East vs West
Is the Physical Style of Play by the East too Much for the West?

As a plethora of cash tournaments emerge across the country, the incentive for Competitive teams to leave their region to compete has been provided.  Now as unfair as it maybe, the initial perspective of teams outside of the Northeast (Atlantic) Region is that they stand little to no chance of competing with the more physical style of play of the East. (This includes the South, Central and Western Regions)

On record, the Swarm out of San Diego California was the most recognized team from the West to compete against the East with positive results, before their star QB Jim Dutra decided to give up 8-Man for the 4-Man game.  Others from the West such as the 8-Ballers out of Fresno, CA made the journey to the Far East to compete in major tournaments, but had little to no success.

On the other hand, teams such as All-Met out of Maryland and the Cleveland All-Stars of Ohio have made the trip to the Left Coast and have come home champions and in some cases unchallenged and unfazed. 

Now this could be accredited to a variety of things such as: one being that the format used in most of those tournaments were double-elimination without a guaranteed 3rd game, which teams of the West are accustomed to nor a fan of.  Another problem was the prize being merely a bid to play in another tournament on the other side of the country with little to no travel expenses awarded.  Along with no cash prizes, this aided in keeping most of the top Western teams away. 

Now considering the “Cali” atmosphere (where they play at times, literally in walking distance of the beach) it will take a little more than a free berth in a tournament on the other side of the US to have these teams pack there bags, purchase airline tickets and pay for hotel rooms to play in a tournament where they could lose 2 on Saturday – before they can even unpack with no 3rd game to play the following day.

As for the prize, who could blame them for staying home to play for much bigger cash prizes rather than spending thousands for a couple of flag games and a plaque - literally?  The fact of not even having the opportunity too breakeven with a 1st place finish is detrimental to the cooperation of the West.   

So the question remains, are the teams from the Central and West getting a fair rap regarding their toughness and ability to compete?  Or are they simply not motivated enough to travel to the East and participate in enough top rated tournaments to be judged fairly?  Here’ some food for thought, the Swarm who regularly finished among the top teams in Eastern tournaments, including being 1 win away from winning it all do not dominate other California teams as one would expect.

Saying that the East (NE) is more dominate than the West, Central, etc. could be a bit pre-mature.  Less physical teams have proven that they can compete with more physical teams simply by outscoring them such as with the N.O. Hitmen (LA) and the Untouchable (GA).  Both extraordinary 7-Man teams who moved to the 8-Man contact style and flourished.

So as the prize money and awards begin to rise and travel distances shortened, teams may begin to feel more comfortable about traveling outside of their region to compete, bringing the best of all regions together.  But let there be no doubt - for teams facing the heavily-stacked, extremely fast, physical teams from the Atlantic Region it will be extremely tough the first go around for those teams not accustomed to East’s style of play to match their intensity and win. 

Marc Morgan

Union Writer - May 2005

The first opportunity to face new teams will be in Kansas City, MO on August 6th and 7th for teams to get a taste of the other regions in a $2000 cash tournament (2005 MCFFU Central Regional).  Teams such as the Houston Sleepers (TX), Denver Gamblers (CO), Goldstar (KS) and Pfuzion (GA) just to name a few will be on hand this summer. – MCFFU Staff