Minor league football in Butler County?

The Butler County Bears tried it — succeeding and failing, depending in how one looks at it.

They succeeded in the sense that they got through the season, winning three games as an expansion team in the established United States Football Association.

The players still in uniform by season's end were pretty serious about playing football.

There just weren't enough of them.

The Bears began the season with 36 players and ended it with 22. Some got hurt, some quit, some discovered along the way they couldn't handle the game.

Not many people were in the stands for these games. A few family members and relatives of the players came out to watch, and that's about it.

In that sense, the Bears failed.

Still, this team and this league could make it here with some adjustments:

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Marketing. There wasn't any. Many Butler County sports fans didn't know the team existed. Any minor league team in any sport needs to promote itself to have any chance of getting people to check it out.•

Get a statistician. You gotta have stats in football. How many yards has your quarterback thrown for? Who's your leading rusher? If a guy's doing well offensively or defensively, let the media and public know.If you don't have statistics, you don't have anything folks can sink their teeth into.•

Find players. In the Bears' case, find linemen. And this is no easy task.Getting linemen to commit to the work ethic required to become really good is difficult at the minor league level. Most of these players hadn't played in a few years and it's tough to get back in shape to do battle in the trenches.A solid offensive line can make your skilled players look good, even if the talent is marginal.•

Take yourself seriously. Be on the field ready to go at scheduled kickoff time, not wandering out of the locker room seconds before game time.•

Handle delays better. This falls on the USFA more than the locals. The Bears' final game at Karns City was called after nearly two hours of waiting out lightning delays.Just when the weather cleared out, with a playable field and two teams in uniform ready to play the game's final 16 minutes, officials inexplicably pulled the plug on the game.This just cannot happen.The Bears are planning to hold an offseason conditioning program and fall tryouts in an effort to get more players. They do have a number of guys looking to return to the team.Last year was only Step 1. Problems have been identified and they are being addressed.Football is huge in this area. Everybody knows that.The Butler County Bears are capable of feeding off that frenzy.In time, perhaps they will.