Changes in the AFL?
Tim Ball
Monday December 11, 2006
Nothing can replace the who and the why for the success and longevity of the Arena Football League. So, please excuse me if I do not jump on the hate John Elway bandwagon. I am not angry over changes to the AFL brought about by new ownerships. They are all about the future together.
Arena Football is 21-years old this season and still, the average football fan knows little about it. The future demands growth and growth demands reaching more fans.
Why?
Elway is right . . . . er, correct. (Let’s not get too political.) The game needed to be altered to get on the straight and narrow and appeal to the football masses.
That is a good thing. Democracy works by acknowledging the majority view. And these changes do not eliminate anyone from being involved. There are several people more passionate about Arena Football than me, but not many.
And Elway is wrong about trying to make the league more "like" football, whatever that means. Last time I looked at the severity of the tackles in the AFL, the NFL looks like a Hooters eatery where you can look but not touch.
The NFL is not better than the AFL.
It is just more accepted.
Who is responsible?
David Baker, Commissioner of the Arena Football League is our leader. Not Elway.
Ever since Baker took the helm, he has pushed and pushed for the league to grow and be "more accepted." Mr. Baker is a success and the AFL has benefited no matter what anyone thinks. It is far more recognizable now then ever before, but to be even better, things had to change.
And only because of Commissioner Baker, did Elway and the hordes of NFL interest come into his league.
I may disagree with Mr. Baker on a few things, but, "but," my family going to Arena Football games has been assured because of this man.
The new changes will not affect ticket availability in the negative. If a loyal AFL fan leaves the league because of the new changes, I will sadly miss them, up until kickoff time. Then . . . bye.
It’s fun to talk to the players and also, guys like Elway and Ron Jaworski and the other ex-NFL players that makeup the management of the league and its teams. Hey, look at me, I’m talking with a NFL star. Big woop.
The game of Arena Football is better than they are too. I do not yell and scream when Jaws runs across the carpet with a football in his hand. I do not cheer his tosses.
The game, my dear fellow AFL devotees, is better than retired NFL guys, better than guys in suits and ties, but, it is not better than the players that endeavor to play the game now. To insure that the league is for them, we have to allow them to guide its direction.
Are we hearing AFL players complain?
It is their desire, their talent, and their sweat, blood and tears; that bring us the joy we know is indefinable in the long run. The game of Arena Football is better than the NFL version for many reasons, but none more important than the players that play it.
It needed alterations and changes. For them. The Ironman Award can still be offered to the most deserving player of the game and season. Heroic effort will never be redefined.
So, let’s make more changes!
Change the minds of anyone thinking that a football game played on a field one-quarter the size of the outdoor game will NOT have to be unique in many ways.
So, someone please wakeup Mr. Elway from his pretty little dream, if he actually thinks he can bring the NFL indoors on an AFL field.
Though, you can put nine, ten, or eleven guys on the field. They’ll fit.
See I can offer ideas.
But, NOT on kickoffs. Just allow nine guys on the field then. And, kickers are not allowed to tackle. They kick, they leave. No injuries to the most important of players.
C’mon, you know I have another great idea there.
"More than eight guys," you say? How?
Do not allow several linemen to pursue down field and do not allow them to go sideways. Put them in a box too.
As the field compresses closer to the endzone, compress the boxes and pursuit. They already have a "box" rule in place. And it works. Now, make it a real box. Heck, the big guys will love that rule anyway.
Allow the blitz, but keep both linebackers in a complete box. No pursuing at all, down field. Let the matchups between DB and receiver rule supreme. Besides, let linebackers blitz ad hoc. Yeah baby!
One missed tackle will be six-points every time.
Make the goal posts wider and lower. Make the net between the posts tight so kickoffs will be even more exciting.
And our screams will be where they have always been, in the game.
I have many more great ideas if anyone wants them.
They do listen
I wrote about the football having to hit the nets on kickoffs - something I talked with other fans about - and the rule was changed. I complained about no Pop Warner involvement and a woeful lack of developmental concept in the AFL, and now kids are involved with the league on the peewee level in a corporate way.
My friends, the league office does listen to us. I do believe they value us. In fact, without us, they are toast. Just another league dead to history.
The fans of the AFL are still heroes.
Their tenacity and loyalty is the bedrock that Commissioner Baker knows all too well he cannot do without. He has built the newer version of the game on that loyalty and around those fans. He does think about us.
Elway, is just a salesman now. A rich tall man in a nice suit. That is what his world is all about "now." But, he is John Elway and he did play tackle football at the highest level.
Give him his pitch and see if the product will bear up to expectations.
Things can change, and they can change back. Ever heard of the Ford Mustang? The ’06 version looks like my neighbors old Mach One from back in the seventies.
The AFL has floundered amid traditional myopic-hysteria. It will be just as bad as the gimmicks and stupidity we saw in the XFL if the game does not adapt to the football loving majority. It appears that gimmicks are on the way out and a sensible version is being implemented.
Does any fan mourn the loss of hot tubs at games? I mean the ones manned by fat hairy wet guys drinking beers. Let’s get real OK? We’re not changing marriage here. Some things cannot change for any reasons. The AFL can adapt and not be a freakish monster.
We’re allowing the game of Arena Football to evolve in a better environment. It was created to do so. A better environment defined by the guys that live in it.
We all knew the coming of the day that the NFL involvement meant pressure to the AFL to become more like them.
The NFL is not all that bad.
And the AFL is even better.
The changes being made to the game will not alter what happens between football players or the team’s that play the game one bit. They will still bear the scars of clashes and drama. And anyone that claims to be a fan of this amazing and exciting version of football will not only be there to welcome the changes, they will be there to welcome the new fans.
John Elway came into the league and his team won a championship very soon after. He has won championships as a player in the outdoor game.
I doubt a winner is a bad person to get advice and ideas from. And I’ll bet Baker did just that.
And I am really talking about you fans of the Arena Football League.
As the league succeeds into the future and Elway fades into a footnote, it is because of the leadership and efforts of the only people that have really kept it flowing in the right direction all these years.
Elway would not have even heard of the AFL if it were not for the people that brought it to the world.
Nothing will replace the Arena Football League from its place in the football world except not succeeding. The changes being implemented by the league office and its ownership are for the future.
Let’s all go there together.
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.
