Who Dat Gonna Beat Dem VooDoo?
Tim Parry
Tuesday February 10, 2004
The VooDoo beat the Philadelphia Soul 42-34 on Sunday, giving Tom Benson’s VooDoo its first ever victory and, obviously, Bon Jovi’s team its initial loss.
“Our front office has been through a lot to put this team together, and for this day to finally come, I’m really happy for them,” said VooDoo head coach Mike Neu. “But there’s a lot of hard work ahead for us.”
There was no sign of VooDoo colors anywhere in the Wachovia Center, but fans in the New Orleans were glued to local NBC affiliate WDSU-TV. The game earned an 8.0 rating and a 14 share in that market, and was the highest-rated program during the 2-5 p.m. time slot. It was also the most-watched thing on television between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. The rating beat all other sports programming during the 6 am-6 pm time period, including two NBA games, PGA golf and the NHL All-Star Game.
If the fans in the Big Easy are as jazzed about their second chance at Arena Football as it seems, New Orleans Arena will be rocking on Valentines Day when the team hosts Indiana.
“New Orleans is a great city and they have a great love for football,” Neu said. “There’s a great interest in the city and finally we’ll be able to go back home for our home opener. It will be real exciting. New Orleans has jumped on board with us.
Repeat after me: “Who Dat? Who Dat? Who Dat Gonna Beat Dem VooDoo?”
That’s a cry which could be heard a lot this season.
Since the VooDoo didn’t hold a lead until the second half, you can’t say Philadelphia was too pumped up about its home opener to take care of business. New Orleans quarterback John Fitzgerald played under Neu in 2002 with Carolina, but Philadelphia’s coach-quarterback combo has the same history, so that can’t be the reason either.
But you can say New Orleans had better discipline than Philadelphia. The VooDoo committed five penalties while the Soul were called for 12. Monty Montgomery also had an interception, and, up by 8 with 5:43 left to play, Tremaine Neal recovered Soul offensive specialist Tyronne Jones’ fumble in the end zone for a touchback.
“I preached to them in the locker room that it comes down to discipline,” Neu said. “These early season games generally come down to who wins the turnover battle and who wins the penalty battle, especially when it comes to the expansion teams and you don’t have any film to study of one another.”
New Orleans also had leadership in offensive specialist Aaron Bailey, who caught 9 passes for 140 yards and a pair of scores. It was an emotional day for Bailey, who was playing his first game since the death of his father.
“We’ve got the first game out of the way and now we’ve got the first win out of the way,” Fitzgerald said. “Now we can got out and play some ball next week.”
Building Blocks
In constructing the VooDoo, Neu said management focused on getting experienced linemen to build around. They got that with a group led by fifth-year AFL veterans Bruce McClure and B. J. Cohen. Linemate Tim Martin is a three-year veteran of the league, as is FB/LB Dan Curran.
“Building an expansion team is a very tough task, but we put our faith in our linemen. We have an experienced bunch of linemen that are great leaders on the field and in the locker room,” Neu said. “They’re the foundation of our team and they’ll help the young guys come around quickly.”
The Firsts
For the expansion teams in action, there was nothing but firsts all day on February 8th. For Philadelphia, it was the first time the city hosted an Arena Football game. For New Orleans, it was the first win by a team from that city since the New Orleans Night defeated the Albany Firebirds in the Superdome on July 27, 1991—the Night were winless in 1992 before folding.
Here are a few of other noticeable firsts from Expansion Bowl 2004:
- First Tackle: Curran and Montgomery, of Soul returner Ricky Ross.
- First Offensive Play, Philadelphia: Derin Graham, 8-yard run.
- First Offensive Play, New Orleans: Fitzgerald, 6-yard pass to Lamont Moore.
- First Touchdown, Soul: Tyronne Jones, 7-yard pass from Nick Browder.
- First Touchdown, VooDoo: Curran, 4-yard run.
- First Boo from Philly fans: First quarter, 2:56 left to play, when Ken Kinsley’s field goal attempt was blocked.
- First XFL Nickname On Back Of Jersey: Soul FB/LB Chris Ryan, with “SOUL TRAIN” instead of his name.
Tim Parry is a veteran Arena Football writer whose work has appeared in several print and online publications. After coordinating AFL coverage for one website for the past three seasons, he now does the same for his own website, Football Galore.
