SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Two weeks ago, the Sacramento Gold Miners were gone. Citing lack of support from fans, political leaders and the media, owner Fred Anderson said he was moving his team out of town.
Last night, the Gold Miners held fan appreciation night, set off fireworks and gave away $10,000 in prizes.
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If this was the end of Sacramento's CFL experience, the swan song came on a fitting night. The Gold Miners closed out their second season against the Baltimore CFLs in a cold, steady rain at tiny Hornet Field on the campus of Cal State-Sacramento.
A promotion that obviously had been planned long before the relocation announcement was further diluted by the elements.
Even at the end, though, the Gold Miners were sending signals they might be willing to stick it out in this northern California city.
The first thaw in chilly relations between the team and city officials came Wednesday, when Mayor Joe Serna Jr. addressed the prospects of a badly needed new stadium. Serna said local leaders should consider a multi-county bond issue to finance a sports complex along with other regional projects.
Anderson's response was to remind everyone that he had issued a disclaimer in his relocation announcement -- "barring a miracle," he said, he would move the team.
"I've said all along that barring a miracle, we won't be playing at Hornet Field next year," Anderson told the Sacramento Bee. "I still stick with that statement.
"But maybe I'm not looking for a big miracle, but a series of smaller ones."
Anderson said he would ask the league to implement some cost-cutting measures for his team.
He said the CFL had granted him an extension of the Dec. 1 deadline for approval on a change of venue.
In the player ranks, there appeared a glimmer of hope.
Quarterback David Archer, who missed the team's final six games with a dislocated right thumb, sorted through the rhetoric in search of logic.
"People are trying to make something happen," Archer said. "There's still hope, if [corporate] people will step up and do some things.
"If we're going to stay in northern California, we should stay here. If we went to Oakland or San Jose, we'd see the same situation in a different city."
Anderson, a native of Sacramento, has said that if the Gold Miners went anywhere other than Oakland, he would sell the team.
If all that uncertainty leaves the Gold Miners in limbo, the fog isn't likely to lift any time soon.
There are questions about coach Kay Stephenson's status, and several of the team's top players will become free agents in February. Archer heads a list that includes running back Troy Mills, slotback Rod Harris, center Mike Kiselak and guard David Diaz-Infante.
Archer, a seven-year veteran of the NFL, threw for 6,023 yards and 35 touchdowns a year ago in Sacramento's CFL debut. In 11 starts this season, he threw for 3,340 and 21 touchdowns. He said he's willing to listen to any offers, including from the NFL.
When Sacramento played in Edmonton a week ago, the Eskimos told Archer they wanted to talk to him after the season as a possible replacement for free agent-to-be Damon Allen.
"I'll listen to the opportunities that come down the road," Archer, 32, said. "If Kay is running the show with this team, I want to be part of it. If he's not, I'll see how the new coach feels about me."
Explanations of why the Gold Miners failed in Sacramento range from the inevitable comparisons to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL to the absence of support. The team's average attendance dropped from 15,000 a year ago to just above 14,000 this season.
"I don't know where we fell short," Archer said. "Corporate people were not involved. Negative press hurt. There are ingrained traditions here, and we bucked the traditions."
It didn't help that the Gold Miners didn't win enough. They went 6-12 a year ago, then revamped the roster in a major off-season overhaul. They took an 8-8-1 record into last night's game.
On top of injuries to key players such as Archer, the Gold Miners were inconsistent. Four weeks after they pounded Shreveport, 56-3, they lost to the Pirates, 24-12.
Last week, Sacramento lost to Edmonton on a disputed officiating call on the game's final play. That loss knocked the Gold Miners out of the West Division playoffs.
"We're one of the top eight teams," said Kiselak, a former Maryland lineman. "And we're not going to the playoffs. Two teams under .500 are going [in the East]. And that's sad."