Fire to Explore Memphis – Plan on Coming Away With a Win (Graceland Souvenirs Optional)
Kevin Sedelmeier
Thursday May 15, 2003
Xplorers General Manager Greg Griffith has declared Saturday Night’s game a “Guaranteed Win Night,” which means if the Xplorers do lose, every fan in attendance gets a free ticket to their following home game. On the Xplorers’ website, Griffith is quoted as saying, “The Xplorers will win this Saturday night against the Fire without a shadow of a doubt in my mind.” Realistically, it sounds less like a guarantee and more like a good plan to get fans in the DeSoto Civic Center. In fact, the Fire did a similar promotion last year. (In the process, they lost thousands of ticket sales, and co-owner Will Wolford lost his hair.)
Still, such a bold prediction may be a tough assignment for the 1-5 Xplorers. Even though the Xplorers have played better than their record indicates; the Fire are coming off an important win at Birmingham last week, a game decided on a Marc Samuel field goal with 2.3 seconds left. It was a game where the Fire offense outscored the Steeldogs 16-3 in the fourth quarter and the defense tightened up and played the type of solid goal-line defense Coach Tommy Johnson has been advocating as of late.
The Fire plan to thwart the Xplorers guaranteed victory plans; but don’t expect the Fire to take the Xplorers lightly. On Inside the Fire, a weekly Louisville TV show, Johnson said, “Memphis is a team that’s right around the corner from breaking out.” He went on to say their coach (Danton Barto) is outstanding and that, while he feels the game is certainly winnable, it won’t necessarily be easy. Indeed, Johnson is the type of coach who takes no one lightly and undoubtedly won’t let his team do so, either.
So while the fond recollections of Dana Kirk versus Denny Crum may linger around the Memphis basketball community, the Fire hope to create new football memories in the Louisville-Memphis sports history with a win on Saturday.
Smoke Signals
Memphis professional sports has an interesting history. The Xplorers aren’t the only team in town to deliberately misspell a nickname. Remember the XFL’s Maniax? There were also the Canadian Football League’s Mad Dogs. (Yes, the CFL had a team in Tennessee for the 1995 season.) The USFL’s Showboats had, arguably, the best name and logo for any Memphis football team.
The Louisville-Memphis rivalry also goes back to the ABA where the Kentucky Colonels did battle against the Memphis Pros, Tams, and Sound. The Tams may have had one of pro sports most interesting names. The word “tam” originated in the poem Tam O’Shatner by Robert “Auld Lang Syne” Burns. It’s simply a tight-fitting Scottish hat or braided bonnet. However, Memphis also used it as an acronym for its fan base (Tennessee - Alabama - Mississippi). College Basketball coaching legend, Adolph Rupp, was the Tams’ team president.
Pookie Still Hurting
Fire QB, Pookie Jones, continues to rehab in Lexington and his injury may be worse than originally thought; but Coach Tommy Johnson still hopes Jones can return. Since Jones is such a good athlete, if he returns, perhaps he can make contributions at a position other than quarterback. Speaking of starter Josh Rogers, Johnson believes that, with some work at taking what the opposing defense allows instead of always looking for the big play, his competitive signal caller could be the “next star in Arena 1.”
Bats in the Media Belfry
For the second week in a row, the Louisville Courier Journal did not have a story on the Fire’s game. When asked about their nonexistent coverage of the Fire, a CJ Sports representative said information for the Birmingham game story was suppose to come via a fax from the Fire but never arrived. In an e-mail, the CJ went on to comment on local spring/summer coverage, saying they “cannot equate a team that pays its players $200 a game with the Bats, whose players are a short step away from the major leagues.” Frankly, this ahouldn’t even be an issue. The International League’s Louisville Bats deserve extensive coverage, and no one is suggesting Fire coverage would take away from the baseball team. However, both seasons are in between college football and basketball seasons, and there should be plenty of room in the Sports section for everyone.
If memory serves, in the late 70s, the Kentucky Trackers got more coverage in the CJ than the Fire do now -- and they were semi-pro football. WAVE 3 and ICN, in particular, thoroughly cover the Fire. So, media coverage is not unprecedented. Despite this he Courier Journal seems to have a personal bias against the Fire.
As far as the CJ’s snide remark about player salaries, I`m not sure if that`s even an issue to their readers. Do 10 year-old kids know or care about that when they come on the field after a game to get autographs? A good portion of AF2 players have moved to the AFL, NFL Europe, CFL, or even the NFL. Some who are toward the ends of their careers do it for the love of the game. Frankly, that`s an interesting story for the CJ to run. There really is some quality football being played by some quality athletes. Too bad the CJ doesn’t realize that.
To be fair, Coach Johnson has even commented that if the team becomes a winner, coverage will take care of itself. No doubt, writing about a 2-14 team last year wouldn`t have exactly been a Pulitzer-potential assignment. But this year’s team already has more wins in six games than they had all of last season. So what’s their excuse now? Not every subscriber wants to read about some prep basketball player who has U of L and UK on his list of fifty-two colleges he`s considering going to when he graduates high school in three years.
Kevin Sedelmeier is a native Louisvillian. A graduate of the University of Louisville with a B.A. in Communication and M.A. in English, he works as a technical writer and has written fifteen screenplays and numerous short
stories. He lives with his wife Elizabeth, son Lukas, and their dog Springsteen.