A Tale of Talented Teams
Tim Ball
Friday July 12, 2002
“One is the loneliest number?” The Three Dog Night (a popular old school band, for you kids) could not have meant sports when they penned those words. Everyone wants a shot at the top team in football!
San Jose California April 29th, the Compaq Center, the San Jose SaberCats 52, Arizona Rattlers 51, the 2002 season opener has turned out to be somewhat prophetic as both teams are still one and two in the league with only two games left.
A must win?
The SaberCats should improve on the things that could have let the Rattlers win the first meeting. Arizona will have to improve on the things that let that game get away. This could easily be the best and the most important game of the 2002 season. The East will be watching closely, make no doubt about it…
This could be the game of the season so far. Arizona has more to lose than San Jose, but the SaberCats have to stay in top condition and letting up now might not serve them well in the post-season.
Arizona has many of the league’s top players and AFL stats leaders. Rattlers standouts (and week twelve’s Offensive Player Award winner) quarterback Sherdrick Bonner and WR/LB Hunkie Cooper, are always in the running for honors and awards.
At 9-3, the Rattlers have more at stake because their home field advantage and bye rounds are still being settled. Dallas and Los Angeles are not rolling over for anyone and both can end up tied with Arizona at 9-5 if all goes well for them. San Jose may be out of reach, but the Rattlers are still vulnerable and they still have New Jersey yet to play.
Lost in the deep end
Lost in all of the league’s individual and weekly game awards is the fact that San Jose has so many good players that keeping each of them on the field long enough to qualify for “recognition” is impossible. Depth is a matter of fact on San Jose’s roster that somewhat hinders its players from reaching league star status.
Examples: No one is willing to throw to Clevan Thomas’ side of the field more than a few times a game as he knocks down the vast majority of passes against him. He has been scored on, but responds with a big kickoff return, an interception or by laying down his now league-wide reputation for hard hits. How easy is it to play on a field fourteen yards wide? This is essentially what Thomas does to the competition!
Where is a league award for eliminating your side of the field from opponents? Is there room for “aura” in Rookie of the Year honors? Thomas’ abilities are so respected by the competition that it limits his opportunities…
Which, by the way, brings WR/DB Omar Smith added work. Smith doesn’t have the luxury of sitting out on offense.
How has the two-way player handled this? Smith’s dramatic diving interception that shocked and stopped Chicago from going ahead with only seconds left in the game, may be another “single play” that has kept the SaberCats unbeaten to this point. Moments after that phenomenal take-away, the high flying Smith scored a touchdown on a pass by Grieb on the offensive side of the ball...
Hello! Quarterback Mark Grieb has the league’s best rushing team. How about recognition for “Inability to Stack up Stats ‘Cuz of Multi-Talented Offense” Award?
No sense dwelling on the “Hero-Goat-Hero” award. FB/LB Bob McMillen has that one locked up for his dramatics in Tampa Bay.
OL/DL Sam Hernandez is Arena Football’s version of Baseball’s brush back pitch. Hernandez is a good clean player without question, but if you think that slamming Mark Grieb on the turf by an opposing rusher’s late hit goes unchallenged, well the Yankees better thank goodness he’s not pitching against the Rocket…Hernandez should be up for the “What Goes Around Comes Around” award.
I’ve heard rumors of return specialists hoping to go untouched “all the way” just before receiving a SaberCats kickoff. No, not meaning a runback, but hoping to stay off the IR list by avoiding a hit by San Jose’s 265-pound kicker Daron Alcorn and making it back to the sidelines on their own feet! What would you even name that award? If you recall, even Steve Papin failed to reach the endzone against San Jose. He knows!
I know I mention Alcorn frequently but c’mon now, I watched in (continued) amazement, as he “passed” a ball, with his foot eleven yards to Barry Wagner against Dallas on an onside kick! I’ll be setting up an 800 number for a “Name That Award Contest” for that little trick! (I’ll stop bragging if he does.)
Speaking of Barry Wagner, that one is easy. “The Barry Wagner Award.” That one was really easy…He was just named Ironman of the week for a record 36th time!!!
Barry Wagner’s desire to play Arena Football better than any other player who has ever played this version of football defies editorial or pithy wit. If you have a chance to get this man’s autograph, just do it…
Although a championship is what players want above all else, no one can ever take away twelve wins in a row. That record is the sole property of the 2002 San Jose SaberCats. By the way, this team is 36-6 in regular season games over the last three years and they can improve that record even more with the two games left in this season.
The list of SaberCats players who don’t win weekly awards and who would be a welcomed starter on every team in the league is amazing. Here’s another idea: I Dream of Having a SaberCats Player On My Team Award?
I know a few teams with some strange requests going out to Santa! Here’s one…
Dear St. Nick,
If Clevan Thomas isn’t in the NFL next season and if it’s possible to fit Bob McMillen, Joe Jacobs or Sam Hernandez down a chimney and oh, well darn it Mr. Claus, any one of those San Jose guys would be a great gift. Please, just see what you can do.
Anonymous in Detroit (by request)
The SaberCats are and have been for the last three seasons, the class of the league. Free agency looms large for next year as many players will find welcome homes elsewhere.
Enjoy the game
Arizona has only been beaten soundly in one game this year with Grand Rapids taking it to them 53-71. The Rattlers could have eleven wins if they scored two more points in their game with the SaberCats and five additional points against Dallas. San Jose could be side by side with them in the standings as they have had their share of close calls.
The SaberCats have won all of their games so far this year by beating opponents at every position. There has not been a single game they have not earned or deserved to win. Players making plays is not a superfluous cliché in San Jose -- it is a practiced skill that has been on display for every opponent.
Football players know what they are talking about when they say to “take it a game at a time.” That’s all that matters if you think about it. Even a championship game is just one game. If you don’t win the game you are playing, then the next chance you get may come with a different year attached to it.
Only the SaberCats or the Rattlers have been Western Division Champions since 1995. The tale of these two teams have more stories yet to be told.
Game time is: 7:00pm Friday July 12th at the America West Arena.
Tim Ball is a writer in the Chicagoland area. Married and father of three, his opinions on Arena Football reflects the positive aspect of the game as a family event second to none in pro sports.
