Arena Football R.I.P.

While Jason and his family are down from Marquette for Christmas, I asked him to do a guest blog on any topic he wanted to write on, and here is his entry on the apparent demise of Arena Football;

Thanks Dad. As many of you are probably unaware of, last week (I think it was last week, I know I read it sometime but I'm too lazy to site my sources) the Arena Football League announced that they would be suspending the 2009 season, and while things are technically up in the air, it wouldn't surprise me if, given our current economic climate, they took several seasons off. And for a secondary sports league like the AFL, it might be too big of a task to pick up where they left off.

And it's a shame. If you've never had a chance to see a game, live or on TV, you're missing out! Billed as the '50 yard indoor war', Arena football contains enough components of football to be recognized as an offshoot, but enough differences to be a completely different entity.


Former NFL MVP Kurt Warner started out anonymously in the AFL. Now he is a member of the Arizona Cardinals, which means he is even more anonymous now than he was with the Iowa Barnstormers, or whatever team he was with.

Some of the major differences are (all these differences are taken from arenafootball.com)- 50 yard field, indoor padded surface (which is pretty cool, because the sideline tickets are really SIDELINE tickets), 8 players on the field at a time, 1 receiver allowed forward motion, NO PUNTING (it's illegal...not sure if it's punishable by law, but it is definitely illegal), and passes thrown off the netting are live balls and count as a reception if they caught before touching the ground. Passes off the boards are also considered live, and anything caught off a rebound from the boards counts as a catch. But probably the coolest part of all- the fieldgoal rebound nets. One time when we went and saw the Detroit Drive (our last Detroit Football Champ), George LaFrance took a missed field goal off of the rebound nets back for a touchdown. Way cool!


Is there anyway that the Lions can cancel their 2009 season?

If you are a fan of the forward pass, then you should love Arena football. It is not uncommon for a quarterback to throw 7 TD passes in a game and lose. Games in the 60's are common. It's a completely different style of football, packaged differently and everything. I can't say that I've followed it over the years, so I guess that I'm probably to blame for the league going under...or maybe my narcissism is just rearing its ugly head. I will miss it though.

Probably my fondest AFL memory is the time when we went to a game that some of the Drive players were supposed to be signing autographs before the game. Well, you might not know this about my family, but we don't really know our way around Detroit. We're not really 'street'...we're just studio gangsters. Anyways, it wasn't that we got lost, we just weren't sure where to find the Drive players. So my dad asks this tall, well dressed, athletic young man...who we come to find out is Andre Ware!

Hey if Dan Orlvosky can't go on Sunday, maybe we could get Heisman Andre to suit up...

Now this is before Andre was a dud, and I was about 12 or so, so this was a big deal...I remember being shocked and awed by the presence of an NFL football player- this was huge! He signed a piece of paper for me, and I instantly became a part of Andre Nation...at least, until he started taking snaps for the Lions. Then I swore an oath that I would never again utter the name 'Andre Ware'. We also met Lomas Brown, who is one of the biggest men I have ever seen. Not quite as big as 'Andre the Giant'...more like 'Andre the Large'. Or 'Andre the Above-average'.

Fortunately, Lomas was wearing more than a speedo when we saw him.

Maybe it was a sign of the times for the AFL, that my most memorable moment came from meeting a real live NFL player. Maybe it was a sign of the times for Andre Ware that my most memorable moment from his career was meeting him at an Arena football game. But whatever the case, Arena football is gone for the foreseeable future. It will be missed. But it lives on in our hearts, our memories, and our 2nd generation video game consoles. Arena football, we spill some beer on the ground for you homie.

Photos:
Andre Giant- http://www.cwfarchives.com/Photo2.php?id=1623
Andre Ware- http://espn.go.com/abcsports/bcs/s/where/andreware.html
Detroit Drive logo- http://www.oursportscentral.com/sports/?t_id=1728
Kurt Warner- http://sports.espn.go.com/extra/afl/news/story?id=3247185