New AIFA Conjures Images of AFL’s Past
Adam Markowitz
Monday February 19, 2007
As a buddy of mine and I walked into the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center in Tallahassee on Saturday night for the inaugural home game of the American Indoor Football Association’s Tallahassee Titans, the first thing he pointed out jokingly was that the only sponsor patch on the field was that of an apartment we used to live in. I, on the other hand, noticed that the end zones were black, a color nowhere to be found on the Titans blue and gold jerseys. As we got to our seats I took a closer look at the field. It looked quite familiar to me. Fifty yards, black rounded end zones, and something that sort of looked like a worn off AFL logo at midfield. There were other worn off logos on the turf that weren’t readable, but one in the end zone struck me in an instant: “World Champions.” Then I made out the claw and finally saw the entire Orlando Predators logo hiding beneath the word “Titans” in big, white, block letters.
This was the old field turf from the TD Waterhouse Arena in Orlando, home of the Predators. I immediately felt at home.
Fifteen minutes before kickoff the Titans’ mascot danced onto the field, an icon that was supposed to be a secret that no one had seen before. The secret was great, except for the fact that I remembered this mascot immediately. However, back in the day when I remember him, the mascot wasn’t known as icon of the Tallahassee Titans, he was known as Storm Man. The only difference between Storm Man and the Titans’ mascot was the gold shield with a blue T that he carried around. The Titans’ cheerleaders took the field shortly thereafter. Blue tops and blue skirts, all with gold trim and blue and gold pom-poms. If it wasn’t for the fact that I attend classes at FSU with some of the cheerleaders, I’d figure these ladies were plucked right out of the old Thunderdome in St. Petersburg and placed in Tallahassee. The opposition for the evening, the Gulf Coast Raiders, took the field in their white uniforms with black numbers, black trim, black pants with a white stripe and black helmets, almost resembling Predator road jerseys of yesteryear. I was waiting for the Titans to take the field in old Storm uniforms donning names such as Willis, Thomas, and LaFrance. The coaching staff wore t-shirts and the players sported uniforms that looked like they came straight out of a local high school. Their emergence from the tunnel quickly snapped me back into the reality. I was at an AIFA game and not an old Storm-Preds showdown.
Gulf Coast turned the ball over on their first play, one of 4 QB/center exchanges muffed in the game. What in the name of Craig Whelihan…? Though the Raiders looked like the Predators in appearance (and their quarterback constantly tried to make his best Whelihan impression), their game more or less resembled that of the old school San Antonio Force, the only team to be shut out in a game in AFL history. The Titans ran three offensive plays from scrimmage in the first 15 minutes and without the aid of a defensive or special teams TD, led 20-0 at the end of the first quarter. Tallahassee pitched the shutout in the first half, leading 34-0, and went on to win 62-22.
Though I’m happy that the Titans emerged victorious, I was hoping for a bit more of a competitive game to base my first indoor, non-AFL game off of. The league had its share of quirks just like the AFL does. Two receivers could run towards the line of scrimmage before the snap, the “jack linebacker” (not a term used in the AIFA, but is the equivalent of our jack linebacker) could go into the flats as deep as 6 yards. The AIFA also uses a red, white, and blue football. Also, putting a kickoff through the uprights was worth a point! Imagine if Remy Hamilton or Clay Rush was given a point for each kickoff they put through the uprights…
For as much as this league was different from the traditional AFL game I am used to, the atmosphere was familiar to me. No, there weren’t 16,000 fans in attendance, but the 5,500 at the Civic Center were truly into the game. The players for the Titans were all local guys who either went to FSU or Florida A&M, or had ties to the Tallahassee community. The Raiders’ roster was comprised of players from up and down the Gulf Coast. When I asked a member of the Raiders’ coaching staff exactly where Gulf Coast was located, I found out that the team had no home and were playing a schedule full of road and neutral site games, I guess making them the Houston Thunderbears or Florida Bobcats of the AIFA.
Even with the Titans leading by 48 points, both teams were still out there giving it their best. Players on both sidelines had smiles on their faces and were playing as if they were children in a playground. I remember this feeling. This had the feeling of the Arena Football League of old. Some of the players have second jobs; others are working on their graduate studies. None of them have realistic aspirations of being the next Super Bowl MVP. Especially the Raiders, a team who will never have a home crowd behind them, played for the love of playing football.
Though my first AIFA experience was a positive one and one that I am certainly looking forward to experiencing again later in the season, it was still only a warm-up game for me. I was getting tired of the “When I say ‘What do you want?’ you say ‘Touchdown!’” and “When I say ‘Stop ‘em!’ you say ‘Defense!” chants anyway. After all, AFL fans, as they say in Tampa, “Put your haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaands together!” The real AFL season is only a few short days away!
