ArenaBowl XXIII Game Day Blog

AFLGuru · Joined: 28 Dec 2005

Greetings from Spokane! For those of you that are living under a rock and don't know, I'm Adam Markowitz... aka AFLGuru...

Joe Kauffman and I are here in Spokane, the site of ArenaBowl XXIII. The thought hit me last night that I should probably be blogging about what's going on here in Spokane aside from all the articles I've been writing to give you all a bit of a personal feeling as to what the atmosphere is like here in Spokane.

First of all, it's 6:30 in the morning here, so in spite of the fact that most of you on the East Coast have already been in work for a couple hours, I'm still barely opening my eyes. Joe is still sound asleep...

Let me successfully wake up, and then I'll come back and catch everyone up with how the last couple of days have gone here in Spokane.

AFLGuru · Joined: 28 Dec 2005

(By the way, before I begin, please feel free to post comments as we go... that's why I'm separating my posts out by posting in red font)

7:00 AM...

Ok, I've seen some natural light now and am ready to go... as soon as Joe wakes up... whenever that will be Very Happy

This trip got started for me on Wednesday morning bright and early when I began prepping for the ridiculous flight up to Spokane from Orlando. Joe drove up from Tampa Bay, and after a lunch with him and my wonderful girlfriend, off to Orlando International Airport we went...

A three hour layover in the world's worst walking airport... Minneapolis-St. Paul... and three hours on a crammed flight to Spokane later, and here we are in the great northwest. And of course, we flew clear across the country, some 2800 miles away from home (which MapQuest estimates would take FORTY TWO HOURS to drive!), and the first face we see in the terminal at about 11:00 at night local time (which yes, felt a lot later than the 2:00 AM we would've been used to on the East Coast)... Good ol' Tim Marcum. True story.

After getting the world's crappiest rental car (Chevy Cobalt... no power locks or windows, and the AC doesn't work), off we went to the luxurious Davenport Hotel, which we were later told is one of the premier hotels, not just in the state of Washington, but in the entire country.

The first thing I noticed here is how the town isn't exactly decked out for the game. Yes, there was a big banner near the arena... but nothing really in downtown, which is where we are staying. I haven't heard anyone really talking about the game, nor has there really been gobs of people crowding the streets wearing blue and orange Shock gear... in fact, I don't recall one person not directly affiliated with the Shock wearing anything in their colors.

Anyway, we took the short drive from the airport to our hotel, were really pissed that we had already missed last call at the bar, and called it a night... on to Thursday... which I suppose I'll put into a new post for easier reading.

AFLGuru · Joined: 28 Dec 2005

Media Day... The pomp and circumstance surrounding this event just didn't seem to be quite the same either. In New Orleans for the two previous ArenaBowls, there were media members from all across the country there to cover the event. This year, we think that ArenaFan represents teh only national media coverage here, as the other... probably 4-5 media members doing interviews were local Spokane folk.

The Commish made mention of the fact that there was going to be a new expansion team announced on Friday night during his State of the League address... which we are assuming means that Pittsburgh is going to be formally introduced. He also alluded to the fact that there are going to be discussions and announcements in the weeks to come regarding where teams will be playing next year.

*Enter your own punch line here*

Coach Marcum was probably the most interesting one to hear talk at Media Day, as he kept getting a little choked up about bringing this team to this venue for this game. We're not talking about an ArenaBowl first timer here either... This is a man that has taken part in this game now 11 times in his illustrious career. That says something incredibly special about the Storm and their chances to capture ArenaBowl XXIII.

I was shocked (no pun intended) at what a fantastic interview Shock HC Rob Keefe was. It was a bit weird to try to figure out which one Keefe was, as he really did just kinda look like an intern standing on the sidelines, but the man clearly knows what he is talking about and isn't afraid to talk. He remembers his roots as an af2 player as well, and knows that this game is about the FANS and about bringing a championship to a relatively tiny city with no real sports history to speak of... not about bolstering his career or putting some money into his owner's pockets.

One of these moments, Tim will get around to posting the interviews I had from Media Day, including Huey Whittaker (which was really our friend Jason Dixon's interview that we are borrowing with his permission), Tim Marcum, Kyle Rowley, Drew Weatherford, Rob Keefe, and Brett Dietz. You can also read my various ArenaBowl stories on the front page of ArenaFan. We'll have postgame coverage of the ArenaBowl as well once the game is complete, and I think it's Joe's intent to keep an in-game post going on the front page as well assuming we have the internet in Spokane Arena.

By the way, anyone that thinks Kyle Rowley is 6'1" is out of their mind. I stood next to the dude. He's not even 5'9".

Back to the hotel we went from Media Day...

Sharing some drinks with some various staff members of both teams and the league was a lot of fun yesterday. You can tell that good times are being had by all, which is something that is incredibly important.

Joe and I got the podcast equipment set up, and even though we didn't ever actually use the equipment for actual interviewing as we had in years past, we did do an awfully cool version of the AFL Roundtable with our Canadian buddy Tim after he got back from watching his Alouettes beat the snot out of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Joe and I got back from drinkin' it up at the bar in the hotel lobby!

After some editing and posting of pictures and articles, we called it a night. Now, here we are... 7:30 AM on game day of ArenaBowl XXIII! I'll be sure to check in before we head out to the game this afternoon!

AFLGuru · Joined: 28 Dec 2005

Oh, one more relatively hilarious side note... We had dinner last night at the Red Robin because that's a chain that we don't have in Florida (at least that I know of)... The burgers are OMG good... really... and I don't say that about food often.

(Of course, I guess that "diet" I was on before going on this trip went out the door the second I put a fried egg on my burger, huh?)

So Red Robin has a mascot that comes out periodically for some unknown reason... I guess just to make a fool out of himself. He's walking around near us and I said to him (I was probably a bit drunk at the time... haha), "Your job must suck, huh?"

He nodded his head very, very quickly up and down.

Maybe that was funnier in real life than it is to read... wish I had pictures.

malepig · Joined: 05 Aug 2002 Location: Fort Myers, FL

http://www.redrobin.com/map/default.aspx?loc=6556&lat=26.48527891666667&lng=-81.78864722222222

This includes one being built in Tampa.
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If you hate me, its only because you are jealous and inferior to me.

AFLGuru · Joined: 28 Dec 2005

nolesrule · Joined: 01 Jan 2001 Location: Clearwater, FL

Thanks for the info. That's actually 2 coming to the Bay area, as Wesley Chapel is just north of Tampa.

Still, either of them is a little far to drive just for a meal.
_________________
14-time ArenaBowl Attendee
IX-XII-XIV-XVII-XVIII-XIX-XX-XXI-XXII-XXIII-XXIV-XXV-XXVI-XXVII
Where are your five championships?™

AFLGuru · Joined: 28 Dec 2005

9:30 AM...

Took one step out of hotel this morning and wished I had my sweater. Geez is this a nice refreshing break from the constant 100+ degree heat index temperatures in Florida...

Joe and I went to a nice little French cafe in town. I guess it's still early, because there weren't many people out and about. Still searching for our first Spokane Shock fan on the streets here that is willing to advertise with a shirt, hat, or some other gear.

A couple more hours of preparations before the real fun begins this afternoon. We've seen a few members of the Storm staff and roster floating around in the hotel, but everything still seems to be relatively calm. It feels like another day in the office, not a day for a championship.

squirtamus · Joined: 02 Aug 2010

try to head to riverfront park and see if th Goal Line Bandits are there yet tailgating! welcome to Spokane!!!

AFLGuru · Joined: 28 Dec 2005

11:20 AM...

All-Arena team was just announced. I'm a bit surprised to see Brett Dietz picked as the second team QB... Figured either Rowley or Garcia might take those honors.

It's a real disgrace that there were no offensive linemen for the Iron on the All-Arena teams... either first or second... That unit only allowed one sack all season long and none of the three were welcomed on the team. It's a real shame.

Aside from that though, I don't have many complaints, especially on the first team.

We're still just chillin' in the hotel room right now, as we are probably about 2-3 hours or so away from leaving for the game.

AFLGuru · Joined: 28 Dec 2005

AFLGuru · Joined: 28 Dec 2005

Just learned that Dietz was actually a member of the Spokane Shock for a week in 2007 before signing with the Kansas City Brigade's practice squad. Interesting.

JStorm · Joined: 14 Jun 2001 Location: Dallas, Tx

dallas · Joined: 01 Jun 2001 Location: Irving , Tx

Really sad I cant be there to pester Radio row for a good twenty minutes. I commend you guys for going, but the neutral site thing needs to come back, so we can go back to having geeky nerdy AFL fan conventions (Reunions, get togethers, etc) every July/August.

shock_fanatic_06 · Joined: 19 Jul 2009

JStorm · Joined: 14 Jun 2001 Location: Dallas, Tx

Does anyone know if Arenazone (Fran) made the trek from PA?

nolesrule · Joined: 01 Jan 2001 Location: Clearwater, FL

Fran did not come. He hasn't had much to do with the AFL at all this year.
_________________
14-time ArenaBowl Attendee
IX-XII-XIV-XVII-XVIII-XIX-XX-XXI-XXII-XXIII-XXIV-XXV-XXVI-XXVII
Where are your five championships?™

AFLGuru · Joined: 28 Dec 2005

1:00 PM...

I think we're gonna go crash the tailgating party and try to bum some free food off of the locals Very Happy

Joe and I just had what will probably amount to be our nice leisurely stroll around downtown Spokane. The temperature is still just absolutely perfect. Can't be more than about 70 degrees out here now with a nice breeze.

Anywho, all of the pregame hype really hasn't amounted to the same type of stuff we've had in recent years, but I hope that doesn't mean that this game is going to fail to live up to the hype as well.

I'll check in from the press box as soon as we get up there.

TorgosPizza · Joined: 14 May 2006

You guys do some digging on the Coach Ho leaving the Rush report.

JStorm · Joined: 14 Jun 2001 Location: Dallas, Tx