Sweet home New Orleans
Tim Ball
Tuesday June 19, 2007
Now we’re talking.
The sellout of ArenaBowl XXI before the playoffs have even begun is the best news in the 21-year history of the Arena Football League.
In the world of sports seldom is there anything “new.”
The AFL has survived on far more than just a wing and a prayer. The ArenaBowl being a success so early in the season is a testimony to many things and many people that have kept the league alive.
This happened because of every single person involved in Arena Football through those first two decades. The New Orleans franchise and the AFL are delivering to the players and fans (and the sport itself), what they (and it) deserve.
Make no mistake. The neutral site ArenaBowl selling out is big news.
As big as from Katrina to an ArenaBowl in New Orleans: As big as the Arena Football League surviving and thriving against all odds.
There are hardly words to describe what this league owes to New Orleans.
Thank you . . . is a good start.
From the AFL press release:
NEW YORK – ArenaBowl XXI is officially sold out, the Arena Football League announced. It is the first sell out of a neutral-site ArenaBowl, which began with ArenaBowls XIX and XX, both in Las Vegas.
“When we made the decision to move the ArenaBowl to a neutral site, we predicted it would take three years for the game to return to being a sell out,” said Commissioner DAVID BAKER. “That prediction has now come true.”
ArenaBowls I-XVIII were played in the city of the team with the best record in the game, thus making ArenaBowl XXI the earliest championship game sell out in League history.
The game will be played at New Orleans Arena on Sunday, July 29, 2007 at 2 p.m. CT and will be first team championship in New Orleans since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
No sliding
While sports in general is seeing a downward spiral in TV viewers (did anybody watch the NBA finals? Who won?).
Arena Football just keeps getting better; and in major markets.
While I hope and pray that struggling franchises like Grand Rapids stay with the league, the news of ArenaBowl XXI is good news for all.
Good riddance to the Thomas and Mack Center. Colorado and Chicago deserved better.
My two young children (6 and 10) couldn’t name you one current NBA player and have never been to a game. And hopefully my daughter will never meet an NBA “player.”
And Baseball . . ., when was the last time you saw a Major League baseball player look like he knew how to play baseball? I can’t watch baseball for ten-minutes without screaming at the screen “TWO HANDS!” I’d rather watch Wiffle Ball played down the street in Joey’s front yard. But unfortunately too many of them swing like major leaguers.
Fundamentals and mechanics to a modern baseball player are words you look up in ancient dictionaries along with “Willie Mays” and “honesty” and other out of date concepts.
Both of my kids think the NFL is just the winter version of Arena Football played outdoors in the snow for the fun of it.
My six-year old can’t sit still three minutes for a NFL game on TV. He stays for the whole game and afterwards for a Rush game.
Ah to be a kid again. Like how I’ll feel at the ArenaBowl in New Orleans. (Where being an adult is as fun as it gets.)
And us
The fans of Arena Football can now look to their dedication and perseverance in a whole new light.
I for one liked the highest seed hosting the ArenaBowl as this made every game crucial, but now there is a new pride in a new category that has to live up to the ethics of the AFL fan.
Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia and Dallas are serious football towns (to name just a few) with historic fans. Will they be able to bring fans from across the league to their home arenas?
I know that in Chicago, football can be grounds for a divorce. One errant word about the Packers said in jest can get lawyers flying. This is the town where, during the last Rush versus Crush game and on two different occasions, Rush fans threw footballs back onto the field when Colorado players thought they would one-up a Chicago crowd. They didn’t. (Tune in for the sequel on Monday Night Football.)
I can’t wait until Chicago hosts an ArenaBowl. That franchise has employees committed to every single fan from three hours before the game to off-season events that draw thousands of Rush faithful. I can testify to that.
Also, the old-school cronies of the paper media and smartass pundits of certain sports shows have to at least wonder (sometimes) how they missed the boat on Arena Football.
And they have.
You and I and Commissioner Baker and Saints/Voodoo owner Tom Benson, know that Arena Football is good for all the right reasons.
“All the right reasons?” That’s as foreign to sports media as the meaning of Prince Charming is to Britney Spears and Lindsey Lohan.
What was once a beautiful dream where men did the right thing because it was the right thing to do, can still be seen in the Arena Football League where football is King and not some agent.
Faithful servant
The AFL has seen many major changes to its format and program since its creation, but the neutral site for the championship game was the biggest gamble ever made. Las Vegas proved that this was a change for the better.
The bet paid off.
Commissioner David Baker has made a lot of promises about the AFL since taking the helm. He has delivered on some and still has others to work on, but the ArenaBowl selling out before the playoffs proves the man isn’t selling used cars at a dark corner lot.
And speaking of cars, Saints owner Tom Benson not only has a playoff caliber NFL team poised to make some noise, but his Voodoo, in its first year back, has led the league in attendance, averaging 16,669 fans.
C’mon now. Applause please.
I don’t know what award awaits the New Orleans franchise at seasons end, but I hope it’s fitting for what they have achieved.
Back in the seventies my Uncle Bob was a spotter for the Saints, so I know what a great football town New Orleans is.
Well done my Big Easy brethren. Well done AFL. Uncle Bob would be proud.
There is nothing more important to this or any sports league than seats being filled with great and happy fans. Ask the NHL.
And, in New Orleans happy is serious business.
Mr. Baker and Mr. Benson have earned their pay.
The ArenaBowl sellout in New Orleans is proof that in sports there is still “news,” worthy of the word.
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.
