Advertisement
Or, what about Donald Driver working a 40-hour week at something other than football, then suiting up on game day?
 |
The La Crosse Rough Riders, a semi-pro football team, will play its home games at Freedom Park this season. Freedom Park, which was built by the players and members of the organization with help from area veterans, is located on Clinton Street on French Island. Jeff Brown photo |
Sound a little far-fetched? Of course it is for the people listed above, but not for the guys who call themselves Rough Riders. These guys truly love to play football — tackle football — and will do just about anything for the chance.
Meet the La Crosse Rough Riders, a semi-pro football team that begins the La Crosse chapter of its history at 5 p.m. Saturday when it opens the home portion of its 14-game schedule. The Rough Riders opened their 2008 season with a 15-12 road win over the Rochester (Minn.) Giants last weekend.
These guys must truly love football. How else would you explain shelling out $300 for team fees, then a couple hundred, or more, for shoulder pads, knee pads, a helmet and whatever else football players use under their uniforms. Sure there are fundraisers to help the players offset some of the costs, but this really is pay-for-play.
“For these guys, it’s an opportunity to keep playing,” said Julius Shelton, one of the team’s owners who also plays receiver. “They are playing for the love of the game, nothing else. They don’t get paid.”
The Rough Riders play in an organized league called the Mid-America Football League. They have a regular season, and a post-season where they could wind up playing teams from across the country. Before jumping way ahead, however, these guys needed to take care of some business at home.
As in they needed a place to play.
Their home field for the last five years has been Winona State. But the turf at Maxwell Field at Alltel Stadium is being replaced this summer, and honestly, Shelton and another of the team’s owners, Carlos Clayburn, were looking for a little bigger market. They said the team drew about 600 fans per game in Winona, but are hoping for crowds of 500 to 1,000 at its new home, which is Freedom Park on French Island.
Bob Wateski, a member of the Veterans Freedom Park committee, is one of the folks behind the deal that brought the Rough Riders to Freedom Park. Now, much of the rest is up to the organization.
“This is not high school football. It’s faster, harder-hitting, with more talent. It is not sandlot. It is a more advanced level,” said Clayburn, who works as a branch manager for an area bank during the day, then plays football at night. “These guys can really fly to the ball.”
A number of the players have spent time in arena football, including Marvin Hooker, who played for the La Crosse Night Train, an arena football team. Hooker, who is a year away from graduating from UW-La Crosse with a degree in sociology, is spending what little free time he has playing for the Rough Riders.
“The biggest thing is just the opportunity to be a part of this football team,” Hooker said. “We have guys who have played at a high level and just want to strap it up.”
For the love of the game, Hooker, Shelton and Clayburn said. That’s why they showed up Wednesday night to help put up fencing at Freedom Park. That’s why they have helped clear stones off the field, and lay some sod in a couple of different spots on what has turned out to be a solid football field.
Would Brett Favre and Mike McCarthy show up on their off time to lay some sod at Lambeau Field? Hmm, highly unlikely.
“When we first got out here, we were picking up rocks and rubble off the field,” said Hooker, who works as a cook at Applebee’s restaurant in Onalaska, Wis. “It’s an honor to be able to help build your own field.”
A field that will have goalposts from the now demolished Veterans Memorial Field. A field that will have fencing from the same field. In a word, the Rough Riders scrounged what they could from Veterans Memorial Field, and Roger Harring Stadium.
These players have worked up a sweat a long time before they began practicing.
“The first thing they are told is that we expect them to be in shape, and stay in shape. That’s not what practice is for,” said Bob Formanek, a former assistant coach at UW-L who is the Rough Riders head coach. “We use practices to teach. It is a complicated offense, and it definitely helps if you have a college (football) background.”
The level of play is at, or above, the NCAA Division III level, Shelton said. It’s more of a wide-open style, with everything from a wishbone on one play to a five-receiver set on the next.
“It’s definitely action-packed,” said Rough Riders quarterback Jed Neal, a Melrose-Mindoro High School graduate who played for a year at the University of Dubuque. “Lots of guy played college football or more. It’s football. You get hit, you get tackled and you get back up.”
