Swarm to Bring New Chapter of Pro Football in Cincinnati
Marc Viquez
Tuesday March 25, 2003
Chris MacKeown’s team finalized their roster recently and will be giving Danny Smith opening night quarterback duties over Chris Batcheller. The spot for the starting position was open during the pre-season and McKeown thinks he has two great players at the position.
“It was stiff and tight competition,” said MacKeown. “Chris Batcheller has a tremendous arm and character, but Danny has a little more experience and savvy.”
Smith was the starter for MacKeown’s former team, the Dayton Skyhawks, in the Indoor Football League and helped guide them to a 6-3 record as a starter between 2000-2001.
Batcheller is returning to professional football after playing baseball in the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league organization.
“We have a very good team, not as experienced, but have great players who have learned the Arena game. We are not as smart, but that will come in time,” said MacKeown.
On the other side of the table is the Louisville Fire, who are comprised entirely of new individuals with only five players returning from last season’s club. First year Head coach Wally English has nearly 40-years of coaching experience on every level of football and knows not to take the expansion Swarm too lightly.
“They have a bunch of players with professional experience,” said English. “They have a coach with Arena and other professional experience. They will be a really good team.”
English has not made decision at quarterback and will either go with Pookie Jones or Patrick Rinard. Jones is attempting to resurrect his professional football career after starting for the University of Kentucky from 1991-1993. He last played professionally in the Canadian Football League with the B.C. Lions in 1997.
The Swarm has eight players with NFL experience and five players with indoor experience. WR/LB Mike Leaks has played on the indoor level in three different leagues the past three seasons. Leaks played under MacKeown in Indiana last season in the AFL and has greatly improved his game since last year according to MacKeown.
MacKeown has a list of players who hope to make an impact this year with WR/DB Ryan Russell, Ohio State product WR/DB Tony Locke, along DS Chazz Moore and Bobby Sippio.
MacKeown knows a little bit on English himself and either coach will not underestimate the other team’s knowledge of the game. MacKeown has players with ample experience on the indoor level on his side of the Ohio River. All five players with indoor experience have played in the Arena Football League.
“We are expecting a very hard fought battle between them,” said MacKeown.
Kickoff is set to start at 7:30 at Freedom Hall with a near capacity crowd expected for opening night. The Swarm will play one more game on the road before opening their season at home on April 19 against Charleston at the US Bank Arena.
A fan of the sport since 1990 Marc has covered both the New Jersey Gladiators and Cincinnati Swarm (Af2) for Arenafan Online. Marc now resides in Indianapolis after graduating with a Masters in Sports Management from Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Ind. When not at a Firebirds game Marc can be found traveling the Midwest covering sports for various Internet and print publications.
