Week 7 From Behind the Nets
Ken Gill
Tuesday May 23, 2000
Turnovers, dropped and batted down passes by the defensive line did in the
Albany Firebirds this past Saturday. The ‘Birds suffered their worst beating in many years at the hands of the
Arizona Rattlers who have one of the biggest lines I have ever seen in the league’s 14 years of existence… Kudos to the Firebirds fans. Down 42-0 early in the 3rd, you would have expected them to head for the exits, but not these fans! They stayed and cheered on their weary champions. And to those fans and the Firebird players who showed life in the second half, I have to give you credit…..Arizona’s Maurice Bryant looks like the next Eddie Brown but with the speed that Eddie didn’t have. Once he shakes his hamstring injury and gets used to the Arena League style of play--watch out…… Why is it every time I see Tampa Bay’s Jason Dulick I say to myself, “this guy is gonna be the next big Ironman in this league.” Marcum has to get this guy more involved in the offense.....With all the stars who have played in Tampa Bay, why is it no one ever talks about
Lawrence Samuels? His stats prove that he is one of the great Ironmen in this game and people need to start recognizing him as Tampa’s star……
Lawrence Samuels celebrates a TD against the New Jersey Red Dogs.
Image courtesy of Joe Kauffman |
Orlando is 6-0 and doing it with the most devastating defense ever to walk on an Arena League field. Kenny McEntyre, nicknamed The Glove, is having an MVP type season. And Damon Mason, Kenny’s partner in crime, has had a tremendous season so far as well……..San Jose is 4-2, so you’re saying the Barry Wagner acquisition has turned out well. I’m not so sure. He might be the 4th best receiver on the team. Shalon Baker is the man at WR for the long-tooth-kitties, and this team is a Pat McGuirk away from the best team in the league….. After the first four games of the season Oklahoma was 4-0 and people were taking notice. But one thing to consider was that their first four opponents have a combined record of 4-20. Don’t get me wrong, the Wranglers are a playoff team, just not a title contender yet. Ron Lopez is having an MVP type season……Every time I see Houston it strikes me as odd that Robert Hall is under center with that number 89 on his jersey. Hell, I thought Flutie in the USFL was strange but 89 is too weird. I am surprised he didn’t change it to a standard QB number. But no matter what number he wears he is having a good season. And his OS Ben Bronson is putting up fantastic numbers too: 44 catches, 701 yards and 13 TD’s in 5 games. If he was on a better team he could be in the hunt for Offensive Player of the Year……..Here is a message to Avengers’ coach
Stan Brock: “Put Scott Semptimphelter back in!” The Avengers have started playing better and are getting close to winning a game but Todd Marinovich is forcing the ball far too much. With Scott back in there and Chris Jackson running away with the Rookie of the year award, things might start to click………If Nashville had a barnstorming schedule with all their games on the road like the
Florida Bobcats had a few years back, they could go undefeated. Nashville has a very good team but just has a terrible time at home in the alley………New Jersey’s Tommy Maddox is very close to getting a good handle on this game and should have a great second half of the season. And with that speedster Michael Lewis , who should get more involved in the offense as the season goes on, they could be a dangerous team. All they need is a good tall WR/LB like Barry Wagner and they’ll be contending for a playoff spot. Man, to think what could have been in Jersey. The number of balls Barry is getting in San Jose, he might wish he was in the swamplands of Jersey…..It’s gonna take
Ray Bentley and his staff a while to turn that team around. They are in a huge crater left by
Dave Whinham. Lets just hope they start winning and the fans come back…. ….The
Iowa Barnstormers are the scariest 3-3 team I have ever seen in professional sports. Marcum better be ready Thursday; he might want to dress a third QB……Lastly this week, my hat goes off to Eli Gold, Ed Cunningham and the crew at TNN. We Arena League die hard fans and players have been waiting for years for a network to give this sport the credit it deserves. We marvel each Thursday at the great work you guys do and we look forward to a long relationship with you. It just saddens me that we have to give ESPN some playoff games and can’t have TNN do them all. Until next time, I’m Ken Gill from Behind the Nets.
Ken Gill is a former staff member at ArenaFan Online.
The opinions expressed in the article above are only those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts, opinions, or official stance of ArenaFan Online or its staff, or the Arena Football League, or any AFL or af2 teams.
