A Louisville Fire Review and Preview
Kevin Sedelmeier
Thursday August 28, 2003
“You can’t start a fire without a spark…” he sings. Wait a minute, it’s not hackneyed at all when referring to the 2003 Louisville Fire. For most of the season, the Fire lacked something that was not so easily discernable. At times it seemed like there was a lack of focus or discipline. Occasionally smart play was tough to find. Often they felt victim to their own errors. Some games found them sluggish to stay in the game, their desire challenged. Maybe there was a lack of onfield leadership. Whatever it was – and odds are it was a combination – the Fire suffered through a horrid stretch of seven consecutive losses.
But they survived. They won two of their last three; they looked and played differently, more spirited. It was a credit to a team that could have packed it all in. It was a credit to coach Tommy Johnson. Maybe the return of injured QB Pookie Jones was the biggest factor in the turnaround, both for his decision- and playmaking ability on the turf and the quiet, poised experience he brings to the huddle. “I wish I had Coach Johnson in the camp,” Jones said after a season-ending loss to Tulsa, the eventual ArenaCup champions. With his injury and the early season coaching change, Jones did an impressive job bouncing back and playing excellent ball toward the end of the season. And he wasn’t the only Fire player who handled the season’s adversity well. Players like Demetrius Forney and Dennis Fryzel – as some unoriginal TV announcers say – “strapped it on” week in and week out. They were solid, hard-nosed contributors for all sixteen games.
AF2, like other minor leagues of professional sports, poses one inherent problem to fans. You want to see players do well to help your team, and you want to see them do well for themselves. (Look at the Louisville Bats as an example and blame the Cincinnati Reds for the Bats’ dwindling division lead.) For a few Fire players who enjoyed solid, productive seasons, the possibility of moving up the ladder is very real. Arkee Thompson, recently named to the All-Af2 team, already has seen interest from AFL and NFL teams. With a 10-interception year and a solid work ethic, Thompson looks primed for a move, which is a loss for Fire fans.
Similar talk of Jones moving on has surfaced as well. “I’m flattered that people are saying that I can go to the next level,” Jones says. “But you know what? My heart is here in Louisville, and if the Horsemen come in the league next year, my heart’s still in Louisville. I earned this spot.” Jones is referring to the rumors that the Lexington Horsemen of the NIFL may be joining the AF2 next season. It’s a bold statement coming from a man who lives in Lexington, commutes to Louisville for games and practices, and played at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
Even with planned defections, Johnson believes a strong core of players will be back for 2004. “I think we’re getting an understanding. We may have half our team coming back,” he says. Indeed, with an off season and preseason set to go under Johnson, players won’t have to worry about unplanned changes in the front office or on the field. While it’s tough to offer stability to a team in such a league with traditionally transient rosters, obviously returning the same players helps build cohesion and closeness. It helps knowing the tendencies of your teammates, the strengths and weaknesses. More than just kinship, it’s a knowledge, a field presence that is developed by longtime teammates. In a league that is only four seasons old, this is tough to develop. There is no Joe Montana-Jerry Rice, Jim Kelly-Will Wolford, Jim Marshall-Allen Page type of innate bonds just yet, but it could come over time.
So, that spark the Fire lacked for much of the season may be found in the form of Pookie Jones. Maybe it’s in Tommy Johnson, who now has fourteen games of head coaching experience under his belt. Maybe it’s only something palpable in the locker room. If so, whatever it was seemed to be flickering in the last three games of the 2003 season. When they could have packed it up, they didn’t. They fought and tried. Players didn’t seem to be taking plays off; they ran their routes, made second efforts on rushes, and dove for tackles. Players seemed to generally care. Football players are often proud people, and that showed at the end of the season.
On the song My City of Ruins, the last words of Bruce Springsteen’s recently celebrated The Rising, echo in hymn-like fashion, “Rise up, rise up!” OK maybe I’m grasping for metaphors, flailing desperately for an inorganic means of summarizing this final article of the season. Maybe my well of witty conclusions is dry. Maybe I’m butchering a reference to a song filled with hope for spiritual and urban renewal, trying to make it into some usable football reference, but I’ll do it anyway. The Fire certainly showed signs of rising up from their seven game doldrums. They did their best to redeem themselves and their season. Regardless of the fact that in its three seasons, the Fire is yet to have a winning record, there is still reason for optimism.
The Good
The team did improve from two wins in 2002 to five wins this season. Not ArenaCup bound yet, but it’s progress.
Pookie Jones. Not only did he play well on the field, he has character and leadership. He was a winner in college, and he still is. Younger players can look up to him. He makes things happen and makes good decisions.
Tommy Johnson made a nice transition from defensive coordinator to head coach. That’s not to say that it was smooth sailing, but he weathered the losing streak and stayed focused and positive. That good attitude eventually seemed to rub off on his players.
Although it may be little more than a title and maybe a figurehead position, but having Greg Brohm as team president (in whatever capacity that involves) seems like a good idea. He knows football; he’s young and has enthusiasm for the arena game. He may help General Manager Dave Arnold in the extremely difficult job of filling a roster with talented, available, and positive players.
Freedom Hall still has a good atmosphere for arena football. While not as loud for football as it is during U of L basketball games, it’s still the biggest arena in the league, and it can be an imposing place to place for opposing teams.
The Bad
Halfway through the season, Insight Communications stopped airing their weekly live show, Inside the Fire. They also stopped televising the Fire home games. Talk about dropping the ball. If their complaint was that it wasn’t proving profitable, one has to wonder if a modest locally produced personal finance program that repeats five times a week is bringing in a windfall of earnings.
Similarly, the Fire’s radio show on WTMT 620 AM was a little known weekly commodity. And toward the end of the season, it only aired the week before a home game. No one said it was easy on PR man Brent Adams, who did a fine job of talking football and killing time due to a lack of listener calls. Still, if this was publicized, more people would call.
Two seasons ago, season ticket holders got a 10% discount off merchandise at Freedom Hall. This year they got nothing and liked it. Merchandise should be available at stores around town, i.e. Target and Meijer. There should be a variety of merchandise. Yes, upfront it would be an expense, but the exposure would be worth it.
The Fire’s advertising might need a shot in the arm. Granted, advertising between Thanksgiving and Christmas in any medium is costly, but the Fire should do some of this anyway instead of waiting until next February for an all-out campaign. Promote season tickets as the perfect Christmas gift for that sports fan in your life. Recognizing the seven game losing streak and quieter crowds, the Fire could use some hackneyed slogan like It’s a whole new ballgame. Fire Football 2004 to get people’s awareness heightened again. Tommy Johnson is a friendly man who is accommodating with the media. Put him in the spots. Maybe change the uniforms, helmet design, even tweak the logo. Present early and often that next year’s team will be different and you’ll have to come out to Freedom Hall to see them yourself. Guarantee that the team will win more games than this year’s squad. And if they don’t win 6 games, season ticket holders can renew their package in 2005 for half price.
Humble Suggestions
Speaking of Bruce Springsteen, during one of their between-quarters or halftime numbers, the cheerleaders could dance to his songs Fire or I’m on Fire.
Season ticket prices have gone up from $80 to $120. Now to be fair, parking prices are included in there. So it equals out. Now, however, you get your name in a monthly drawing for sports memorabilia. No real suggestion here – just an observation. It’s a good idea to get season ticket holders to renew early.
No more piped in music that reaches the 120-decibel level. If I wanted to endure that sort of misery, I would have attended a Metallica show sans earplugs.
No more excruciatingly loud and obnoxious announcers who carry their mic as they make their way through the stadium. Please. It is embarrassing for those of us in the stands. More so, it’s painful. Whether it’s a local radio personality from a rock station or a kid’s station, it just doesn’t matter. When they push the entire crowd’s threshold of tolerance to the brink of sanity, it’s probably not a healthy thing for repeat ticket sales.
Keep up the good work. Despite its record, the Fire has been an exemplary franchise in not only AF2 but all of minor league sports. Coupled with the International League’s Bats at Slugger Field, the city of Louisville has two of the finest minor league professional sports teams and facilities in the country.
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.