MONTICELLO '08
An Off-Season USCFL Conference
Monticello '08, an off-season conference
of The United States Cartoon Football League commenced Wednesday,
August 20, 2008 at the Best Western Gateway Inn hotel at
Monticello, IL. League Commissioner Lisa Carlson gave the keystone
address entitled "Professional and Collegiate Sports Are Out Of
Control, and Why the USCFL is a Positive Role Model for Competitive
Sports". This speech criticized professional sports as being buried in
a blizzard of money, drenched in alcohol, and pumped up on steroids.
After the speech, the delegates to this conference, all the team
captains/starting quarterbacks of the sixteen teams that make up the
League began debate on two of the most pressing issues facing the
League; mainly if live action players should be allowed to play for
cartoon oriented teams (the "Hannah Montana" rule), and the running
clock/blow-out rule.
My purpose in calling a football game on Friday nights during the regular season is to provide an in-depth experience as these games are indeed played out and not done with cards, dice, spinning wheels, etc.
We decided last night to move things along as quickly as possible is to provide just one sports update at halftime. In addition we also decided to suspend any game after the third quarter if one team is ahead by 50 points or more. Otherwise the game will be played normally as well as during non-webcasted or playoff games.
We will begin the webcasts at 7:30PM EDT during the 2009 season. A pre-game cartoon episode will still be presented before the start of each game. The home team on Friday nights will get the pre-game episode unless the home team doesn't have episodes in our archives. The weekly trivia question will not be asked during the webcasts but instead will be asked on the Yahoo site. Commercials will still be played at the 2 minute warning of the fourth quarter only. (With the exception of The Go For The Gold Game)
To make clear of one fact, the league's majority of characters are animated and a small percentage are live action. However during the league's history, two real life football teams and The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers played in the USCFL for many years and folded at the end of the 2007 season to make room for new teams and characters. Star Trek, a live action team, also at one time had an animated version of the show back in the early 1970's and is featured here on Friday nights. nights.
Jack Sparrow of The Pirates of the Caribbean movies plays for The Disney All-Stars and Harry Potter, Hermoine Granger and Ron Weasley plays for The Warner Bros All-Stars mostly both all-animated teams. Disney will be able to sign up the popular Miley Cyrus character as a reserve player for the 2009 season. (Defensive End as #99) However in 2010, Captain Jack and Hannah Montana will both play for the new Disney West All-Stars team. Plus the three Harry Potter players will play for the Sci-Fi All-Stars allowing for two Animaniacs characters overlooked years ago and a lesser known Looney Tunes character.
To totally phase out the live action players may not be as simple as erasing a mistake on paper. As I have seen it, just about every cartoon character ever created are represented here with the exception of characters overlooked because I've never heard of them, never seen them on TV or in the movies or made a long time ago that most of us have forgotten about.
For the 2010 season, we will add four new teams one new team in each division. Color schemes and cities will be determined at a later time. The four expansion teams are as follows...
The Disney West All-Stars
The Walt Disney Company has so many characters to their credit that it is possible to add a second Disney team to the ranks of the USCFL. Popular classic Disney characters seen in the movies, characters made by Pixar and new characters seen on The Disney Channel will be represented here. As stated above, Jack Sparrow and Hannah Montana will be playing for this team in 2010. The current Disney team will be renamed "The Disney East All-Stars" It's proposed that this new team will play in the Western Division of the Pacific Conference in Los Angeles, where the Classic Cartoon All-Stars now play. The "Classics" will move to the San Francisco Bay Area, probably calling San Jose or Palo Alto home.
The Cartoon Network All-Stars
This new team will feature characters from Cartoon Network (Not counting characters already playing for Hanna-Barbera or Warner Bros) This team's location, division and conference assignments are still to be determined.
The Comic Strip All-Stars
This new team will feature characters seen in the comics section of newspapers or comic books. (Excluding The Peanuts Gang, Garfield, or superheroes) This team's location, division and conference assignments are still to be determined.
The Cameos
This unique team will feature cartoon characters that were seen just once in a show regardless of which show they appeared on. (For example the villains Mystery Inc. faced over the years would be featured on this team) This team's location, division and conference assignments are still to be determined.
(UPDATE!) Further discussion has determined that a team based solely on one-shot characters would be cumbersome and virtually unworkable. Thus, it was decided that we would go with a team made up of characters from Nickelodeon, Viacom's popular kids' cable channel, and would feature such popular characters and franchises like Spongebob Squarepants, Dora the Explorer, Rugrats, Fairly Odd Parents, Avatar, etc. More details will be forthcoming as the 2010 season approaches.
Item 5: 2009 SCHEDULES
Item 1: LIMITING WEBCAST COVERAGE
My purpose in calling a football game on Friday nights during the regular season is to provide an in-depth experience as these games are indeed played out and not done with cards, dice, spinning wheels, etc.
We decided last night to move things along as quickly as possible is to provide just one sports update at halftime. In addition we also decided to suspend any game after the third quarter if one team is ahead by 50 points or more. Otherwise the game will be played normally as well as during non-webcasted or playoff games.
We will begin the webcasts at 7:30PM EDT during the 2009 season. A pre-game cartoon episode will still be presented before the start of each game. The home team on Friday nights will get the pre-game episode unless the home team doesn't have episodes in our archives. The weekly trivia question will not be asked during the webcasts but instead will be asked on the Yahoo site. Commercials will still be played at the 2 minute warning of the fourth quarter only. (With the exception of The Go For The Gold Game)
Item 2: THE "HANNAH MONTANA" RULE
To make clear of one fact, the league's majority of characters are animated and a small percentage are live action. However during the league's history, two real life football teams and The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers played in the USCFL for many years and folded at the end of the 2007 season to make room for new teams and characters. Star Trek, a live action team, also at one time had an animated version of the show back in the early 1970's and is featured here on Friday nights. nights.
Jack Sparrow of The Pirates of the Caribbean movies plays for The Disney All-Stars and Harry Potter, Hermoine Granger and Ron Weasley plays for The Warner Bros All-Stars mostly both all-animated teams. Disney will be able to sign up the popular Miley Cyrus character as a reserve player for the 2009 season. (Defensive End as #99) However in 2010, Captain Jack and Hannah Montana will both play for the new Disney West All-Stars team. Plus the three Harry Potter players will play for the Sci-Fi All-Stars allowing for two Animaniacs characters overlooked years ago and a lesser known Looney Tunes character.
To totally phase out the live action players may not be as simple as erasing a mistake on paper. As I have seen it, just about every cartoon character ever created are represented here with the exception of characters overlooked because I've never heard of them, never seen them on TV or in the movies or made a long time ago that most of us have forgotten about.
Item 3: FOUR NEW EXPANSION FRANCHISES WILL BE ADDED FOR 2010
For the 2010 season, we will add four new teams one new team in each division. Color schemes and cities will be determined at a later time. The four expansion teams are as follows...
The Disney West All-Stars
The Walt Disney Company has so many characters to their credit that it is possible to add a second Disney team to the ranks of the USCFL. Popular classic Disney characters seen in the movies, characters made by Pixar and new characters seen on The Disney Channel will be represented here. As stated above, Jack Sparrow and Hannah Montana will be playing for this team in 2010. The current Disney team will be renamed "The Disney East All-Stars" It's proposed that this new team will play in the Western Division of the Pacific Conference in Los Angeles, where the Classic Cartoon All-Stars now play. The "Classics" will move to the San Francisco Bay Area, probably calling San Jose or Palo Alto home.
The Cartoon Network All-Stars
This new team will feature characters from Cartoon Network (Not counting characters already playing for Hanna-Barbera or Warner Bros) This team's location, division and conference assignments are still to be determined.
The Comic Strip All-Stars
This new team will feature characters seen in the comics section of newspapers or comic books. (Excluding The Peanuts Gang, Garfield, or superheroes) This team's location, division and conference assignments are still to be determined.
The Cameos
This unique team will feature cartoon characters that were seen just once in a show regardless of which show they appeared on. (For example the villains Mystery Inc. faced over the years would be featured on this team) This team's location, division and conference assignments are still to be determined.
(UPDATE!) Further discussion has determined that a team based solely on one-shot characters would be cumbersome and virtually unworkable. Thus, it was decided that we would go with a team made up of characters from Nickelodeon, Viacom's popular kids' cable channel, and would feature such popular characters and franchises like Spongebob Squarepants, Dora the Explorer, Rugrats, Fairly Odd Parents, Avatar, etc. More details will be forthcoming as the 2010 season approaches.
Item 4: TEAM STRATEGIES
In 2008, all teams in this League used a "balanced" approach as it came
to both offense and defense. In 2009, it was decided that each team
will have individual strategies for offense and/or defense. These
strategies are as follows:
FOX ALL-STARS
BALANCED ATTACK
JUSTICE LEAGUE
STRONG DEFENSE
SCI-FI ALL-STARS
SMASHMOUTH
JIM HENSON ALL-STARS
BALANCED ATTACK
DISNEY ALL-STARS
BALANCED ATTACK
MODERN CARTOON ALL-STARS
STRONG OFFENSE
CLASSIC CARTOON ALL-STARS
BALANCED ATTACK
TV AD ALL-STARS
BALANCED ATTACK
THE TRANSFORMERS
BALANCED ATTACK
STAR TREK
AIR-IT-OUT
THE SIMPSONS
STRONG DEFENSE
THE SMURFS
BALANCED ATTACK
WARNER BROS ALL-STARS
SMASHMOUTH
80'S ALL-STARS
SMASHMOUTH
MASTERS OF POWER
STRONG OFFENSE
HANNA-BARBERA ALL-STARS
BALANCED ATTACK
BALANCED ATTACK
JUSTICE LEAGUE
STRONG DEFENSE
SCI-FI ALL-STARS
SMASHMOUTH
JIM HENSON ALL-STARS
BALANCED ATTACK
DISNEY ALL-STARS
BALANCED ATTACK
MODERN CARTOON ALL-STARS
STRONG OFFENSE
CLASSIC CARTOON ALL-STARS
BALANCED ATTACK
TV AD ALL-STARS
BALANCED ATTACK
THE TRANSFORMERS
BALANCED ATTACK
STAR TREK
AIR-IT-OUT
THE SIMPSONS
STRONG DEFENSE
THE SMURFS
BALANCED ATTACK
WARNER BROS ALL-STARS
SMASHMOUTH
80'S ALL-STARS
SMASHMOUTH
MASTERS OF POWER
STRONG OFFENSE
HANNA-BARBERA ALL-STARS
BALANCED ATTACK
Item 5: 2009 SCHEDULES
We managed to get a schedule made up for 2009 in fact two schedules
have been made for 2009. Through a football scheduling program Thomas
Hartman found, he made a schedule with this program while I finished
the schedule I was making on paper and by hand. I will post both
schedules in the near future for your approval which schedule is
liked best will be used for the 2009 season.
Item 6: EXHIBITION SCHEDULE
Among
the final things we did was to determine who was going to play in the
exhibition holiday bowls between Halloween and Valentine's Day. Two of
these games will be played outside the United States; the Halloween
Bowl will be plaked in London, England, U.K.at Wembley Stadium, and the
New Year's Eve Bowl will be played at San Juan, Puerto Rico. We also
determined when the USCFL expands back to 20 teams in 2010, the four
cities will be once again Washington DC, Indiana, San Francisco for the
first time since 1986 and for the first time ever, the USCFL will have
a team representing The Garden State New Jersey. That team will
actually play out of Newark.
OTHER ITEMS
Among other
items of interest are that Disney Head Coach Jiminy Crickey announced
his retirement after a long career at the helm of the team. He
will be replaced by Tinker Bell. We wish all the best to Jiminy on his
retirement. One of Jiminy's last official acts as head coach was to
hear the appeal of Disney linebacker Shego, who was suspended for one
game and demoted to reserve status following an incident after the
Atlantic Conference semi-finals where she
initiated an unprovoked attack upon teammate Daisy Duck. Based on the
severity of this incident, and two other like incidents that occured
over the course of the past three years, it was decided that Shego's
suspension be extended to three games.
The Hanna-Barbera All-Stars announced that Daphne Blake will return to the lineup in 2009 as a starting quarterback. Current HB QB Pebbles Flintstone will be demoted to second string. While Pebbles is disappointed that she lost her starting position to Ms. Blake, she accepts this decision, and wishes Ms. Blake all the best in her new role.
Monticello '08 concluded on Sunday, August 31. Everyone in attendance agreed that it was a rousing success,and will be remembered for a long time to come.
The Hanna-Barbera All-Stars announced that Daphne Blake will return to the lineup in 2009 as a starting quarterback. Current HB QB Pebbles Flintstone will be demoted to second string. While Pebbles is disappointed that she lost her starting position to Ms. Blake, she accepts this decision, and wishes Ms. Blake all the best in her new role.
Monticello '08 concluded on Sunday, August 31. Everyone in attendance agreed that it was a rousing success,and will be remembered for a long time to come.
ABOUT MONTICELLO, ILLINOIS
MONTICELLO LINKS
City of Monticello Web Site
Monticello Railway Museum Web Site
Allerton Park Web Site
The "city" of Monticello is located in
East Central Illinois, about midway between Chicago and St. Louis. It
is also about 18 miles west of Champaign-Urbana or 25 miles northeast
of Decatur. The town has a population of 5,100, and is the county seat
of Piatt County. Many of the town's residents commute to work in nearby
Champaign-Urbana or Decatur. While Monticello is closely tied to the
ecomonies of the nearby urban areas, agriculture and agri-business are
important parts of the Monticello area ecomony. The town has its own
hospital, as well as a branch clinic of an Urbana-based major physician
group practice that has over 300 doctors practicing in over 40 medical
specialities and sub-specialities. Monticello is the home to the
Monticello Railway Museum, a perservation railway whose volunteers are
dedicated to the perservation and operation of antique railroad
equipment. Restaurants are plentiful in Monticello, and they include a
popular pizzeria, a Chinese restaurant, fast-food chains, and a trendy
deli. Local residents can find everything they need right in town,
since Monticello has a supermarket, several gasoline stations, and a
hardware store. One of the area's most famous residents was one
Robert Allerton, a Chicago area socialite, who lived in a HUGE mansion
(called Allerton House) west of town along the Sangamon River. In 1946,
he donated his mansion to the University of Illinois. Income from
university-owned farmland surrounding the estate support operations at
what is now known as Allerton Park.
The United States Cartoon Football League thanks the people of Monticello and Piatt County for allowing us to hold our summit in your fair city. SALUTE!
The United States Cartoon Football League thanks the people of Monticello and Piatt County for allowing us to hold our summit in your fair city. SALUTE!
MONTICELLO LINKS
City of Monticello Web Site
Monticello Railway Museum Web Site
Allerton Park Web Site
Daphne Blake at the "Sun Singer" statue in Allerton Park near Monticello