As hard as it is to believe, there are actually a few things I failed to mention about the NIFL experience:

* Continuing on the skill front, neither team seemed to have a kicker worth a darn. Houma opened the game with an on-side kick, or what appeared to be one, and continued to do this all game. Now, as I mentioned earlier, kickoffs that hit a roof impediment resulted in a mid-field placement. But when one of these on-side kickoffs resulted in Myrtle Beach having a first down on the Houma 15, I had to wonder if this really was strategy.

On the Myrtle side, their kicker was listed in their program as being a "low ceiling specialist." Not your usual kicking qualification, but appropriate for the venue. Unfortunately, he wasn't a "extra point and field goal specialist," as he had pretty equal numbers of kicks score, miss, and get blocked. A promotion saw a lucky fan get to try a 40 yard kick, and if the fan hit it they'd get both an ATV and a roster spot. Most of the time I would think the latter prize an announcer's light-hearted joke, but in this case I have to think there was a contract standing by.

* Towards the ends of both halves, a convention center representative had to be paged to unlock the locker rooms. During the first half, they had to be paged twice.

* The Sting Rays have an official team dentist and official team chiaropractor. I think there are still spots open for official team herbalist, faith healer, aromatherapist and mentalist.

* The Sting Rays play in a conference that includes teams in Evansville, Wheeling, Ft. Wayne, and Knoxville. Calling it the Atlantic East seems at best optimistic. It is at least better than either of the conferences that use Pacific in their name, given such coastal team locations as Omaha, Billings, Bismarck, and my personal favorite, "Show Me." They play in St. Charles, Missouri (natch).