Fight for Your Right to Party
Adam Markowitz
Thursday May 11, 2006
For the Orlando Predators though, Friday night’s encounter with the Austin Wranglers is nothing more than an hors d’oeuvre before the playoff party begins. By virtue of their 63-42 throttling of the Kansas City Brigade this past weekend, the Preds have locked up their seventh division championship. Solidified into the #2 seed in the National Conference, Orlando knows regardless of the outcome on Friday night, they will be taking on their first playoff opponent at home after a well needed bye week next week. Don’t tell Coach Gruden and the Predators that this game means nothing though. With a win, Orlando can tie a team-record for most regular season home wins in a season (7) and wrap up the best home record in Arena Football (7-1). In addition, the game can be used to send yet another message to whoever the opponent might be in the playoffs that the Jungle isn’t going to treat them kindly.
For the Austin Wranglers though, things aren’t as cut and dry. Though the Wranglers knew they were playoff bound when they left the field Sunday having beaten the Grand Rapids Rampage 57-38, their destination and opponent in round 1 were still up in the air. The good news? With a win, Austin knows they will be hosting the city’s first ever playoff game in the Erwin Center next weekend. The bad news? A loss to Orlando could drop the Wranglers down to the 6th position in the National Conference, assuring that the team will have to play three road games just to reach Las Vegas for the Arena Bowl.
Perhaps the Wranglers have the Predators right where they want them this week. At 5-2 this season away from home, Austin sports the second best road record in the AFL. These aren’t exactly slacking teams the Wranglers have knocked off either. Ask 12-3 Dallas, 8-7 Arizona, 8-7 Georgia, or 8-7 Philadelphia just how tough the Wranglers are on the road. Don’t ask the Predators what trips into Arizona and Georgia did to them this season (and don’t even MENTION the 87 point Dallas debacle). For all of the difficult places that the Wranglers have had to play this season, none of them stack up to a Friday night party in the Jungle though. Austin probably remembers last season when they came into the Jungle on a Friday night and scored just 21 points en route to a 51-21 defeat, and will certainly hope to avoid a repeat performance in one of the most important games in franchise history this weekend.
Just how important is this game to the Austin franchise? Just ask Wrangler GM Doug MacGregor. "It’s a huge game. We were glad to beat [Grand Rapids], but we know in the playoffs, we are going to play great teams and Orlando will be a good first step. The other thing of course, we want to have a home playoff game."
I’ve been one of the biggest supporters of Wrangler football this season, and have even been on record stating that I would take the trip from Tallahassee out to Austin if the Wranglers were to host a playoff game. Austin’s die hard fans, "The Manglers" want to throw the tailgating party one more time to end a very successful campaign for the Wranglers! Don’t worry you rowdy Manglers, your team is fighting for your right to party!
Adam Markowitz is an accountant living in Orlando. Adam is an old school AFLer, having followed the AFL since 1991. He attended or covered well over 200 games, including 17 ArenaBowls. Adam worked for the Arena Football League for two years as a columnist and historian before retiring in 2017 when the 50-yard indoor war left the Sunshine State. Adam still muses about the AFL on ArenaFan from time to time, and you can follow him on Twitter @adammarkowitzea.
