How to be a Steeldog: Chapter One

This is the first of seven chapters I left behind with the new Media Relations Director on how to perform my former job. It really was easier than it looked I suppose.

Chapter One: Dealing with the League

The league you see today is not the league of old. It used to be so much better than this.

In the olden days, owners had to prove their merits as reputable people in order to be granted a franchise. However, in year seven/eight, it seems that any former NFL player with a small wad of cash can clumsily venture into the land of small market arena football. This will undoubtedly come back to haunt YOU. Try not to let it get under your skin as you’re sitting in the Everett, Wash., airport waiting an hour for the bus that the home team was supposed to provide with a tired football team and a mountain of luggage.

Basically, if you have a problem with the league, let your owner handle it. And never talk to the league’s head honchos without the owner’s knowledge and permission. I speak from bad experience.

The Media Services Director

As of this writing, the MSD is Marc Lestinsky. Marc was the former PR director of the Mohegan/Manchester Wolves of the af2 and has also worked in PR for the Charlotte Hornets/Sting and the University of Rhode Island. Translation: back in the day, he had your job.

What you can do for him

Give him the information he requests. If he needs a roster, give him a roster. If he needs a headshot of a player, get him a headshot. Send him some game photos every now and then (this makes you look good). Send him the game notes on time each week (more on that in the back of the book).

What he can do for you

He can make your team and your players more visible. If you think your player deserves a league Player of the Week award but perhaps the media did not make the proper vote (doesn’t make any sense now, but trust me, it will during the season) then email him your argument. (This actually worked once.) Send him all your team press releases in hopes that they might actually be posted on af2.com for the world to see. Ask him questions, he shall answer.

He works for you

Remember, Marc is practically your employee. He serves the role for you that you serve for your local media. If you need something from his end, please ask. He is supposed to give it to you. You may just have to ask him repeatedly.

Other league personnel

Your dealings with the league are almost exclusively with the Media Services Director and the Player Personnel Director. (as of this writing they were Marc Lestinsky and Scott Wentzel, respectively)

One of your duties during the season is to keep the league informed about who is and is not on your team week-by-week. Once a week during the season, with the exception of your bye week, you must send a current roster to the league. This is normally required on Thursdays of game week by 5 p.m. If your coach has a player transaction that is live, wait until that transaction goes through. Or, as was the case with one of our quarterbacks last season, if a player leaves the team, don’t tell anyone until the day of the next game. Remember, your loyalty is to the team first, af2 down the line.

Channels

The league office is small, but there is an established hierarchy. You can talk to the interns, the media services director and, on occasion, the player personnel director. However, unless your owner directs you to (and it never happened to me in my five years with the team), you do not talk to the commish. And never should you talk to anyone from the AFL office without ownership knowledge and blessing.

Lessons from my experience

Not going through channels reached up and bit me about three years ago, when then-executive director Jay Marcus wrongfully accused me of asking for ridiculous favors from the Philadelphia Soul after I called him for an interview relating to a Steeldogs game program story I was assigned to write. Almost got me fired. The lesson: deal with the af2 just enough to get your job done, and then leave them alone.