The Second season
Tim Ball
Thursday June 26, 2008
And like most people I don’t know what to expect.
Life has dealt me missing a lot of the season this year and I rest in the knowledge that at least my TV is working. And ratings are important so I do feel I was doing my part for a league that values its fans.
No matter the time I have missed, it is time for the playoffs.
I survive (but I’m not happy about missing games).
What I am most happy about are two X’x and two I’s after the word ArenaBowl.
ArenaBowl XXII.
Just the sight of it warms the heart of an Arena Football fan. Twenty-two years and counting.
It has come down to this for me for the most part, San Jose and Chicago, the teams I have seen the most and consider myself connected to (for the same reason), are at it again in the same way as last year and the year before.
All things being equal, all things are just fine.
It’s tough to wish the best for two different teams but I feel drawn to the decision to admire each team on their own terms.
The Rush has home field advantage this year, just as the SaberCats had it last year. And now the games are one and done. The second season is most intense.
Though neither team is assured a spot in the ArenaBowl, but for the pain of not being able to attend games, I haven’t been deprived of much except fun, excitement and being able to be at a game. Everything else remains at a fever pitch.
There is no better sport to watch live than Arena Football and the intensity of playoff football makes for pure adrenaline flowing non-stop. The twelve teams left in this years hunt for a championship should have most fans pumped up.
Especially Gladiators fans.
Sort of being there
My sister took her son and several of his friends to a Rush game for his birthday party. I got a call from her at the game.
The Rush staff won her over in about five-seconds she said. The game was incredible, the Rush won and the boys were insane with excitement. A great time was had by all, even my sis.
After the game she called me while waiting for player autographs.
The excitement in her voice and the joy in the new found love for the Arena game pouring out of the boys with her, made my day.
I talk a lot about Arena Football and now I don’t look so silly. A brother likes to be validated.
Her son Noah wants to be an Arena Football player when he grows up. He’s an excellent player so that may indeed happen someday.
What I hadn’t realized in all of this was how the Rush (and the league as a whole) affected me until she asked me which players she should focus on for post-game autographs.
In the blink of an eye, the names of Chicago players started flowing out of me:
“You gotta get Alphonso, Moyer, Unertl, Robinson, Harrell, Bonner, and don’t forget Bob McMillen. He’s one of the coaches but he is a legend of this game.” I rattled off several other names much to my own surprise.
Can you be a fan of two teams? In the same conference? I know I am very happy about the Gladiators making it to the playoffs.
Is there room for three or more?
Absence to fondness
I’m basically a SaberCats fan, and until Grieb, Roe, Loney, Thomas, and Smith are retired, I am still loyal to the team for the most part.
But I’ve noticed something within me in my unfortunate absence from attending any home games.
Starting with the incredible crowds at Rush games.
Being denied a Chicago home game is like being denied the rides at Disneyland. Chicago’s fan base is worth every cent of a season ticket package and Rush players and personnel make the experience live on for weeks after a game.
From Mike to Mike to Mike to Mike, (Ditka, Hohensee, Polisky and Alzamora, respectively) Chicago’s staff does things right. And of course, the team being in first place isn’t bad either.
I’ve been watching on TV and things are still fan style around the house.
My two children do the little baby dance (that they learned from the Rush overhead scoreboard) after every Rush touchdown in the living room. They did a lot of dancing last Sunday.
Missing San Jose has been a situation that I brought upon myself when I moved to Illinois. Although Rush fans and personnel are easy to love, I just can’t get SaberCats fever cured that easy. Until, like I said, my guys are gone.
Loyalty is important in team sports.
It’s great knowing Grieb got his 700th TD pass. I do wish I was there for that.
The big picture
Before we get to a few amazing records, we should all be happy for the Gladiators. Every team needs to be successful for the future of the AFL to be bright. Way to go Cleveland. From the echo chamber in Las Vegas to the playoffs for an Ohio football team, what a great story dwells in that.
This has been one incredible season. The records stacked up are mind-boggling.
Dallas Desperados quarterback Clint Dolezel smashing through 900 passing touchdowns, Tampa Bay Storm WR/LB Lawrence Samuels being the first player in AFL history to have 1,000 career receptions and Chicago Rush wide receiver Damien Harrell joining “Touchdown” Eddie Brown as only the second player with 300-plus career touchdown receptions. And the list goes on and on. What a future we have to look forward to.
One thing for me about watching so many teams this year is that I got a feeling to support each of them.
American Conference
I would prefer going back to taking the top twelve teams with the best records into the playoffs, but then again, the Chicago Rush won their championship while going into the playoffs with a 7-9 regular season record. Their playoff run is arguably the most impressive in league history.
Seeing the Chicago-San Jose rivalry on top of the American Conference with the Rattlers close on the heels of the SaberCats warms the AFL heart in me.
I don’t understand all of the moves Chicago head coach Mike Hohensee makes, but he has had his team in the playoffs every year. And a home game at the Rush is what Arena Football is supposed to be. You can smell the worry pouring out of visiting teams playing the Rush at home.
The SaberCats are the SaberCats. This actually could be their ninth trip to the ArenaBowl and every team in the AFL knows it. With quarterback Mark Grieb at the helm, winning is a matter of fact. This franchise is swagger.
Arizona has named their team perfectly. The Rattlers are not a part of AFL legend for nothing. It’s tough for me, coming from San Jose, to comment on the Rattlers, but I know history is important to football teams and the spirit of Hunkie Cooper is still there. It is only a matter time for the Rattlers to take down all in its path.
With head coach Danny White, with the Utah Blaze why does anyone worry about the regular season record until the playoffs are a mathematical impossibility? He’s Danny White for a reason.
Mike Dailey and the Crush can never be counted out. With uber-talented quarterback John Dutton, a championship is to be expected. And let us not forget the ownership in Colorado includes a living football legend. I wear my Crush T-shirt proudly.
What would make for the perfect picture is the Grand Rapids Rampage going all the way.
I’ve pulled for the Rampage since 2001, the David to the leagues Goliaths.
National Conference
Philadelphia Soul leaders Jon Bon Jovi and Ron Jaworski earned their top spot. Those of us from Chicago know what quarterback Matt D’Orazio is all about. Obviously Bon Jovi and Jaws did too. With Tony Graziani and D’Orazio, Philly is the class of the league.
The Georgia Force proved their worth and how the regular season is really just one big game. With a head coach the quality of Doug Plank, there is no doubt that Georgia would be a force to be reckoned with by year’s end.
Dallas is Dallas and Texas IS football. With the target not on their backs this season, I would probably put money on the Desperado’s to go where they belong and to win it all. And with Clint Dolezel at quarterback it’s a good bet. Dallas certainly deserves to be in an ArenaBowl as they have had the best record over the last three seasons and were almost perfect in the regular season in the last two. And who doesn’t admire Dolezel for running the offense from the middle of an Arena Football field?
Emotionally my favorite team this year, the Cleveland Gladiators, would be the story of the decade for the AFL if they could do it all. Quarterback Raymond Philyaw deserves his shot at a championship. I can’t say I’m not pulling for Philyaw and the Gladiators.
With Orlando, there is that legend thing looming around every corner with Barry Wagner and Jay Gruden having walked the same halls of that franchise. Wagner is honored by the only team that could do it best and all players want to be stacked up against Wagner’s exploits. With “Wags” in the record book and Gruden (an ArenaBowl legend himself) at the helm, the Preds are truly impressive.
Can someone please get Aaron Garcia into the ArenaBowl? Who knows what records he would break? The New York Dragons always seems to be a team that can beat any team at anytime. So how about a chance in ArenaBowl XXII?
So then
ArenaBowl XXII, just the sound of it says volumes for the league.
Whether in person or on ESPN, Arena Football is not something to miss. And I’m glad that I’m not.
No matter what two teams are playing.
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.
