Via Donnie Webb, former SU quarterback Perry Patterson has joined the Abilene Ruff Riders. Who are these Ruffians? They're a member of the Indoor Football League, which, is actually probably a pretty good place to play indoor football these days since the Arena League will be locking the doors this season.
Perry joins a team that already has a name QB, former Dallas Cowboy and New York Jet Quincy Carter, but who's to say Perry doesn't have a chance to step in. It's Abilene...anything can happen.
I gotta say though, the more I learn about this league, the more I love it.
First off, is every start-up football league required to have a team called the Ruff/Rough Riders? Who made this rule? Teddy Roosevelt? I guess it's still better than having a league full of teams that end in -z, but, you know...
Secondly, "The Indoor Football League is a professional indoor football league created in 2008 out of the merger between the Intense Football League and United Indoor Football." First the Xtreme Football League failed, now the Intense Football League? The guy about to start the Mildly Irritating Football League really hasn't thought his business plan through.
Gotta love a league that has not one but two Alaskan teams (and to answer your question, no, they don't just play each other 15 times and call it a season). The league also has two teams that play in different cities that start with the word Sioux, which is telling. Oh and did I mention there's a team called the Omaha Beef?
Each team website is different than the next, so it's hard to figure out exactly who's playing where sometimes. However I can tell that Perry will be joining a handful of SU alums in the league. Jamar Atkinson plays for the Maryland Manaics while Joe Donnelly for the Rochester Raiders, whom I cannot believe haven't been sued by Al Davis yet.
The IFL is a place where dreams are coming true every day and we wish Perry the best with his. If a guy from the Colorado School of Mines can make the roster as a quarterback, surely there's room for Mr. Patterson.