Mustangs Play like Jerry Lewis
Kevin Sheller
Monday June 5, 2000
For Head Coach Rick Frazier, a frustrating game of whack-a-mole sounds a whole lot easier than trying to fix the continuous and random barrage of mistakes the Mustangs keep making. When talking to Frazier after every game, his agenda changes. Fix the defense. Fix the offensive line. Fix the defensive backs. Fix the penalties. Fix the quarterback. Everyone agrees that if the haphazard Mustangs were ever to play a complete game, they could easily beat any team in the league. But that’s truly a hollow statement. Any team could make the same declaration, and be right.
So what are they going to do now after being swept by the Iowa Barnstormers in their most recent embarrassing display of Arena Football?
"Forget it. After tonight you just forget it,” echoed McDougal after the game, “You learn what you have to do and eliminate all the mistakes. That’s all you can do.”
He’s right. That’s all the Mustangs can do. In practice, they can try to correct all the mistakes they made the week before, but that course of action opens them up for failure in another area. They really need to eliminate ALL the mistakes, but the way things are going this season, such a task seems impossible.
 Both McDougal and Frazier blame themselves for sloppy play against the Barnstormers Image courtesy of football.com |
Of course. Frazier both agrees and disagrees, “The head coach is responsible for the outcome of the games. McDougal doesn’t call the plays. He does play the game. My assessment of the game is: If you throw four interceptions in Arena Football you’re going to get your ass beat.”
Don’t forget. There are plenty of excuses. McDougal will be the first to tell you, “The first part of the schedule has been tough. It’s just been a rough road. It doesn’t help that over half our team is new.”
But you can’t get too caught up in excuses. Injuries to Alvin Ashley, Mike Ivey, Wayne Wade, an all new line, McDougal knocked out of half of the games, many new players... They are all valid excuses, but if Milwaukee wants to make the playoffs, they need to start winning, excuses or not.
Head Coach Rick Frazier described his quarterback and team best, “You look like Jerry Lewis and make your whole team look like Jerry Lewis. You get your ass beat. You go 2-5, and now you got to start fighting for your life every week. We’re used to that. We can do it -- we’re the best at it.”
That may be. However, last year the Mustangs record was the same, but they were on a two-game winning streak. This year, they’re on a 3-game losing streak. In a few days they travel to Raleigh to take on the expansion Carolina Cobras. Perhaps the hapless Cobras can make the team look more like Dean Martin.
“We’ll go to Carolina, we’ll get a win,” guaranteed Frazier, “We come back in here, we’ll play Orlando and we’ll FINALLY start showing people that we’re a decent football team. That’s the plan.”
While this sounds like a great plan, it also sounds dangerously similar to overlooking their next opponent. Plus, the Cobras are hungry for their first home win, and they have a new quarterback in Fred McNair who just gave the undefeated Orlando Predators a run for their money – in Orlando. I wouldn’t count on the Cobras to just roll over and get trampled. If Frazier isn’t careful, the allusions to Jerry Lewis may have just begun.
Kevin Sheller ia founder of Arenafan Online and was the principal owner until 2004. Kevin graduated from the University of Akron with a degree in technical writing, and has been a member of the Arena Football Internet community since 1993. He has worked as a professional web programmer and is also the executive producer for a computer/video game company. The most recent Xbox title to his credit is called Hunter: The Reckoning.
