Ted Gangi

WEBMASTER TED GANGI:
GO GUERILLA

The writers organizations serve as a lifeblood in all major professional sports as well as Division I college football and basketball. The organizations, formed years ago, spell out how press operations are supposed to, well, operate and govern how the media is supposed to behave.

The backbone of these organizations is strength in numbers and the reliance upon the organization as a governing body to represent each member in any and all circumstances related to media operations. While also deciding such important matters as everything from annual awards to hall of fame inductions, professional sportswriters organizations are as much a part of their respective sports as the players and games themselves.

That's where the AFLWA comes in. The league, still fledgling, continues to expand and attract more and more market share. Once an oddball off-season diversion, Arena Football is a now a player with a full-fledged developmental league and a national network television contract. And, thanks to the vision of Mark Anderson, a professional writers organization of its own.

As a member, you have one obligation more than any other at this point. That obligation is to help grow the membership. That can be your single greatest contribution. With the technological innovations that we take for granted such as e-mail, it's now easier than ever for you to promote membership. As membership grows, the AFLWA can add properties to its plate. Already, there is a player of the week and a weekly national poll.

Mark Anderson and Richard Obert touch on the pending launch of a new Arena Football magazine, Inside the AFL, in their columns. But, more importantly, there is a vision to expand the organization and work more closely with a willing and able league office. There will be a point that the AFLWA decides the league's top honors, but that cannot happen until the membership is more representative of the league's growing markets.

Now is the time to get your colleagues involved and help shape the next step of this growing organization. If you want to know ways you can help - other than the membership drive itself - you can reach the board at aflwaboard@sportswriters.net or me at webmaster@sportswriters.net.

Ted Gangi is the webmaster for the AFLWA and is the Assistant Sports Editor for DallasNews.com, the website of The Dallas Morning News.