Jackson Stands Alone for Gladiators Against Experienced Rattlers
Adam Markowitz
Thursday August 14, 2014
If you want to know what the definition is of excellence in sports, just go into the Arizona Rattlers' locker room prior to ArenaBowl XXVII. The players in that locker room have a combined 30 rings on their fingers, and the collection of 24 men will have been on the roster for a combined 45 ArenaBowls prior to August 23rd. If you add up all of the players, all of the coaches, all of the water boys, and all of the vendors associated with the Cleveland Gladiators, you have exactly one championship ring.
That one belongs to LaRoche Jackson, and ironically, he won it against these Rattlers in his rookie season with the Jacksonville Sharks in ArenaBowl XXIV.
"I'm more psyched than I was in 2011," Jackson said. "When I look at my teammates, let's get us one. I want another one. Let's get us one.
Sports history in Cleveland isn't exactly fun to study. The city hasn't won a championship since 1964 when the Browns captured the NFL Championship. The Forest City did host a Wild Card game last year in baseball, but the Indians didn't make the main portion of the postseason. The last time they won a postseason game or a playoff series was in 2007. The Cavaliers haven't been to the playoffs since the first time LeBron James was with the team back in 2009-10. The Browns haven't made the playoffs since 2002, and they haven't won a playoff game since 1994.
Meanwhile in Phoenix, there has been plenty to cheer about from a sports perspective. The Coyotes were in the Western Conference Finals just two seasons ago. The Suns were perennial contenders in the NBA from the late-80s all the way into 2010 and were in the NBA Finals in 1993. The Cardinals are just six years removed from playing in the Super Bowl. The Mercury have been to the WNBA Western Conference Finals five times since 2007 and have won the WNBA Championship twice in that stretch. The Diamondbacks won the World Series in 2001 and have been in the playoffs twice since then.
And yes, then there are the Rattlers, who are playing in their fourth straight ArenaBowl and are looking for three Foster Trophies in a row.
This isn't quite a David vs. Goliath battle, but even the oddsmakers are against Cleveland in this one. The Glads have won all 11 of their home games this year, and they have won 19 of their 20 games. However, they're three-point underdogs against a team that hasn't won a road game against a team with a winning record since April and hasn't won any road game since June 14th.
"We don't care about 19-1," Jackson stated. "We don't care about being division champions. We don't care being conference champions. The only thing that matters is that our record is 0-0. At the end of the fourth quarter, we're gonna have a 'W' up."
That said, the Glads are perfectly happy playing the role of the underdogs. We've heard Coach Guy state time and time again that he doesn't necessarily care where the ArenaBowl is or who the foe is, that he'll take his 20 Rattlers against any 20 guys in the league in a one game, winner-take-all situation. Cleveland has that same confidence, even if it is going against a team with some ringers and more rings than three people could put on all of their fingers at one time.
"Just like Coach Selesky says: DYJ like a JYD," said Jackson. "Let's do your job like a junkyard dog."
How appropriate that the city of Cleveland associates itself so much with its beloved Dawg Pound up the road from Quicken Loans Arena at First Energy Stadium! The Rattlers might be coming into Cleveland high and mighty, but the junkyard dogs are certainly set to protect their version of the Dawg Pound a week from Saturday in ArenaBowl XXVII.
