Milwaukee Bonecrushers

After a sloppy burger and a Belgian beer at Cafe Hollander, Justin, Eric and I made our way to the U.S. Cellular Arena, or the “Bone Yard” as it was dubbed for the night’s sporting event.

We walked along the public promenade next to the Arena and checked out the Wisconsin Athletic Walk of Fame, and then made our way inside with our tickets in hand. I bought the tickets online because I wasn’t sure how quickly they would sell. But by the look of it, the 12,700-seat arena wasn’t even halfway full.

Saturday, the Milwaukee Bonecrushers took on the Muskegon Thunder during the second game of their inaugural season. The Bonecrushers lost their first game to the Chicago Slaughter 41-64 and the Thunder didn’t cut Milwaukee any slack – they creamed us 60-35. Ouch.

The Bonecrushers are the newest entry into the Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL), an independent indoor league that’s comprised of 15 teams – four AC East, four AC West, four GC East, and three GC West. The franchise is one of several minor-league indoor football organizations in the country and is dedicated to bringing football to cities that would otherwise not have a professional team to cheer on. As Milwaukee’s only professional football team, the Bonecrushers come into the league with high expectations as they acquired top-level talent from various teams in the CIFL, bringing a high-profile market to a football-dominated state.

For only $15 a seat we had a decent view of the field and a fabulous sight of head coach Gilbert Brown’s backside (ha-ha…eww!). We were close enough to the action that the players looked bigger to the naked eye than they did on the jumbo video scoreboard hanging above the field. Everyone was in the midst of the excitement and without any "Uecker Seats" in the place it was very conducive to spectator fervor. The actual game however…not so much.

This is actually Milwaukee’s second attempt at an indoor football franchise. The first was the Milwaukee Mustangs of the Arena Football League, which began in 1994 and folded in 2001. I regret never getting to a Mustangs game, so I was ready to welcome indoor football back to Milwaukee with open arms (and wallet), though I am not sold on the name Bonecrushers.

I think the reason for Milwaukee’s past indoor football flop is partially due to the fact that Milwaukee is part of a Packers football frenzied state, so even though the game isn’t entirely different from the NFL, real football fans like me have a hard time adjusting to the changes.

The first noticeable differences were the goal posts. The goal posts are 12 feet from the floor to the crossbar and are suspended by cables hanging from the rafters – they look like an oversized trapeze rather than what I was used to.

In addition to dangling goals, the field itself looks strange. Teams play on a tiny 50-by-25-yard indoor field with a compact five-yard deep end zone. Along the sides of the entire field are padded dasher board walls, which can be played off of (it’s only "out of bounds" if the contact made forces the player into the dasher wall, much like a “down by contact” rule). Because of the downsized field, the players looked like lead-footed giants, clumsily playing pick-up football in an alleyway. As another reference point, Eric mentioned that it reminded him more of those old tabletop wind-up football games that kids used to play with...What? I have no recollection of such a toy.

Other major differences were that teams go head to head in a seven-on-seven match-up – that’s the maximum number of players allowed on the field at a time. There’s also a limit of 20 active players on the roaster, the 21st member is only for special-teams plays.

The playing time is significantly shorter too. Games have four 15-minute quarters with a running clock. The clock only stops for incomplete passes and out of bounds plays during the final minute of the second and fourth quarters.

These differences allow teams the opportunity to score on nearly every drive, so it’s a fast-paced, high-scoring game – I read that the average score is about 82 points. Scoring remains parallel to the NFL except that dropkick field goals count for four points rather than the customary three. Overall, arena football has many modifications, so if you want to learn more about the rules, head over here.

The Bonecrushers also boast a dance team, not to be mistaken for cheerleaders, cleverly named The Crush. The talented dancers provide pre-game and halftime entertainment to get the crowd moving and the men ogling. There also are excellent promotions that make the night fun like the Bonecrushers T-shirts that spiraled down from the ceiling in parachutes. Justin almost caught one!

The game started promptly at 7:30 p.m. as we climbed over several people to get to our seats. One side of my chair was off the hinge, so we scooted over a couple spots since the place wasn’t packed. Meanwhile, the Bonecrushers opened the game’s scoring with a 4-yard touchdown pass. Despite Milwaukee’s early domination, the crowd of about five-thousand people had little to cheer about the rest of the night as Milwaukee’s defense didn’t seize numerous opportunities to make bone crushing hits on Muskegon’s speedy receivers.

Although Milwaukee showed a little more life in the second half once Brown and offensive coordinator Eliseo Ramirez unleashed a few plays that worked against their opponents, it still wasn’t enough. With only six minutes left in the game, the Bonecrushers had one final response to the Thunder’s constant drive, a touchdown pass that brought the score to 35-47. But, the Thunder never lost their edge and remained resilient until the end of the game when the Bonecrushers were left hung out to dry. After a 20-yard touchdown by Muskegon, fans were sent streaming toward the exits and the boys and I followed.

Things aren’t looking very promising for Milwaukee’s new indoor football team, but the Bonecrushers still have nearly half a season to redeem themselves. With well-known Green Bay Packer Gilbert “The Gravedigger” Brown at the helm of the team, I’m sure they’ll make a name for themselves in the Continental Indoor Football League – plus it’s an extra bonus to see the retired Packer as head coach.

All in all the game was rather disappointing, but I wasn’t too surprising since I’ve heard that this brand of football can’t fill the void of Packers football in the mind of a true NFL fanatic, especially when the team isn’t very good (no offense guys). But I guess I have to keep in mind that the Bonecrushers are still learning the indoor game – some players never competed at this level before – so games may get more exciting as the team matures. We shall see.

_______________________

Milwaukee Bonecrushers
U.S. Cellular Arena
500 W. Kilbourn Avenue, Milwaukee
414.276.4545
2008 Individual Ticket Prices:
$37 Red Zone, $28 Blitz Zone, $22 Crunch Zone, $9 OT Zone
Check the official website for 2008 schedule

Comments

[Eric]

http://www.weshow.com/us/p/30805/electric_football

O.K. so it was electric not wind up...it was a long time ago...I also remember the field being smaller I think this was a bigger version of the one I saw

[Eric]

http://www.retroplanet.com/PROD/24857

this is closer to what I was thinking of but I remember more players

[Karen]

Eric, I'm still pretty sure that I've never seen anything like those toys. But whatever. The second link definitely works. Add five more of those oversized plastic football players and it'd look exactly like the Bonecrushers at the U.S. Cellular Arena! *grin*

[SuzieQ]

What ever happened to the Milwaukee Mustangs anyway? I saw a Mustangs game back in the late '90s and I thought it was really fun. The game was very fast paced because they put a huge emphasis on the offense, but I like that. I also liked all of the hard hits! Even though football is always pretty physical, it seems like players are a lot rougher indoors. The shorter quarters also made it easier for me to sit through because I sort of think I have a minor case of ADD.

I think I’ll check out a Bonecrushers game (I don’t really like the name either though). It might not fill a void, but it would be fun!

[Karen]

So, I heard on the news this morning that Gilbert Brown has resigned as head coach of the Bonecrushers due to irreconcilable differences with the owners. The general manager, Chris Kokalis, has also left the team along with the team’s defensive and offensive coordinators. YIKES!

With a losing record of 0-3 and their next game this Saturday (April 12), clearly the Bonecrushers are in the midst of some turmoil. Not good at all.

[Bonecrusher FAN]

the Bonecrushers are gunna be better than ever! They have all new coaching team who KNOWS how to COACH a team. and also they got a GM now who can handle the job. come 2 the next game and U will see a new team that knows how 2 WIN!!

[alba]

The Mustangs actually did very well in Milwaukee. They only folded because of uncertainty regarding arena availability.

From Wikipedia: For many in the football-crazy Milwaukee area, the Mustangs helped fill the void left by the Packers. This led to the Mustangs being, arguably, the best supported team in the AFL's history. The team never finished lower than eighth in seasonal attendance, regularly drawing in the 14,000's and 15,000's (at a time when average attendance was approx. 8,500). The Mustangs even led the AFL in attendance in 1996.