So Far, WLAF Happy With Results

As the World League of American Football’s vice president for football management, Jerry Vainisi has traveled thousands of miles trying to keep his finger on the pulse of the league’s first season.

Vainisi is the league’s No.1 trouble-shooter, overseeing everything from coaches’ concerns to player transaction. From Frankfurt to Sacramento, Vainisi has just about seen it all.

Not all of it has been good but, to his relief, things seem to be improving.

“I was disappointed initially that we didn’t score more points,” Vainisi said, “which is something I was afraid was going to happen because defenses are always ahead of offenses in the early going.”

Gradually, Vainisi has seen the scoring increase and the quality of the play rise with it. No one who really knows football ever will confuse it with the NFL, but Vainisi is starting to like what he sees after watching four of the league’s five games last weekend.

“I think, to be perfectly honest, for a new league and getting going the way we have and it all coming together as quickly as it has, “ he said, “the product on the field has been very, very good, My biggest concern is the level of play and I think it’s getting better every week.”

As the league enters its sixth week of games, “I’m really looking forward to the second half,” Vainisi said. “A lot of teams are coming on.”

Then again, it is difficult to see where some of the teams stand.

While London and Barcelona have risen tot he top at 5-0 and 4-1 and Raleigh-Durham scarpes the bottom at 0-5, the other seven teams are either 3-2 or 2-3 and in contention for playoff spots.

If the league wanted parity, it certainly has it. Whether or not that is a good thing remains to be seen.

“Some people in our operation would like to see all the teams be 5-5,” Vainisi said, “and give me a nightmare of trying to figure out the tiebreakers.

“A lot of people would like to see a 10-0 team just to have a real powerhouse.”

In the long run, “We just want them all to be all competitive and play well. However it shakes down, it shakes down.”

-- At the halfway point, attendance remains strong for the four international teams.

Overall, the league’s attendance is 26,139 spectators per game. In Europe and Montreal, the attendance is 30,472 per game, more that 15,000 per game above the World League’s initial goals.

On the other hand, the average in the United States is 20,866. THat is almost 5,000 below the World league’s expections.

-- It took five weeks and three key injuries, but Barcelona finally lost last week, 22-14, at San Antonio.

Key injuries played a major part in the loss. Quarterback Scott Erney (the league’s second-rated passer) went out in the second quarter with a separated shoulder. Running back Paul Palmer (the league’s second-leading rusher at the time) missed the game with a hamstring pull and Gene Taylor, who might be the best wide receiver in the league, played half the game at less than full speed because of an injury.

Barcelona concludes its two-week tour of north America Saturday at Sacramento without Erney, who was placed on injured reserve and will miss a game May 4 against the Birmingham Fire in Barcelona.

-- With Erney sidelined, Barcelona’s starting quarterback will be Tony Rice, whose last start came on Jan. 1, 1990, when his Notre Dame team beat Colorado in the Orange Bowl.

Rice is still working to overcome his good-run, bad-pass reputation after a season in the CFL, but he impressed San Antonio coach Mike Riley.

“He did a good job against us after Erney got hurt,” Riley said. “He can play now. I think his time up in Canada really helped him, because he’s a more complete quarterback.”

-- For every struggling ream such as Montreal and Orlando, there is a team on the rise. San Antonio is one of those, with three consecutive victories after an 0-2 start.

The other is New York-New Jersey, which started out 0-3 with a run-and-shoot offense that looked more like a shoot-in-foot attack, as it struggled to grasp the intricacies of the complex offense.

In its past two games, the Knights have looked like one of the league’s most improved teams with victories over Montreal and Sacramento. The Knights play Orlando, which has lost three consecutive games, at Giants Stadium Saturday.

“Every time we get on the field, we learn a little bit more and get a little bit better,” Knights quarterback Jeff Graham said. “Right now, we’re in rhythm and we’re playing well.”

“Everybody is real positive and psyched up,” said coach Mouse Davis, the father of the fun-and-shoot. “We’re back in it and we’re playing a team in our division and we’re playing at home. It’s a short week and you don’t have any time to let the ouches heal. But wins make the ouches heal a lot faster.”