The Undefeated Teams
Tim Ball
Friday May 20, 2005
Although Dan Frantz is the kicker of the San Jose SaberCats he somehow manages to throw every pass, catch every touchdown, make every tackle and runback every kickoff, and all of this while being a heck of a nice guy to the SaberKids that adore him.
Losing "doesn’t happen." And defeat? It’s not an option, especially when the concept doesn’t exist and spelling "concept" is a tough task.
Arena Football to a four and half year old child is one big happy place. Fireworks, catchy music, and Super Bowl excitement every game and that line of high fives as the players run by. And with mom and dad side by side? Heaven on Earth. Even on a field smaller than some back yard playgrounds.
Families have a place where a perfect sport joins with a perfect environment. Where through the eyes of a child the more important things in the game take center stage. When a touchdown is scored and there is no roar of the crowd or bombs bursting in air then it didn’t happen. As long as the home team scores once and in arena games that’s a given, then the worlds a good place.
Maybe you have to become like a little child to enter heaven but for now the formula works for Arena Football too. Watching how kids view games makes all the grown-up stress of it all melt away.
Just win baby?
We all know what "win-loss records" mean but is it really the only important thing to enjoying this wonderful little sport of speed demons and angels three feet from the stands? OK sometimes IN the stands.
Do real fans love their teams only when they win? Do you love your children only when they win? Do you love to eat when your team loses? Is it not about family when you choose to become a true fan of your beloved team?
Red Sox fans brought sports sections to gravesites so the dearly departed could really rest in peace.
And Boston is slotted to get an AFL team some day. Let’s hope it’s soon.
More so in Arena Football is being a fan where you get to know the players by first name not to impress yourself or feel like a hot shot, but because you want to know these guys. Do I really want to talk to Barry Bonds or Randy Moss? Does anyone?
In a game where you can yell a player and they can turn around a have a conversation with you about it face to face and within two seasons that "bad guy" knows your name and your children’s names too! There’s something more than special about that.
Our goal as fans should be to make sure Sports Illustrated can’t run anymore articles about the other jobs our players work at to make a living in the modern world. Let’s build a league that can truly pay these guys what they are worth. Let’s wipe out the second tier label of the best sport in the country.
If paying more for inexpensive tickets grows the AFL to where it should be count me in. I’ve never gone to a game I didn’t buy tickets to attend.
I’m tired of the big media paying backhanded compliments to the Arena League because they are too jaded to see sports as worthwhile if the athletes don’t drive Hummers.
Our little league is growing up
Is there anything more important than the War on I-4? Tampa Bay and Orlando are in their own private league while everything else is just part of the job.
Fans in the Snake Pit sit patiently (uhmm, like a snake), to devour a large extinct feline. What’s more important than beating the SaberCats? Usually there are more than two chances a year but a win over the rival is sweet anytime.
In Grand Rapids they know that their team is as talented as any in the league and "just wait until next year" isn’t a joke. Ask the Chicago Rush.
And those Rush fans? "The place was jammed packed with cars," said my wife when driving by the Allstate Arena a few weeks ago on business in Chicago. Duh Rush!
In Philadelphia is there a question as to who should have made it to the playoffs? Those fans are not the stuff of legend and myth. ArenaFan will probably get ten thousands emailed votes to prove it. I’ve gotta go to a game in Philadelphia.
LA deserves respect because they improved the way anyone can respect and they really do have the best fan in AFL in Brian Fox. Even San Jose fans like the guy. Across the country, New York has the quarterback you watch because you know that 100-points can happen with that guy on any given Sunday.
Las Vegas is in Las Vegas! Enough said. I want this to be a G-Rated article.
Austin is a gorgeous city I hear with a team that can hang with anyone and Dallas as usual, has a team that is feared. It will be interesting to "wait ‘til next year." But until then these teams are still in Texas. It doesn’t get any better than that in the world of football.
And the Nashville Kats? Come on . . . is that not the coolest logo in all of football? And New Orleans really does have the most loyal football fans (hey! they’re still going to Saints games) and their logo? Bad to the bone without doubt. But it may scare the heck out of some children.
And if you haven’t ordered a Columbus Destroyers T-Shirt, then you have no heart.
Ask the kids at any of these arenas if their teams are struggling.
Remember, the Georgia Force from last season IS living there "next season" right now as the top team in the league in 2005 And Colorado? Beaten 7000 to 15 a few weeks ago, come back from that humiliation to "win" their division.
Who isn’t applauding those two teams?
While the mad scramble for the playoffs wrap up this weekend someone’s going to be happy and the "wait ‘til next year" will crash down on others.
The only important thing to think about for those that sit out the excitement of having their team in the playoffs this year is the countdown to the Twentieth Season of the AFL.
To use a child’s perspective the drive to ArenaBowl XX starts right after Christmas.
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.
