Confessions of a Rattlers Fan
Patrick Daly
Tuesday August 20, 2002
One thing I’ve tried to do throughout the past two seasons is provide coverage of the Rattlers for Arenafan Online with as little bias as possible, and I’ve never spoken in the first person in an article before.
Why the change? Because, like many other Rattlers fans, I watched a team that had worked so hard during the season come up short in the biggest 60 minutes of the year.
OK, the Rattlers did more than come up short, but it’s the effort that the Rattlers put into the season that made the 52-14 loss that much harder to take. This was not a team that should go three quarters without scoring. This was also not a team that should play the biggest game of the season against a long-time rival, only to lose by the biggest margin in ArenaBowl history. Yet that’s exactly what happened.
I’ve talked to Chris Horn nearly every week over the past two seasons. I watched him start as a wide-eyed Arena Football rookie in 2001 and then saw him become a true force on the field in 2002. On Sunday, I watched him stand on the sidelines in street clothes, helpless in the face of the onslaught, wanting nothing more than to help his team.
I saw Sherdrick Bonner enter camp in the best shape I’ve seen thanks to the extra effort he expended in the off-season. On Sunday, in the face of the tremendous San Jose pass rush, he was unable to help create the necessary spark before the game got completely out of hand.
I saw one of the hardest workers in the league, Hunkie Cooper, leave everything on the field, only to endure a humiliating defeat to a bitter rival. A proud man like Cooper doesn’t take a “butt whipping” like this lightly.
I watched Rattlers head coach Danny White, one of the great minds of the game, bring a team together for one common goal over the course of the season. On Sunday, I saw a dedicated coaching staff struggle against the outcome of a game that couldn’t be swayed in Arizona’s direction.
I watched an entire team work hard in practice throughout the summer underneath the hot Arizona sun, only to let the opportunity for a third championship slip away. I saw Arizona’s top two pass rushers, Stacy Evans and Sebastian Barrie, go down with injuries without making an impact in the game.
Don’t get me wrong. This was San Jose’s championship to lose.
Quarterback John Dutton was nearly flawless. Offensive specialist James Hundon was unstoppable. Receiver/defensive back Barry Wagner, a true Ironman among mortals, played through a double hernia and scored a rushing touchdown—one hernia sounds painful enough. Defensive specialist Clevan Thomas was named Defensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year prior to the game, and then showed why he earned those awards. The SaberCats also owned the line of scrimmage, a piece of real estate that was never really under contention.
In general, you try to look for the defining moment in a game. It’s the play that, if things go one way or the other, becomes a key in the outcome of the game.
In my book, that play came on Arizona’s first drive when Bonner had Cooper open in the end zone, only to have Rattlers offensive specialist Maurice Bryant tip the ball out of Cooper’s reach while trying to make a play on the ball himself. After the Rattlers came up empty, San Jose countered with a scoring strike from Dutton to Hundon. SaberCats 7, Rattlers 0.
On Arizona’s following possession, the Rattlers worked their way down the field only to have fullback Bo Kelly lose the ball while fighting for extra yardage. San Jose recovered the fumble and Dutton found Hundon again for a second touchdown. SaberCats 14, Rattlers 0.
A game that in all likelihood should have been tied at 14-14, started to get away from the Rattlers. Even though Arizona has climbed out of a number of holes before, like quicksand, the harder the Rattlers pressed, the deeper the hole got.
Before the game, I brought up three keys that generally make all the difference: pass rush, defensive stops and turnovers. I don’t have to tell you which team won each of those battles. If you need a hint, it was the team that won.
You can also analyze the box score and see how San Jose owned just about every statistical category, with the exception of time of possession, but the SaberCats stepped onto the field on Sunday to complete a year-long mission. It wasn’t about statistics or about defeating a division rival. When it was all said and done, that mission, winning San Jose’s first title, was accomplished in the grandest fashion of all.
Until someone unseats the SaberCats, they are the ArenaBowl champions and deservedly so. The 2003 season will bring a new look to the league in the form of a new logo and identity, along with a new broadcast partner (the emphasis is on partner) in NBC and new franchises in Denver and presumably Philadelphia. It also means a 16-game season that will start in February rather than the 14-game slate that has started in early April.
With all of the new things to look forward to in 2003, one constant will remain. The Arizona Rattlers will be back in 2003 to fight for the big prize. There will be some faces you’ll recognize, and some faces you won’t. Those players will be dressed in copper, teal and black, and they’ll wear those colors proudly as a team.
In 2003, I’ll be back to see how the Arizona Rattlers fare in their twelfth season. How about you?
Patrick Daly has been an Arena Football League enthusiast since he first stumbled across the late-night ESPN broadcasts and has followed the Arizona Rattlers since their inaugural season in 1992. He graduated from Arizona State University with an engineering degree and is currently a member of a web development team for Direct Alliance in Tempe. Patrick currently resides in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler, Arizona with his beautiful wife, son and a very large football helmet collection.
