Today in road trippin'

And now this from the Alliance of American Football, which is three games deep in its inaugural season and has given NFL washout Trent Richardson a new lease on his football life, seeing how he leads the AAF with six touchdowns so far.

But this isn't about the redemptive properties of the AAF. This is about the general weirdness that often attends startups, particularly in sports.

(For instance, the fledgling indoor football league Fort Wayne's gotten itself into for the umpteenth time. Apparently the Indiana Blue Bombers -- not to be confused with the other team called "Indiana" -- are recruiting players via indeed.com. Apparently this reaches a larger audience than standing out on Parnell wearing a sandwich board that says "Wanted: Football Players. Experience Preferred But Not Required.")

Anyway ... perhaps you know that one of the teams in the league is the Orlando Apollos, who are coached by former University of Florida coach Steve Spurrier. (He also briefly coached the Washington Redskins, but that probably best goes unmentioned.) The Apollos are also notable for having some interesting logistics; as initially reported by the Orlando Sentinel, they play their home games in Orlando, but live 140 miles away in Jacksonville and bus 30 miles into Georgia for practice everyday.

Some explanation is in order here.

See, it seems the state of Florida's workers' compensation laws don't cover professional athletes. This means their respective leagues have to find an insurance company willing to cover them. The AAF has not yet found an insurance company willing to cover all eight of its teams. This includes the Apollos.

Georgia law, however, does allow for pro athletes to collect workers' comp, provided those athletes spend 51 percent of their practice time in the state. Therefore the Apollos live in Jacksonville because of its proximity to Georgia, making it just logistically possible to practice there.

 Eventually, you have to figure, the AAF will find an insurance company to cover the Apollos and the rest of the league's teams. Then again, it might not.

In the meantime, perhaps the Apollos should see if they can enlist the country music group Florida Georgia Line to sing the national anthem at all their home games. Talk about synergy.