ArenaBowl XVIII: Seize the Day
Patrick Daly
Saturday June 26, 2004
In 1997, Arizona Rattlers quarterback Sherdrick Bonner missed his chance to lead the Rattlers in the ArenaBowl in front of the home crowd due to a broken leg suffered in the semifinals against the Tampa Bay Storm. Instead, he watched from the sidelines as quarterback Donnie Davis led the Rattlers to their second title. Five years later, San Jose SaberCats quarterback Mark Grieb suffered a broken collarbone late in a season in which the SaberCats would trounce the Rattlers in ArenaBowl XVI in San Jose. Ironically, Grieb suffered his injury in Arizona in a game where the Rattlers spoiled the SaberCats’ perfect season.
Now both players have the chance to take advantage of the opportunities eluded them in the past.
“I understand where Mark’s coming from, because I felt for him the year he couldn’t play against us,” said Bonner. “He deserved to play against us. The same thing happened to me in ’97. It was just one of those things that happened to him. I could feel his emotion after they won their game two weeks ago where after the game he almost started crying. I’m happy for him because he deserves to be playing, and I’m happy and blessed myself to be playing at home in front of our fans. But we can’t both win the game, so we’re just going to go out and play as hard as we can.
“The laws of relativity say we’re not going to be back here for another 10 years,” said Bonner. “I don’t think I’ll be playing then. It’s just one of those things; we’ve been blessed. We have a lot of confidence in each other and a lot of faith in each other. We’re just trying to finish this thing off properly.”
Grieb, like Bonner, isn’t dwelling on the past and knows that focusing on anything but Sunday’s game is a mistake.
“For us, it’s a matter of preparing just like you would for any other game and being ready to go for the game, and focusing on that moment,” said Grieb. “I think if you’re not doing that you’re losing sight of what’s important.”
That means not losing sleep about what happened yesterday. Last week, last month and last year mean little when you’re dealing with now, because now is what you have the ability to affect.
“The fact that we lost the last two ArenaBowls has nothing to do with this game at all,” said Bonner.
For the Rattlers, “now” includes a 10-game winning streak and a tremendous turnaround from their mid-season 3-5 record. ArenaBowl XVIII is an opportunity that Arizona WR/LB Hunkie Cooper would rather not waste.
“We made a tremendous turnaround and it would be nonsense not to finish it,” said Cooper.
One of the key factors that often plays into finishing games late in the season is injuries. Health is only a relative term at this point, since 18 games inside the walls will take its toll on the body. That means anyone on the field is likely to be nursing something, but you can’t seize the day from the sidelines.
“They’re all banged up, they’re all hurting,” said Rattlers line coach Chris Conlin. “They all have nicks and bruises, but this is the time of year you’ve just got to buckle it up, put the mouthpiece in and go.”
And it takes heart to strap it on, when another man may look for a way out.
“What matters now is your heart; where’s your heart at now?” said Cooper. “You know you’re hurt, you know you’re banged up, but can you sacrifice your body for one more week? Can you put yourself through the fire one more week? I think our guys can.”
Heart also plays into the ability of players to stay in the game, no matter the situation.
“There is a stage in every game, generally not at the beginning of the game—it’s generally towards the end of the game—where that character trait starts to surface,” said Plank. “There’s no doubt in my mind that there are more teams in this league that have more talent than the Arizona Rattlers, but all-star teams aren’t necessarily the best or most productive units.
“It’s those teams that have role players, that everyone knows what their part is, and I think most of the players on this team fit into that category. Most them know what their roles are; some are leaders and other guys are role players. They know exactly what’s required of them on a situational basis during the game. The most important thing is that, when this team gets down to a critical stage in the game, everyone is able to rally and play as a single unit, and that’s been the difference in us having a losing season versus a winning season.”
One of the interesting things to see on Friday was the reaction of the players on both teams when they saw the standup displays at media day featuring each of this season’s award winners. Some agreed with what they saw, others disagreed, but many noticed that not one of those players will be on the field for ArenaBowl XVIII on Sunday.
That shouldn’t take anything away from the players who won the awards, but it makes the fact that it takes a team to win the title even more evident, and a title, after all, is the ultimate goal at the beginning of the season.
“You don’t play for the individual awards,” said Grieb. “You don’t really have any control over that. To win a championship says something about how your team’s prepared and how you play as a group. To me, that’s more important, and to those guys, too. I think they’d rather give back those awards and have chance to play in a championship game.”
Although these teams are pretty evenly matched, it’s hard not to think about recent teams that have turned doubters into believers. After all, who really expected the Detroit Pistons to not only beat the all-star team in Los Angeles Laker uniforms, but also beat them soundly? Or how about a superstar-less Florida Marlins team that wrenched the title away from the New York Yankees in the House that Ruth Built?
“We know it’s still going to take a great effort to beat this team,” said Bonner. “San Jose is a good team, but we’re also a good team. They’ve got great players, but we’re a good team and we play well together.”
“It’s not enough just to put together a team that has tremendous athletes and great physical skill, because someone has to be the leader, both in terms of the character and emotions on the team,” said Rattlers defensive coordinator Doug Plank. “That’s one thing that this team has been blessed with. There’s been reports that they’re under-talented or over-achievers. Maybe all those things are true, but one thing we are very blessed with is to have players that are willing to step forward and say, ‘I will help carry this team where it needs to go.’”
On the Rattlers’ side of the field, it’s leaders like Bonner and Cooper that have pushed the team along. For San Jose, it’s obvious that WR/DB Barry Wagner and Grieb fill that role. It’s those leaders that ensure that the team acts as a unit, with the team’s best interest in mind.
“That’s not even a concern,” said Bonner. “Everybody on this team genuinely cares about each other and we’re really just trying to make each other better. It’s very important that we play that way, but I’m really concerned that we won’t play that way.”
Although a team effort is required, you will find an individual who’s stepped up during a big game and made a difference. Whether it’s due to injuries or opportunities, both teams have seen players step up and make a difference on both sides of the ball. Now, on the AFL’s biggest stage, the whole country may learn about someone new.
“There’s no question the ArenaBowl is a bigger stage to show what you’re capable of doing,” said Grieb. “I think sometimes in big games you need some different people to step up and you don’t know who’s going to step up. Sometimes it’s not the obvious guy.”
Regardless of who does make a difference in ArenaBowl XVIII, you’ll know every player has left it all out there on the field because tomorrow is another day.
“I’m just going out with all the guns and I’m leaving nothing on the field,” said Wagner. “Because next week I’m not going to be doing anything but be on vacation.”
For me, I may not be on vacation next week, but I’ll rest tomorrow, for there’s much to do today.
Patrick Daly has been an Arena Football League enthusiast since he first stumbled across the late-night ESPN broadcasts and has followed the Arizona Rattlers since their inaugural season in 1992. He graduated from Arizona State University with an engineering degree and is currently a member of a web development team for Direct Alliance in Tempe. Patrick currently resides in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler, Arizona with his beautiful wife, son and a very large football helmet collection.
