Best and Worst of the Birmingham Steeldogs

Chris Yow
Tuesday February 6, 2007

The Best uniforms:

2006 – No doubt that the 2006 Birmingham Steeldogs had the sharpest uniforms in all of the seven seasons.  With a Chicago Bears-type design, the uniforms were black or white, trimmed with three stripes on the sleeve.  The numerals were opposite the jersey color with an orange outline.  The pants were white, donned with a triple stripe-style in black and orange.  The socks were uniform with three thin orange stripes on a black sock.

The Worst uniforms:

2005 – Again, no doubt that the 2005 Steeldogs wore the worst jersey in the history of the franchise, but arguably the history of the city, thank you Barracudas for that argument.  It’s no surprise that these were voted the worst.  The team burned them following the season.

The Best home game:

2004 Tennessee Valley – The Vipers came to Birmingham without ever having lost the Steeldogs in the regular season or inside the BJCC.  A confident Steeldogs team came into the game at 7-1 and riding a seven game winning streak.  The Vipers came prepared as always.  And coach Kevin Guy was determined to continue the streak.  As former Steeldogs quarterback Josh Kellett slung the pigskin for the Vipers, former Troy State Trojan, Demontray Carter became a Birmingham hero.  In overtime, tied at 30, the Steeldogs scored first but failed on the extra point.  A touchdown and extra point for the Vipers would send the Steeldogs fans home in agony again.  But on 2^nd down, Kellett looked deep for Henry Freeman and the rookie Carter snatched it out of the air, preserving a 36-30 victory for the first time against Tennessee Valley in Birmingham.

The Worst home game:

2002 Peoria – Not only did the conference championship ride on this game, but unbeknownst to the players and coaches beforehand, the chance to host the af2 Arena Cup was on the line.  And the Peoria Pirates came into the BJCC and with a lot of help from Lincoln Dupree; the Pirates dismantled the Steeldogs 77-33 in route to the Arena Cup title.

The Best away game:

2002 Division Playoffs at Tennessee Valley – Still suffering from the agony that was left with the Steeldogs following the regular season game in Huntsville that season, the Steeldogs were not going to be shut down on this night.  A night, in what some would call revenge and others call karma, Tennessee Valley had no chance against the Montressa Kirby-led Steeldogs and the revenge from the Andy Fuller trap for the touchdown was taken.  The fans in Birmingham rejoiced loudly as bitter Vipers fans all around constantly jeered at them.  The Steeldogs had conquered the mighty Vipers for the first time in history. 

The Worst away game:

2006 Tennessee Valley – The Vipers were sitting on just one win, while the Steeldogs were coming off a huge victory over the Louisville Fire in Birmingham.  QB Ryan Hawk was playing the best football of his career and Kerry Wright was a touchdown machine.  When the Steeldogs got an easy three and out on the Vipers, Steeldogs fans all over knew that the end was near early for Tennessee Valley.  However, on the ensuing possession, former Steeldogs player Johnny Anderson blocked an Alex Walls field goal and returned it the distance for the first points of the game.  The breath of the fans was taken away quickly and the heart of the team seemed to diminish.  But with Tennessee Valley leading late, backup QB Robert Kent had entered the game and drove the Steeldogs inside the Vipers 5-yard line.  Kent rolled to his left and tucked the ball and raced into the end zone for the score, but a clipping penalty relinquished the Steeldogs touchdown and the fire that was under them.  The Vipers held on to the win, and the Steeldogs regular season jinx against the Vipers at home is still in effect.

The Best promotion:

2006 Bible-themed jerseys – When the Birmingham Steeldogs teamed up with a religious group out of Nashville, nobody knew the bearing it would bring on the organization.  The Steeldogs decided that wearing jerseys with Bible verses on the back would be a good idea to raise money for charity and bring in more fans of the faith.  It sure brought something.  A lot of media attention.  The Steeldogs were featured on ESPN’s Outside the Lines, as well as ESPN.com’s uni-watch.  Newspapers and television news crews couldn’t keep their hands off this story. 

The Worst promotion:

Bottom line is any marketing promotion done by Charles Felix was not good.

The Best entrance:

2005 Team song – “Birmingham Steeldogs” the team song re-done to the tune of “Who Let the Dogs Out?”  With the fans lined up along the dasher boards, the team circled the field and gave running high fives to kids all around.

The Worst entrance:

2006 Rusty – After the 2005 season, when everyone was fired, including the mascot, the new Rusty was a fill-in and just wasn’t up to par.

The Best moment:

2006 at Memphis – As time expired, Alex Walls nailed a field goal to drop then-number 1 Memphis at the DeSoto Civic Center.  Prompting Steeldogs fans to go nuts.

The Worst moment:

2004 at Cape Fear – The Wildcats had not stopped the Steeldogs offense the entire night.  In fact, the Steeldogs were perfect on scoring touchdowns to drives in the game.  But there was not enough time to drive the field after the Steeldogs received the first non-onside kick of the second half.  Rhett Gallego then lined up and as time expired just missed a 48-yard field goal that would have sent the Steeldogs to the second round of the playoffs.

 And now for the moments that we’ve all been waiting for: The best AND worst players of all time for the Birmingham Steeldogs.

The Best player:

Anthony Jordan, 2000-2004 – Anthony Jordan, more commonly referred to as “A.J.” or “GQ”, played five seasons for the Steeldogs.  Jordan holds more team records than any other Steeldogs player.  Jordan was named Most Valuable Ironman on the team three times.  In his final season, he led the af2 in interceptions and was named to the all-af2 team. 

The Worst player:

Ted Robison 2000 – Ted Robison was the Cal-Poly wonder.  “Surfer-boy” played quarterback for the Steeldogs in 2000 and was cut shortly into the season.