Women’s Football League. In 2009, the great (sic) minds of the IWFL decided to employ a new system to determine who qualifies for playoff action. Under this so called Massey system. Atlanta didn’t accumulate enough points to qualify for a second season. Xplosion first year head coach Maurice Tyler (Morgan State ’72) was furious and let his female charges know so after first giving them the bad news that the season ender against Orlando would be their last of the year.
“I don’t like it,” said Tyler, a veteran coach at the high school and college level who also logged some time with the NFL after being drafted in round 10 by the.Buffalo Bills.. “It seems Pittsburgh had more Tier 1 teams on their schedule. But we have no say-so in making up the schedule so why are we punished because ours doesn’t have enough Tier 1 teams? The system is ridiculous. You all are talented. For a team this young and inexperienced, to go 7-1 says a lot. It’s too bad that you won’t get a chance to really show how good you are.” Tyler urged the ladies to have a good off-season and be optimistic about 2010. As one assistant coach said, “ With a team this young, we’ll return, go undefeated and then they’ll have to send us to the playoffs (maybe).…Meanwhile, Tyler has made no secret of his desire to return to the sidelines of a high school or college program. He could prove an asset to somebody. After all, he took a squad of mostly rookie lady ballplayers and took them to a 7-1 record in his first year as head coach INSIDE’S TWO CENTS: I have watched the Xplosion develop since it formed out of the old Atlanta Leopards team that launched Atlanta into women’s tackle football back in 2001. The Xplosion is only 6 years young but has accomplished more than teams twice their age. Consider this. The Xplosion first made post season play in 2004 and, save 2008, have never been out of the playoff picture. In 2005,only their third year in the IWFL, the team made it all the way to the national championship game. They lost but then returned in 2006 and took the title. In 2007, they returned to the big dance and hosted the title game as well. That brought whispers that got loud from rivals about whether the Xplosion deserved to be champs. I suspect several of the older teams in the league complained and it reached higher-ups. All of a sudden, things changed. Was this to deliberately insure that the Xplosion would have no chance of a second season? If the team had gone undefeated this season ( meaning beating defending champ Dallas which no team this season did),the “system” likely would have still ruled out a post-season bid. I think the rating system sucks and should be tossed through a paper shredder THE ORLANDO VISIT:I didn’t take a six hour drive from Atlanta just to cover a game. I’ve been to Orlando once and I know it’s a great place to visit and a lot of that can be credited to Disneyworld and Seaworld . Time didn’t permit a tour of Disney but a wrong turn provided limited access to the grounds. It was enough. I think Disney should apply for status as a city unto itself. The acreage where all those theme parks rests is beyond belief…… We did manage a day long trek to Sea World . I last went there with my six year old daughter in 1991 and things have changed some. They have a wild ride called the Mantra that seemed exciting but my blood pressure would not allow me near it. The wife and I toured all of the aquariums and saw the show that hasn’t changed. They have an ending to the presentation that blows your mind. What is it? You’ll have to go to the park to find out…..
The elegant, posh and immaculate grounds are not surprising. Ditka, once a hard nosed player and NFL coach, would not have lent his name and likeness to something that wasn’t 5 star. The resort is located in Orlando’s bedroom community of Kissimmee. Everybody that works at the resort wears a Chicago Bear jersey featuring Ditka’s number 89. Nice touch……. Florida doesn’t have a state sales tax. With all those toll roads, they don’t need one!........If you take a vacation here and especially during the summer months, be prepared for the humidity. It’s no joke….Highway 192 between Kissimmee and Highway 27 is one long stretch of every restaurant and café in the city. One called Angels offers all-you-can-eat lobsters and other seafood….. A great time to visit Orlando would be November 21 when FAMU and Bethune-Cookman play in the Florida Classic. Since 1997, the two HBCU teams have mixed on the gridiron of Orlando’s Citrus Bowl stadium. Apparently, moving the game from Tampa to Orlando was a good move for the two teams. Since 1997, crowds have averaged over 60,000. FAMU, by the way, leads the Orlando series 8-4. Got an item or comment?
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The highlight of our three day working trip was our residency. The Mike Ditka Runaway Resort Club includes villas which makes it feel like being home. They come with a living room, two bedrooms, two full baths and a kitchen that comes with pots, pans, glasses and dishes.