Whole Lot of Changin’ Goin’ On
Charliy Nash
Monday December 30, 2002
New Network: The move to NBC looks like a very good thing. The peacock network will give the league plenty of promotion. They managed to build enough interest in the failed XFL to get people to at least give it a look. (While our friends at TNN did a great job airing the games, they did a very poor job promoting the league. I guess they were too busy advertising their ridiculous trampoline basketball show.)
NBC’s involvement set off some major scheduling changes. The season now starts in February; this could be a good thing. Star players in the AFL often found themselves having to choose between turning down an invitation to an NFL camp or abandoning their teams during a playoff run. You could see more players going from indoor to outdoor because of this change.
The other NBC inspired change is moving many games to Sunday afternoons – so look for lots of tight shots on the field to prevent showing all the empty seats. Come on NBC, try at least a game or two in prime time – you’re going to need a replacement for Friends soon, you could even keep the theme song. Picture it: sacks, fumbles, and players hitting the wall during the “hasn’t been your day, your week, your month, or even your year” part, and touchdowns, celebrations, and players interacting with the crowd during the “I’ll be there for you” part. It could work.
And please, please find announcers who are familiar with the game. Listening to ex-NFLers who have never even seen an Arena game is painful. Look at tapes from Fox Sports and other local stations and bring some off those guys aboard. (Not the guys from Chicago – I thought I was watching an old “da Bears” skit on Saturday Night Live.) Then watch tapes of ABC’s coverage of the playoffs to see how NOT to do it.
New Logo: The new logo is supposed to represent the speed of the game, to somehow depict playing both offense and defense. Sorry guys, the most frequent comment I’ve heard is that it’s a guy about to get hit in the back of the head with a football. There were also unfavorable comparisons to the WNBA logo.
New Rules: I like most of these changes. The first two follow the “less flags means better football” theory, which I advocate strongly. An offsides penalty by the defense now results in a first down. The intent is to make the linemen less likely to try to gain an advantage by anticipating the snap. To even things up, the league has now outlawed the “freeze” play, where the motion receiver comes toward the line and stops with the intent of drawing the defense offsides.
The next change actually allows the jack linebacker to play a little more defense. If the quarterback makes a pump fake, the linebacker can now drop into coverage. (I hear it was a close vote between this change and having him count to “three Mississippi” before rushing.)
Teams will be allowed to dress an emergency third quarterback, in addition to the 20 players active for a game. He will only be able to come into a game if the other two QB’s are injured. My concern when I first hear this rule was that it tied up a spot on the 24 man roster, but careful examination of the rulebook reveals that the third QB can be from the practice squad.
Rebound nets will go from white to black to improve fan visibility.
Finally, the only rule change I don’t like bans taking consecutive timeouts. In a tight game, this seems to favor the team with the lead.
New Alignment: Colorado is in and Toronto is out, so we make a few shifts. Dallas slides to the Central Division. Detroit’s move to the Eastern Division breaks up a natural in-state rivalry with Grand Rapids, but it seems to be the most logical move.
New Locations: The Gladiators have left New Jersey and headed to Las Vegas. They will remain in the Eastern Division this season. Ike the Mannequin was not available for comment. The Carolina Cobras have moved from Raleigh to Charlotte, and the Georgia Force went from downtown Atlanta to new digs in the suburbs.
Charliy Nash has covered both incarnations of the Nashville Kats, and now has make the 2 hour drive to Huntsville for an Arena Football fix. He also covers the Tennessee Titans as a blogger for nfl.com and still hopes this will eventually lead to a paying gig.
