SaberCats and Rattlers Lace ’em Up
Tim Ball
Saturday May 8, 2004
“David and Goliath.” “Daniel in the Lions den.” “SaberCats at the Snake Pit.”
OK, maybe that’s a bit of a stretch as the Rattlers aren’t bad guys and Arena Football is only mentioned a few times in the Bible (in my translation) but “rivalry” just doesn’t cut it when theses teams get together.
“Epic rivalry” is what we witness in a Rattlers and SaberCats game. In last season’s semi-final in San Jose, as so many games between these two teams, the only thing missing from that drama was Charlton Heston doing the play-by-play.
Only the most narrow-minded fanatic couldn’t respect the effort by the SaberCats team led by QB Mark Grieb on offense and DS Clevan Thomas on defense, to fight off Hunkie Cooper, Sherdrick Bonner and the Rattlers in last year’s semifinal. Coming into San Jose, erasing two defeats earlier in the season and taking away San Jose’s back-to-back trip to the ArenaBowl didn’t go down easy for either team.
No matter the records, there is nothing like the matchup of the ten-year old saga played out between these two teams. San Jose can bring the overall record between these teams even to 11-11 with a win in Arizona. And with everything else on the line for this season, make sure to tune in to this one.
Today is the day
There will be fans meeting for breakfast before the San Jose-Arizona game this week. In attendance will be fans for both teams. Like the “War on I-4” between the Orlando Predators and the Tampa Bay Storm, Rattlers and SaberCats games exist in a different world. There’s the season, and then there’s “The Game.” While new teams enter and truly impress the league and Los Angeles and Chicago continue to be feared, epic matchups exist in only two games played twice a year in two different divisions.
Still arguably the finest fans in the league attend games in Arizona and as they go, so go the Rattlers. It was the Snake Pit that witnessed the only victory over the SaberCats in 2002, denying San Jose a perfect season. And there is not one Rattlers fan not still reliving the humiliation suffered by their team just weeks later in the vengeance meted out to them by the SaberCats in ArenaBowl XVI when the beat Arizona, 52-14.
2003 came to a grinding halt for San Jose at the hands of Arizona and nothing would be better than to put this year’s playoffs in doubt for them with a win over the Rattlers in their house.
So right on schedule, this can’t be “just a game now can it?” San Jose can assure themselves a spot in the playoffs with a win over the Rattlers, and will hang their sixth Western Division banner in ten seasons and will of course have the all important win over Rattlers in Arizona, as these teams play in the last regular season game in San Jose.
Written off earlier in the season as being too old, the Rattlers are one of the hottest teams in the league when it matters most.
Once again, San Jose’s Grieb is tops in the league. Grieb, named the AFL’s Offensive Player of the Month, once again has his team poised to be the number one seed.
Strangely, this seems to always put the SaberCats in an underdog position as being the “team to beat” every week. Every team plays them with something to prove and nowhere is this intensity greater than against the Rattlers, and in a year where only eight teams will make the playoffs, it makes this a marquee game.
Sidelined superstars
“The Snake Pit is one of the most intense places I’ve ever played football,” said DS Clevan Thomas.
Thomas, having played for Florida State before tens of thousands of rabid college fans every weekend knows that you have to prepare for the experience in Arizona. Rehabbing from a knee injury suffered during the New York game in week five, Thomas will no doubt advise the new players.
Interestingly, even newcomer WR/LB Fred Coleman as a guest on the SaberCats weekend wrap-up show hosted by Bob Fitzgerald mentioned the Snake Pit and the intensity of playing there.
Coleman’s roommate is Calvin Schexnayder a fan favorite in Arizona from 1994 to 2001 and now with the SaberCats. Schexnayder, nicknamed “Shakes,” was talking about the upcoming game in Arizona shortly after the VooDoo game. Schexnayder, also on the IR with a leg injury, was not hiding his desire to play in the Snake Pit.
“I’d almost beg the coach to let me get into this game,” said Schexnayder. “I told the new guys there’s nothing like the Snake Pit. They bring an intensity you don’t see anywhere else.”
Two good ones
San Jose is the top team in the league and winner of seven out of their last eight games and face a red hot Arizona team on a five-game winning streak. The stakes are high. The history is long. The playoff list is short.
High stakes only enhances this epic rivalry between the SaberCats and the Rattlers and the drama played out between these two teams the last five seasons has no equal.
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.
