After taking a year off to work on a better business model, the Arena Football League is back. I am pleasantly surprised since such a decision was considered to be a death sentence. I am also very pleased because the AFL is a fun league that I have a bit of history with.
In 1997, my buddy Jay and I went to the first ever New Jersey Red Dogs game. In that game, the Red Dogs won 52-48 over beat perennial powerhouse Iowa Barnstormers who were led by a little known QB name Kurt Warner (not sure what happened to him after that season). We ended up going to all 7 seven home games that year and really fell in love with the team and the league. still today I can remember most of the star players - QB Rickey Foggie, WR Alvin Ashley, WR Larry Ray Willis and our favorite showboater, DB Chad Lindsey. The Red Dogs,who were owned by Little Joe Morris and two other former Giants, lasted 4 years before changing ownership and becoming the NJ Gladiators. After an additional two years the Gladiators moved to Las Vegas. Surprisingly, before I knew him, my buddy D-Lib was a budding Arena League kicker who tried out for Dallas, Chicago, Grand Rapids and wouldn't you know it, Las Vegas. Small world indeed.
Anyways, after the Gladiators moved to Las Vegas my interest in the AFL dwindled. I would watch when it was on tv, but I never had a favorite team to support. With the AFL back in business and with live games on the NFL Network on Friday nights, I figure it's the perfect time to jump back in. Over the course of the next few weeks, I will eliminating teams based on specific criteria until I decide on interviewing current teams to decide who I will support.
The first criteria is that it can't be a team that was in the league when the Red Dogs were around. Simply put, I can't support one of my teams rivals. That gets rid of the Tampa Bay Storm, Orlando Predators, Iowa Barnstormers, Arizona Rattlers, Chicago Rush, Dallas Vigilantes and Cleveland Gladiators. Arizona was always a team that I respected. They were stable, had great fans and a great name. But rules are rules so they are ineligible. The Vigilantes are new to the league, but their logo is eerily similar to the old Dallas Desperados, so I am going to exclude them as well. The Gladiators would be a natural choice since their roots date back to the Red Dogs. BUT, I won't forgive them for moving AND they're located in Cleveland. No Mistake by the Lake for me.
So after the first criteria, 8 teams - Alabama Vipers, Jacksonville Sharks, Bossier/Shreveport Battlewings, Tulsa Talons, OKC Yard Dawgs, Spokane Shock, Utah Blaze and Milwaukee Iron - remain in the hunt to become my AFL team. At first glance this list is definitely underwhelming as nothing screams out to me as being the franchise worthy of my support. Luckily I will be doing a little more research on each team and hopefully will find a diamond in the rough.
Stay tuned..
Nice! Miss the Red Dogs. I'm not sure who to pick. It's a weird league, since there are still big market teams, which is what killed the league in the first place, but now they're going back to the smaller markets which is where they really cut their teeth. It really was a grassroots league, and they got greedy and decided any city with a new arena should have a team (BTW - this is what's happening with pro lacrosse). Anywho, not my blog, so I'll say this is an excellent post, and viva la AFL!
ReplyDeleteI read that the new owners were able to buy all the old AFL rights, so any team that goes into an old market will be given the old name. So it is possible that we will be seeing the Crush and the Soul back next year.
ReplyDeleteGreat insight into the demise of the league. I loved having Jerry Jones, Bon Jovi's and Johgn Elways as owners, but their entry really did seem to coincide with the downfall.