The Fans: Power in Numbers
Tim Ball
Monday April 28, 2003
Drums are loudest that are struck the hardest. Both you and I know how awesome Arena Football is. That’s why you read this website and many others. There is no fan like an Arena Football fan. Why? Because we have shaken off the conditioning to believe that sports have to be fed to us in only four flavors, the NFL, MLB, NBA and the NHL. Some of those troughs are losing their flavor and we know something more satisfying.
Though none need to be replaced; they need to make room. The Arena Football League has as much value for its fans as any sport in the country. The success of players in the outdoor game who’ve become better players in the AFL, is just a glimpse of what would happen if minds were open and cronyism wasn’t the ruling force for selecting athletes in some other leagues.
No, don’t think I’m singing a ballad for players going from Arena Football to the outdoor game and dominating. I’m not. There are an equal number of players who may not make it in each league. The point is that we probably don’t care.
Right now my children have no clue that the NFL exists. They will learn all in good time, after going to more than a hundred arena games over the next decade. In the meantime, I’ll enjoy my 2 ½ year old son thinking every day is a “SaberCats Roar” day.
As long as it’s on TV or someone wants to give me tickets to a NY Giants game, the NFL’s excellence will be something we’ll watch between commercials.
For too long, fans were forced to believe that the greatest and best players only come from the mainstream method and their drafts and their channels. No way. We now know that there are matchups in Arena Football that rival any game played anywhere.
The Georgia/San Jose game had Darryl Hammond catching the winning TD as time ran out with none other than Barry Wagner all over him. Take a trip to the all-time lists and see for yourself what went down on that play. It’s not sad that a lot of football fans don’t know these two players, it’s pathetic.
The drama of seventeen arena seasons has been and is being played out without the acceptance of pinheaded traditionalists in some sports media and the aged relics in the NFL old guard. Those who know the value in this league and more importantly the players know there is a purity to the Arena game and are enjoying it. The dimensions and difference of the venue change nothing. The fight for victory is just as heroic. The players are just as good.
What a Game(s)
I listened to every second as Arizona and LA battled on and on. I could see Hunkie Cooper and Sherdrick Bonner through my car speakers. I could feel the proud and cocky young Avengers staff being taught a lesson by the legends of this game. And, I’m not even a fan of either team. (You believe me, right? I do have to interview Sam Hernandez soon.)
Who doesn’t want to see a game at the Snake Pit or be there for the “War on I-4?” Who doesn’t secretly check out the Dragon’s website to see if Aaron Garcia passed for twenty touchdowns in the last game? It’s a wonder that guy’s arm can stay attached.
This league is literally in ours hands and we truly control its future. A future the players and we deserve. We have been given something that shouldn’t exist. It’s like looking in the mirror and realizing you’re going to be living the rest of your life with someone wonderful and you don’t know how you got this gift.
Nothing can beat a sure thing. Interaction between player and fan in Arena Football is not something you have to pay a fee to get; you simply have to walk your kids down to the field after the game.
Realizing you’re not being shunned as a nuisance preventing a player getting to a nightclub after the game is hard to get used too. And, when you hear a “thanks” coming from a player towards your family, the moment is almost impossible to believe.
There is a bond in this league that has to be shared with those in need of a better sport. I have never been let off the hook by fans or family of players when I have been in error of reporting actual facts as they see it. You can’t get the personal quality of Arena Football from other sports. Maybe this league will start a revolution in the behavior of athletes of other sports as they realize what they have.
With very few exceptions, arena fans welcome the opposition like a family member that only they can pick on. Anyone else trying will get a unified thumping. I usually respond to negative comments about the AFL from ignorant sports guys with pity for their position. They’ve been conditioned to feel worthless.
It was great that San Jose beat Arizona (a real rival) for their first championship. But now, all fans talk about is wishing the game had been close to the end. “Coach White, Bonner and Hunkie deserved better,” said one guy in a group discussion around the fan club table.
But, no one wished that they had been too close. We all know what can happen in the last second of an arena game, especially with Bonner throwing it. Ask a Carolina player from last season.
The Power of You.
Neither NBC, nor the league office can achieve anything without you and a purchased ticket. Don’t ever forget that and that season ticket holders are the most valuable asset and aspect of all.
Now, the only obstacle in the way of Arena Football growing is another ticket. The ticket that can bring a better world to wayward and lost souls adrift in the disappointment of the high cost and valueless offerings of today’s hyped up sporting events. Only one other ticket per fan per game and this league will be unstoppable. And, the league is getting close to achieving this. This is even more important in the af2 where one season ticket is cheaper than a single game ticket for one of the “major” sports.
If a team can draw 7900 loyal fans, then all that those fans need to do is encourage one other person to see the game and that number becomes 15,800 spectators. Any team in the league and most importantly your favorite team will benefit from a happy and secure future.
This formula relies on only one fan plus one more. Teams that have great numbers of fans already can only improve their situation for the better.
Colorado, for example, will have success without a doubt because those fans are going to will success to fruition. It’s not surprising that their team just took down Tampa Bay. (Not to worry, the Storm’s place in history is more than secure.) John Elway doesn’t hurt, but he’s not on the field; he’s taken a Marge Schott-like owner-mascot role. Without fans he doesn’t have a franchise.
The odds of Arena Football taking hold were and still are stacked against it. Not odds that prove the value of the Arena Football League but the odds of people discovering something wonderful. Many sports fans have no idea that there can be a sporting event this good because they listen to stereotypes from brown-nosing nerds and won’t look for themselves.
Good people need your help. You know why two and a half hours at an Arena Game is worth far more than you had to pay. Many families have given up trying to find a pro-sport affordable enough and worthy enough for the kids. They will not buy the hype or believe the commercials. They have been to NBA and Major League Baseball games and have given up hope as they gave up their cash.
The End Justifies the Means
The future of Arena Football is only as bright as the light shined on it by fans of the sport. The league bigwigs have plans for growth, including international teams. This is just fantasy without the reality of seats being filled with excited, but more importantly, committed fans.
Like a skyscraper reaching towards the sun, in the end it will be the foundation that holds the whole thing up. Without a strong foundation the league will totter and sway until those within its corporate structure lose strength and stagger away dizzy and disappointed. Remember the USFL, XFL, ABA or the NASL? No? These were professional leagues with great athletes but lacked the dedicated fan base that the big four takes for granted. If you don’t remember them, you are not alone, but you can prevent the AFL/af2 from following suit.
Or, the fans of the sport can take hold of their power and help lead the league forward where spirited games are housed in rowdy fun forums where two teams meet with players so good at their craft that arguments and debates will rage long after the game ends.
It will be fans that cause the growth of this sport and no other reason. Nothing can beat excited fans coming up to a new guy and telling him every aspect and difference between Arena Football and the game they’ve known. I was that guy once. Now, only a very serious reason keeps my family and I from a home game. And, we’ve only missed two in three years.
And oh, by the way, Barry Wagner is the best player to ever play the game.
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.
