Even before the Milwaukee Bonecrushers won a game, head coach and former Green Bay Packer great Gilbert Brown resigned. General manager Chris Kokalis and both the offensive and defensive coordinators quit as well.

All cited irreconcilable differences with the ownership group that consists of A. A’ron Williams, III, Shaun Totulis and John Burns. Rumors swirled about some of the players leaving as well, but at this point, nothing has been confirmed.

“The coaches and owners only cared about the name of a player or what school he went to, not if he could actually play or not,” said a former player who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity. “Tryouts were just a marketing ploy to draw fans, not actually a legitimate attempt to compile the best possible team.”

Truth exists in the player’s words; currently the team stands at 0-3, losing the three games by a combined total of 57 points. To make matters worse, starting quarterback Ryan Maiuri left the game with internal bleeding and was hospitalized after the loss to the Flint Phantoms on April 6. The Phantoms themselves are an expansion team and secured their first victory against the overmatched Bonecrushers.

Adding insult to injury, an ownership group that includes former University of Wisconsin lineman Joe Panos reached an agreement with the Bradley Center to bring an AFL 2 team into the city of Milwaukee. That ownership group is run by Drew Vallozi, whose family owned the Milwaukee Mustangs before they collapsed in 2001.

The team will be called the Milwaukee Iron and, as of now will start play in 2009. This likely will draw many fans away from the smaller Bonecrusher franchise, another set-back for an already besieged organization.

“I had Bonecrusher season tickets, but after the coaches walking away and their inability to win games, I’m just trying to sell my seats,” said University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee senior Brandon Riemer. “I am excited about a new team next year; hopefully it will be better than what I’ve seen so far.”

As it stands now, the bar for the Milwaukee Iron is being set very low. Dismal play combined with terrible marketing and public relations moves left the stands mostly empty and the team generally unknown. Through all this however, it would be very unfortunate to see Gilbert Brown’s reputation become tainted as he done a lot for the state of Wisconsin, both as a Packer and as a philanthropist.

Hopefully, there will be a sustained football presence in the city of Milwaukee as the state of Wisconsin bleeds green and gold; the Mustangs were widely popular before they fell apart and regularly drew 14,000 to 15,000 fans a game.

Perhaps even the Bonecrushers will turn this all around and succeed in a market that provides a lot of resources to draw upon. Until then however, focus your attention on the first place Milwaukee Brewers and let the Milwaukee Bonecrushers dig themselves out of an early grave without the “Gravedigger.”

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