Mobile Wizards Go For Win Number One
Keith Antigiovanni
Friday April 19, 2002
The Wizards will be facing Tennessee Valley tomorrow night in Huntsville as the third game on the clubs’ exhausting four game road trip to start the season. In week one they were defeated by Pensacola 47-23 then last week lost to Birmingham 47-26.
“Right now we are a young, inexperienced team trying to get better every week. The guys are improving each week. The biggest difficulty with going from outdoor football to arena football is the speed of the game,” Wizards Head Coach Chad Lindsey said.
Lindsey is no stranger to the indoor game. He played WR/LB seven seasons (1994-2000) for the Charlotte Rage(1994-1996), New Jersey Red Dogs(1997-1999) and Carolina Cobras (2000).
In its first two games Mobile played well in the first half before their opponents pulled away in the second half. “We just got to become more familiar with the game. Get used to the reps. There are only so many passing routes and blocking schemes a team can run,” Lindsey said.
Unlike the Western division where all four teams (Bakersfield, Fresno, Hawaii and San Diego) are expansion teams Mobile must contend with three other established teams all located within hours. “The potentially rivalries with Birmingham and Tennessee Valley are great for the fans. Pensacola is only a few hours from here as well. Alabama is a great football state,” Linsdey said.
Will Mobile would like to sign University of Alabama quarterback Andrew Zow? “Right now he’s waiting on the NFL draft. He wants to see if he’ll get drafted or sign as a free agent. If he decides he wants to work out with us then we have a roster open for him,” Lindsey said.
Former New Orleans Saints, Houston Oilers and Oakland Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler is in charge of Football Operations for the club. He was starting quarterback under “Bear” Bryant in the late 1960’s.
Keith Antigiovanni is a free-lance writer in San Diego, California. He has worked for several local newspapers covering sports, government and business. Keith started writing in 1995 after graduating with a Bachelors Degree in Mass Media Communications from the University of San Diego. Aside from working as a sportswriter he has a side business of providing marketing assistance/research for small businesses and also directs,produces and hosts a regular public access television show on Time-Warner Cable named "San Diego Yesterday". Antigiovanni is also a member of the San Diego Sportswriter Association.
