RIP Arena Football League

[Cosmo]

Please post your favorite Hunkie Cooper and other Arizona Rattlers memories here.

 

[DanOregon]

Anytime you see "strategic" in a press release, run for cover.

Among other notable alums, besides Warner - Lincoln Kennedy and Mike Vanderjagt (who won an Arena Bowl, a Grey Cup and played in a Pro Bowl in addition to doubling Tony Danza in a Disney flick and being the "idiot kicker" in question).

 

[Monday Morning Sportswriter]

Anytime you see "strategic" in a press release, run for cover.

Among other notable alums, besides Warner - Lincoln Kennedy and Mike Vanderjagt (who won an Arena Bowl, a Grey Cup and played in a Pro Bowl in addition to doubling Tony Danza in a Disney flick and being the "idiot kicker" in question).

And it brought us the father of Antonio Brown, the Albany Firebirds’ Touchdown Eddie Brown, who I knew to be so much more sane than his spawn.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

A New York cop I met once told me Arena League was the ultimate worst crowd assignment any officer could draw, and that he personally would rather handle a dozen WWE crowds than an Arena League game.

 

[YourFace]

Anytime you see "strategic" in a press release, run for cover.

Among other notable alums, besides Warner - Lincoln Kennedy and Mike Vanderjagt (who won an Arena Bowl, a Grey Cup and played in a Pro Bowl in addition to doubling Tony Danza in a Disney flick and being the "idiot kicker" in question).

Also, six-time AFL champion Jay Gruden.

 

[DanOregon]

Their operating plan was find some city leader who they can convince the AFL is "big time," create new and unique logo and name, use local businesses who are excited to work with the AFL - never pay the bills. Move to another city and back to step one.

Who knows maybe the league will come back from the dead? (Still my favorite in my collection of hats from extinct football leagues).

 

[outofplace]

I was in the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh for Arena Bowl I in 1987. They opened the roof, which took a really long time, before the game. I think the toughest thing about the games in Pittsburgh that year is they couldn't seem to get through one without somebody tearing an ACL because the playing surface was atrocious.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

I was in the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh for Arena Bowl I in 1987. They opened the roof, which took a really long time, before the game. I think the toughest thing about the games in Pittsburgh that year is they couldn't seem to get through one without somebody tearing an ACL because the playing surface was atrocious.

Now THERE is a sports memory you can dine out on!

 

[cyclingwriter2]

My afl memory was watching the first game on Tv, and the camera doing a crowd shot and focusing on a guy giving double fisted middle fingers for a good 20 seconds before it went back to the action. One of the most exciting things 10-year-old me had seen on tv at the time.

Second memory: all the little caesers ads that seem to run on every break. My little pennsyltucky got a little caesars that fall and it was as if joe Montana had decided to buy a house next door.

 

[mpcincal]

The first clip of this compilation always comes to mind to me when the Arena League is mentioned:



Couldn't believe the home-team players were running over and high-fiving that fan in the front row. I would have loved to see that kick returner turn around and coldcock the guy.

As for the league, wasn't this Arena Football entity the one that rose out of the ashes from the original one that lasted for over 20 years. I just remember thinking although some teams were coming and going the league was doing alright as a whole, then suddenly I found out it was shutting down. Then, not too long after, this league got started with a few less teams.

 

[HanSenSE]

Their operating plan was find some city leader who they can convince the AFL is "big time," create new and unique logo and name, use local businesses who are excited to work with the AFL - never pay the bills. Move to another city and back to step one.

Who knows maybe the league will come back from the dead? (Still my favorite in my collection of hats from extinct football leagues).

View attachment 7019

Was always partial to the Iowa Barnstormers helmet myself.

 

[Batman]

 

[Baron Scicluna]

In the mid-00s, this league seemed like it had established quite a niche, with adding multiple teams, regularly appearing on ESPN, teams valued in the millions of dollars, Jon Bon Jovi owning a team. Then the Great Recession hit and things were never the same.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

I remember the Dallas Desperados, the Cowboys entry in the AFL. Joe Avezzano (RIP) was the first head coach. After him was Will McClay, who today is pretty high up in the Jones brain trust and might become the GM when Jerry kicks the bucket.

 

[wicked]

In the mid-00s, this league seemed like it had established quite a niche, with adding multiple teams, regularly appearing on ESPN, teams valued in the millions of dollars, Jon Bon Jovi owning a team. Then the Great Recession hit and things were never the same.

There definitely was a bounce after Kurt Warner hit it big.

 

[HanSenSE]

Darren Arbet, the former coach of the San Jose Sabercats, is head coach at Cabrillo College (a juco) and runs a very wide-open offense. Has really turned around a program that was struggling.

 

[daytonadan1983]

Best things about Arena Football for me.
1) Stringing for the out of town newspapers helped me get bylines in Newsday, the Times-Picayune, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, The Arizona Republic, the Oregonian, The Dallas Morning News, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Indianapolis Star-Bulletin and a few others I can't remember now but will edit in later.
2) Orlando was outrageous. Colleagues were getting drunk and fighting. One night, a fan brought a 10-foot inflatable schlong that was replaced the traditional volley of inflatable blow up dolls. The guy from the league office confiscated it, and was in the walkway. My arenafan blog led with -- "The league official's deflated, limp penis lay on the hard concrete for all the world to see. It's what happens when the league office goes out half-cocked." Of course it didn't run. I just will never have a creative moment like that again.
3) I brought my therapist to a game. He sat next to Terry Bowden on press row. Adrian McPherson was the visiting QB. I sent Doc to interview him -- FSU thing. He said it was one of the most fun times he had. I said it wasn't. He goes "Dude, are you f-----g crazy?" I considered it a breakthrough.
4) Jay Gruden to me after I wrote a column counting each use of inappropriate words as he unleashed a barrage of colorful metaphors on a TV game with no seven second delay. "I loved it, but my wife and my kid's teacher didn't."
5) Doing stats for NBC and having that "I say it here and it comes out there moment" when Dallas and Orlando put up a combined 179 points.
6) When I moved over to the team side, working for a former Vikings WR in Frisco, Texas. Was a great year. Texas HS football, a couple of games at the old Texas Stadium, Rangers, Mavs and being invited by Joe Avezzano to watch the Super Bowl at his restaurant. Watching the Super Bowl with a guy who was in it was kinda cool.
7) Free trip to Alaska, reading "Friday Night Lights" at Ratliffe Stadium, etc.
8) One night in Lake Charles, La, it was me and four other PR/GM/radio guys hanging out, bitching about the owners and everything else. The beer and wine were from the owner's box. No one cared. It was great.

I miss/don't miss and hate/don't hate this demise.

 

[Batman]

In the mid-00s, this league seemed like it had established quite a niche, with adding multiple teams, regularly appearing on ESPN, teams valued in the millions of dollars, Jon Bon Jovi owning a team. Then the Great Recession hit and things were never the same.

Yeah, it went from being a thing to bottoming out in a hurry. It seemed like, as you said, it found its niche as a fun, not-quite-football but close enough sport for NFL markets. IIRC they even had a decent TV deal where they were showing games on either ABC or NBC.
Hell, they even had their own minor league and some knock off versions.
And then within a few years I read they were down to four teams and trying to keep the lights on, and now they're completely kaput. That is bewildering how it happened that fast.

 

[apeman33]

I was on a trip to Denver once with three friends and we made a last-second decision to attend a Colorado Crush playoff game (I think it was a conference final). We bought tickets in the nosebleeds but near the end of the first quarter, an usher came by and asked us if we'd like to move down to the lower bowl because NBC wanted more people in the crowd shots.

 

[DanOregon]

Anyone think the new XFL gets a second year? Between basing teams in major markets and people feeling burned by the Alliance, I just don't see McMahon getting enough traction to throw more money away. Feb through April - you're still competing with the NFL free agency and pre-draft, the NBA and March Madness. Always felt May, June, July might be a better three month window. First round NBA playoffs are typically chalk and then most games are played in primetime leaving the daytime open.