Mac the Knife Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 If you're among the 12 or so people who watch CBS Sports Network, tonight you should watch and root ardently for the Washington Valor to defeat the Albany Firebirds Conquest Empire by two or more points tonight. Should they do so, the Valor will advance to the 31st edition of the ArenaBowl against their Monumental Sports-owned brethren, the Baltimore Brigade. And should it occur, this will mark two distinct firsts in the history of American sports: First - It will mark the first time in American history, and possibly North American history, where teams owned by the same ownership group would compete against one another for a league's championship. Second, and in my opinion far more appealing - It will mark the first time in American history where a team completed a regular season of ten or more games, won only two of them, then proceeded to advance to a league's championship game. You read that right. The Washington Valor went 2-10 in regular season competition. Thanks to the AFL's "everybody makes the playoffs" format, and this year's "home-and-home aggregate score" divisional playoff round, if the Valor win by 2 or more points tonight? A team which including playoffs will have gone 3-11 will be appearing in a championship game. And in all likelihood due to arena issues - they'll likely be hosting it. I love to watch potential trainwrecks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueYankee26 Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 Washington wins! Offensive pass interference ends Albany's chance. We will get the potental trainwreck! trueyankee26.wordpress.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac the Knife Posted July 22, 2018 Author Share Posted July 22, 2018 The Washington Valor, who went 2-10 in regular season competition, will be appearing in ArenaBowl XXXI. Now they've got to win it, just to complete the show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadragon76 Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 Can someone... anyone pull the plug on this show? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickp91 Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 this is part of what's wrong with the Arena Football League Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMU Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 47 minutes ago, nickp91 said: this is part of what's wrong with the Arena Football League Part? That’s like saying that the font on the can was part of what was wrong with New Coke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Cesarano Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 The 1990-91 Minnesota North Stars have finally been surpassed. The four-team Arena League could have spared itself this embarrassment by having a simple arrangement of the first-place finisher hosting the second-place finisher for the Arena Bowl. But, for some stupid reason, the people running this league believe that they have to have "playoffs", even with only four teams in the league. And we see the result of their adherence to that very bad idea. By the way, this is not the first time that the Arena League has had all of its teams qualify for the playoffs. They did it in 2016, also, when the league had eight teams. Fortunately, the 2-14 Tampa Bay Storm and the 3-13 Portland Steel were eliminated in the first round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shumway Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 The client I work for is a sponsor of the Soul, so I went to a game this year. It was surprisingly fun to go to, but that might've had something to do with the free food and beer I got before and after the game. I sat two rows behind Ron Jaworski, who apparently owns not just the team, but the ENTIRE LEAGUE. It was very interesting to find out that there are only 4 teams in the league, and I think two ownership groups own all 4 teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crabcake Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 I had no idea the Arena League was in this bad shape. If you’ve only got four teams, surely there’s no point in even existing, especially when you have such an asinine way of having a “playoffs.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac the Knife Posted July 22, 2018 Author Share Posted July 22, 2018 12 hours ago, Seadragon76 said: Can someone... anyone pull the plug on this show? The head of their player's union, a total bag named Ivan Soto, came within hours of killing it this year, trying to squeeze blood out of a turnip and get more money and benefits for his players by touting what the league was 20 years ago - not for a minute thinking that it was that popular 20 years ago in part because there wasn't a players union. Cleveland and Tampa Bay got sick of hearing his blathering, said this, and folded rather than keep going. Ted Leonsis owns two teams. Ron Jaworski and his partners own the other two. Of the 19 franchises that existed 7 years ago, one survives to today. They've relegated Arena Football to the status of indoor soccer. It's truly sad to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcj882000 Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 Don't forget how Albany is an expansion team and Washington is in their 2nd season. An expansion team going to the finals in year one to face Washington; gee, that sounds familiar... (At least Vegas didn't lose to the Sabres though) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sport Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 When the Columbus Destroyers were still a thing I used to regularly watch the Sunday afternoon game of the week on NBC. They operated and broadcasted like it was a real sport, and for all intents and purposes it was. In my bedroom in my parents' house there still hangs a "BEAT SAN JOSE" poster from the ArenaBowl when they played each other. That was 2007, I think. Weird to see what's happened to the sport. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadragon76 Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 1 hour ago, Mac the Knife said: The head of their player's union, a total bag named Ivan Soto, came within hours of killing it this year, trying to squeeze blood out of a turnip and get more money and benefits for his players by touting what the league was 20 years ago - not for a minute thinking that it was that popular 20 years ago in part because there wasn't a players union. Cleveland and Tampa Bay got sick of hearing his blathering, said this, and folded rather than keep going. Ted Leonsis owns two teams. Ron Jaworski and his partners own the other two. Of the 19 franchises that existed 7 years ago, one survives to today. They've relegated Arena Football to the status of indoor soccer. It's truly sad to see. I thought Cleveland was on hiatus because of work being done at Quicken Loans Arena. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Admiral Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 10 hours ago, McCarthy said: When the Columbus Destroyers were still a thing I used to regularly watch the Sunday afternoon game of the week on NBC. They operated and broadcasted like it was a real sport, and for all intents and purposes it was. For a while there in the mid-2000s, all NBC Sports had was Wimbledon, golf, and arena football. They had to treat it seriously. ♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueYankee26 Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 6 minutes ago, the admiral said: For a while there in the mid-2000s, all NBC Sports had was Wimbledon, golf, and arena football. They had to treat it seriously. And for the guys who were wondering why NBC went all out for NHL and Sunday Night Football? There's your answer.. Hardly any sports. And if it weren't for college football and NBA, ABC Sports ESPN on ABC would be in this situation. trueyankee26.wordpress.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Admiral Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 They didn't go all-out for the NHL, they offered to split profits because ESPN/ABC kicked the NHL off and left them with nowhere else to go. I don't think they started collecting rights fees from NBC for another several years. ♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElwoodCuse Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 If you think the Arena league is a joke, there are a LOT of other indoor football leagues in operation you should check out. Like mattress stores, they have to exist for money laundering. One of them let fans call plays with an app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac the Knife Posted July 23, 2018 Author Share Posted July 23, 2018 16 hours ago, Seadragon76 said: I thought Cleveland was on hiatus because of work being done at Quicken Loans Arena. Allegedly, yes. If and when they return? I'll believe that. But they could've easily played at one of three other venues in the Cleveland area during the two year period to keep the team running and didn't. Plus the timing of the announcement caught people within the league's own front office off-guard, within days of announcing their 2018 schedule. That'd be like the Indianapolis Colts announcing they were taking a two-year hiatus from the NFL three days before the NFL's overhyped TV show about the schedule release. Cleveland bailed due to the labor impasse. They may be back now that that's addressed, but I wouldn't bet on it. 3 hours ago, ElwoodCuse said: If you think the Arena league is a joke, there are a LOT of other indoor football leagues in operation you should check out. Like mattress stores, they have to exist for money laundering. One of them let fans call plays with an app Some are jokes, some aren't. Unfortunately the whole of them, including the AFL, have taken the entire sport and relegated it to indoor soccer levels when they really could've built something and maintained it. They took something that could've been an MLS and made it an NASL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Discrim Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 That Arena ball is basically a dumpster fire nowadays saddens me. I remember Barry Wagner, Hunkie Cooper, Connell Maynor woooooing to the camera, Eddie Brown, Etu Molden, Andy Kelly, Aaron Garcia...I couldn't name a single player currently in the AFL. The only good thing about the garbage that was the Detroit Fury was that they didn't revive the Drive name. They never would have lived up to it. A strong mind gets high off success, a weak mind gets high off bull Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Cesarano Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 1 hour ago, Discrimihater said: That Arena ball is basically a dumpster fire nowadays saddens me. I remember Barry Wagner, Hunkie Cooper, Connell Maynor woooooing to the camera, Eddie Brown, Etu Molden, Andy Kelly, Aaron Garcia...I couldn't name a single player currently in the AFL. The only good thing about the garbage that was the Detroit Fury was that they didn't revive the Drive name. They never would have lived up to it. Thank you for mentioning Connell Maynor of the New York CityHawks, my favourite Arena Football player, and one of my favourite athletes ever. And then you go on to mention the New York Dragons' Aaron Garcia. This is the post of the year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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