14 DEC 06: KICKS ARE FOR KIDS

Here we go again - another attempt to bring a pro sports team to Columbus. But this time, there are plans for both men's and women's teams. So there could be twice as much for local fans to ignore....

A meeting at the Columbus Civic Center Wednesday focused on bringing pro indoor soccer back to town. We could be part of the new "International Indoor Soccer League," which plans to start in 2008. Considering it's only looking at putting teams in five Southeastern states, "interstate" might be more like it.

WRBL reported a key test for whether Columbus can have an indoor soccer franchise will come next spring. An indoor youth soccer tournament is planned at the Civic Center, apparently at the time of "Fiesta Columbus" in early May. How many children heard that, and started kicking a ball all over their bedrooms?

The purpose statement of the International Indoor Soccer League actually mentions children. It hopes to have a "positive influence" on them. I think that means there won't be as many fights as the Cottonmouths have.

The IISL web site explains the "international" part of the name could come from British soccer clubs, which would come to the U.S. to play indoor exhibition games. That sounds nice - as long as the drunken fans don't follow them.

The organizer of the International Indoor Soccer League is a familiar name. Graham Tutt lives in Atlanta, and was a star for the Atlanta Chiefs of outdoor soccer years ago. If he doesn't succeed with this project, it could be "Tutt-Tutt-Tuttsie, goodbye."

If you remember the last time Columbus had a pro indoor soccer team, you have a long and good memory. The Columbus Comets played in the Eastern Indoor Soccer League in the summer of 1997. The team won three out of 24 games, had terrible attendance, then moved to Biloxi. But you couldn't call them carpetbaggers -- because I vaguely recall they left the field behind.

(Wikipedia notes the Eastern Indoor Soccer League went out of business after two years. Maybe if they had had real "eastern" teams, besides Savannah....)

If you REALLY have a good memory, the name "International Indoor Soccer League" might ring a bell. A Google search revealed there was talk of starting a league with that name in 1978 - but it never played a game. And that was back when something "international" didn't make the Minuteman Project nervous.

Given what happened in 1997, why should we expect a new indoor soccer team to do any better? Civic Center manager Dale Hester says about 1500 youngsters play in local leagues now. Someone needs to remind him about how big Little League baseball is - yet the Catfish still have trouble drawing crowds.

Much of the International Indoor Soccer League is in the planning stages right now. It's not even clear when the season would run. It might be in the summer, or it might run from August to November - and we all know how starved Columbus fans are for "football" in the fall.

The one thing which gives this proposed league a good chance at success is having separate men's and women's teams, providing two games a night. But is that really the right approach? Roller derby had its biggest success having the genders play together, alternating in a game. That way, the women never missed their periods....

A women's pro soccer team might even do better in Columbus than the men. Remember, the Civic Center is down the street from Victory Drive - so if goal-scorers imitate Brandi Chastain and take off their jerseys, Fort Benning soldiers in the crowd might throw money at them.

BLOG UPDATE: More details emerged Wednesday about the man accused of robbing a CB&T branch in the Bibb City area. It turns out Derreck Meadows also was arrested for bank robbery four years ago. Some people should NOT be told, "If at first you don't succeed, try try again."

A former girlfriend of Derreck Meadows informed me of the earlier arrest. She's glad she dumped him -- and she can't believe he's accused of trying to flee on foot from this week's bank robbery. But then again, maybe he needed the money from the bank to make a down payment on a car.

E-MAIL UPDATE: You say you want more? This e-mailer warns: maybe you shouldn't....

mo for garbage

mo for property taxes

mo for lunch

mo for gas

mo for clothes

mo done run me broke

I think a Broadway show was made about this problem -- "Mo Better Blues."

(But what can you do to fight a trend like this? The forces of life simply have Mo-mentum.)

Now for mo' of the news from the last day or two....

+ Columbus had a high temperature of 70 degrees F. - mild enough for me to take a nice three-mile evening run. But at 10:00 p.m. with the temperature in my home at 69, the heater kicked on. OK, which meter reader broke in from Atmos Energy?

(It was so mild that I spotted a couple of drivers during the afternoon with tops down on their convertibles. And even more impressive than that - they still had hair, for the wind to blow through.)

+ Columbus resident Lillie Harris went on a shopping spree against the clock, at Rack Room Shoes in Columbus Park Crossing. She selected seven pairs of shoes in 86 seconds, worth almost 500 dollars. I've heard of women who couldn't choose one pair of shoes in 86 minutes, much less seconds....

(Lillie Harris won a contest, to go on this short shoe shopping spree. Well, actually her 14-year-old relative won the contest - but the teen was too young to participate. One of those seven pairs had better be for her. Otherwise, some of Harris's Christmas gifts might show up on eBay.)

+ The Hurtsboro Volunteer Fire Department was awarded a homeland security grant of more than $51,000. The news came on the same day Russell County Sheriff Tommy Boswell announced two deputies will patrol Hurtsboro on weekends - so someone in the homeland security office must not watch TV newscasts.

(On top of that, Russell County's emergency management director told WRBL 11 Hurtsboro homes in a flood plain will be demolished. Hurtsboro had so much news in one day, it probably won't be removed from official Alabama state maps for years.)

+ Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue warned House Republicans this is NOT a good time to abolish the state income tax. Given his recent land deals, abolishing property taxes might bring a different response....

+ A federal judge denied a new trial for former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman. Siegelman says the jury which convicted him was influenced by e-mails and the Internet. There's an easy way to determine this - ask the jury how many penny stocks they bought during the trial.

+ The Southern Professional Hockey League suspended Darryl Moor of the Cottonmouths eight games, for his scuffle with a fan in Huntsville last weekend. Brother Jeff Moor was suspended five games. How many Huntsville fans heard this and sang, "Moor, Moor, Moor - how do you like it?"

+ Instant Message to the man named T.J., who keeps saying during GPB fundraisers that you can't hear doo-wop classics on the radio anymore: Have you ever heard of "Boomer 95.3?"

COMING SOON: The "sandman" outside my window....

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