Casa Grande Football League invades Las Vegas

By Ron Kantowski

Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2009 | 4:42 p.m.

NOW

The Casa Grande Football League debuts Thursday night at Sam Boyd Stadium with a game between the Casa Grande Locomotives and the Casa Grande Redwoods.

Actually, it's the United Football League. UFL. Not CGFL. Casa Grande is the not-so-grande town in Arizona, between Tucson and Phoenix, where multiple UFL teams had training camp and will continue to practice. Even if it says "Las Vegas" or "California" or "North Platte" in front of their nicknames.

(While there is no North Platte in the UFL, there are plans to add at least two franchises to make it a rollicking six-team league next year. Maybe North Platte will get a team then.)

With multiple teams playing out of one city, the UFL sort of reminds me of roller derby when I was a kid. If the game was at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, one of the teams was invariably called the Bay Area Bombers. The next week, when the game was at Cobo Hall in Detroit or some armory in Fort Wayne, it was renamed the Midwest Pioneers. That sort of thing.

I wonder how long before somebody calls off the jam.

THEN

My favorite BPFL (Bogus Pro Football League) of all time was the World Football League, which lasted from 1974 to the end of 1975. Well, almost to the end of 1975.

Without the WFL, there would have been no Shreveport Steamer. No Action Point. And, last but not least, no Dickerod.

The Shreveport Steamer was the name of the WFL franchise there. It began as the Houston Texans, but moved to Louisiana midway through the inaugural season. Gotta love the Steamer.

The Action Point was a bonus point that teams collected by running or completing a pass from the five-yard line after scoring a touchdown. Gotta love the Action Point.

The Dickerod was the name of the 10-yard chain, which wasn't a chain at all, but a single stick that pivoted and measured first downs. It was named for its creator, Eric Dickerod.

Actually, I think the guy's name was Dicker, and I don't recall his first name.

But you still gotta love the Dickerod.