Arena Football

Another Arena football season has ended (Congratulations to Jon Bon Jovi and the Philly Soul on taking the championship).

I was unable to watch many game though. Local coverage is almost non existent, and the league went from NBC - with almost a weekly game on local TV, to ABC - with a game on in week 1 and nothing until the arena bowl.

I tried the AFLNet program again, but the new free service never quite worked for me. I was only able to connect for a few games and the connection was not very reliable. I tried listening online to the EPSN2 radio coverage but almost every station blocked access to Canada. I tried regional radio coverage for the local teams but faced the same problems as the EPSN stations.

I asked a couple local sports establishments and they were in the same boat I was in unable to get the games on TV.

So although I really like the indoor game I will no doubt start to lose interest in the game as time moves forward and it becomes harder and harder for me to see the game live.

ArenaBowl XXI

The Arena Football season ended yesterday with the San Jose SaberCats defeating the Columbus Destroyers in New Orleans. The SaberCats last lost on April 13 when they lost to Voo Doo in New Orleans. They then won 10 straight to finish the season 13 and 3 and then won 3 straight playoff games to capture the 2007 Arena Bowl.

The Destroyers were called a Cinderella team all afternoon. They qualified by defeating the New York Dragons on June 23. Qualifying 6th in the National Conference they traveled first to Tampa Bay and defeated the Storm by one point. The following week they visited Dallas and defeated the heavily favored Desperadoes, in part because they recovered 2 consecutive kicks deep in Dallas territory when the ball took a favorable bounce off the nets. Finally they reached the arena bowl by again defeating a heavily favored opponent when they visited Georgia. For quarterback Matt Nagy it was especially sweet to eliminate the team the traded him away after he lead the Force deep into the playoffs and set several season records for the team last year.

The Destroyers kept the game close but were chasing the SaberCats for almost the entire game. San Jose had several defensive stops and the Destroyers were not able to match the SaberCats defensive pressure. San Jose seemed to score every time they had the ball and the San Jose defense forced mistakes from Nagy and the Destroyers.

Watching the game on TV was a treat after watching many of the games online. I love AFLNet but watching the game on the 40 inch wide screen vs the 17 inch PC screen is a big difference. I did lose interest at times as the Destroyers seemed to be destined to lose from the second quarter on. The Destroyers didn't seem to be able to match San Jose and slowly the SaberCats took control of the game.

I can't wait until next year. I plan to renew my AFLNet subscription next year but I am also going to look at getting access to more TV feeds for the games.

AFL - The home stretch begins.

Week 13 results (my correct picks in bold, my incorrect picks in italics)
New York Dragons 69 New Orleans VooDoo 63
Philadelphia Soul 76 Austin Wranglers 66
Chicago Rush 53 Arizona Rattlers 47
Colorado Crush 56 Grand Rapids Rampage 58
Tampa Bay Storm 38 Georgia Force 52
Dallas Desperados 56 Columbus Destroyers 47
Los Angeles Avengers 56 Kansas City Brigade 62
San Jose SaberCats 48 Nashville Kats 34
Utah Blaze 65 Orlando Predators 62

So in a week that I really had no time to read and prepare I manage to go 6 and 3 (57 and 41 on the year). I was particularly surprised by the Grand Rapids win over Colorado.

This week the AFL enters the home stretch as teams start playing for playoff position rather than just the playoffs. As was the case at the beginning of the year the Dallas Desperadoes look like the team to beat and a Chicago Rush team I thought was destined for another .500 season is 8 and 3.

Week 14 games
Dallas Desperados (11-1) at Philadelphia Soul (6-6)
Earlier this year this looked like it might be a battle of the titans but now the Soul are just trying to fight for post season berth and Dallas is the team to beat. The Soul will still be looking for help after the Desperados leave town with another win.

Orlando Predators (7-5) at San Jose SaberCats (9-3)
San Jose wins at home still looking to take first in the American Conference.

Kansas City Brigade (7-5) at Grand Rapids Rampage (4-8)
Grand Rapids gets back to losing after a surprising win last week against the Crush.

Columbus Destroyers (6-6) at Georgia Force (10-2)
Georgia wins at home and makes a strong case for a first round bye.

Austin Wranglers (3-9) at New York Dragons (5-7)
The Dragons win another game to move a bit closer to a .500 record. Something I thought would be impossible after the first few weeks of the season, New York is currently IN the playoffs and if they keep winning they will be playing in the post season and you saw what Chicago did last year with a 9 and 9 record. Go Dragons!

Tampa Bay Storm (5-7) at New Orleans VooDoo (4-8)
Tampa Bay beats the VooDoo and puts pressure on the Dragons for that final playoff spot in the3 National Conference.

Chicago Rush (8-3) at Los Angeles Avengers (6-6)
Chicago continues to make me look bad for doubting them early in the season and wins again.

Arizona Rattlers (3-10) at Las Vegas Gladiators (2-10)
Another case of someone has to win this game. Vegas wins, barely.

Colorado Crush (8-5) at Utah Blaze (6-7)
The crush visit Utah and come away with another win .

Nashville Kats (5-8) have the bye and will spend their week off cheering for Colorado.

AFL Week 13

Week 12 results
New Orleans VooDoo 34 Philadelphia Soul 78
Orlando Predators 46 Austin Wranglers 45
Kansas City Brigade 56 New York Dragons 62
Grand Rapids Rampage 44 San Jose SaberCats 69
Georgia Force 51 Los Angeles Avengers 57
Nashville Kats 44 Chicago Rush 27
Columbus Destroyers 40 Colorado Crush 58
Las Vegas Gladiators 54 Utah Blaze 53
Arizona Rattlers 50 Tampa Bay Storm 59

Week 13 scheduled games
Utah Blaze (5-7) at Orlando Predators (7-4)
Utah was upset by Las Vegas last week - unfortunately they will not fair much better against the Predators losing by a large margin.

San Jose SaberCats (8-3) at Nashville Kats (5-7)
The SaberCats clinch a playoff berth with a win on the road.

Los Angeles Avengers (6-5) at Kansas City Brigade (6-5)
A strong KC team is upset at home by the visiting Avengers.

Tampa Bay Storm (5-6) at Georgia Force (9-2)
The Force bounce back from the upset loss last week to the Avengers and beat up on the suddenly resurgent Storm.

Colorado Crush at Grand Rapids Rampage
Colorado gets a win on the road and grab a playoff spot (because of the Utah loss)

Dallas Desperados (11-1) at Columbus Destroyers (6-5)
The Desperadoes roll into Columbus and grab win number 11 on the season, clinching a playoff berth for the Georgia Force.

Chicago Rush (8-3) at Arizona Rattlers (3-9)
Chicago defeats the Rattlers and thanks to the Utah loss they clinch a playoff berth.

Philadelphia Soul (5-6) at Austin Wranglers (3-8)
The Soul are lucky to visit the struggling Wranglers this week giving them a shot at a 500 record. Philly wins in Texas.

New York Dragons (4-7) at New Orleans VooDoo (4-7)
This is the game I hope to be able to watch. New York wins behind another massive game by Andy Garcia.

Las Vegas Gladiators (2-10) have the bye, but they might still find a way to lose this week.

Missing last week was probably good for my record leaving me at 51 and 38.

AFL The missing week

As both regular readers have probably noticed I missed posting an AFL prediction for Week 12. Time and travel prevented me from getting a post out. I will post the results from week 12 and predictions for week 13 this week.

Week 11 - Arena League Football Guesses

So week 10 was a disaster. I wnet 4 and 5 and dropped my season record to a dismal 51 and 37 (58%). I'm not even going to bother reviewing last week. The only games I got right were the obvious (Dallas, Georgia, and Chicago wins and Las Vegas loses are not that hard to pick).

This weeks matchups:
Grand Rapids Rampage (3-6) at Columbus Destroyers (5-4)
Columbus take a step back into the playoff picture by defeating the struggling Rampage.

New Orleans VooDoo (4-5) at Orlando Predators (5-4)
The Predators win at home defeating a VooDoo Squad that finds itself near the bottom of the Southern division.

Colorado Crush (6-4) at Nashville Kats (4-6)
Colorado bounces back from a loss to Chicago last week to beat the Kats in Nashville.

Utah Blaze (5-5) at Kansas City Brigade (5-4)
Utah continues to fall losing to the Brigade.

Austin Wranglers (3-6) at Arizona Rattlers (2-8)
Austin and Arizona are both struggling - Austin continues to struggle losing a close game to Arizona.

Tampa Bay Storm (3-6) at Los Angeles Avengers (5-4)
Los Angeles gets a win against a visiting Storm.

Las Vegas Gladiators (1-9) at San Jose SaberCats (6-3)
San Jose will have no trouble at home against the visiting Gladiators.

New York Dragons (2-7) at Philadelphia Soul (4-5)
New York is still having difficulty winning even with Andy Garcia. Philly tries to get back into the race after 5 straight weeks without a win. Philly wins a close one at home.

Chicago Rush (8-1) at Dallas Desperados (9-1)
In a potential Arena Bowl preview the Rush lose for the second time this year. This was a Friday Night game but was moved to Monday night by the AFL and EPSN. I hope to be able to see this game but it is unlikely I will be able to catch unless they add it to the AFLNet schedule.

Georgia Force (9-1) have the bye

Week 10 - Arena Football

Week 9 was a good week. I finally got my head free of my ass and made some decent picks. Here are the results (my correct picks in bold - my incorrect picks in italics).

Philadelphia Soul 43 Chicago Rush 54
Orlando Predators 69 Las Vegas Gladiators 34
Columbus Destroyers 32 Tampa Bay Storm 34
Utah Blaze 48 San Jose SaberCats 69
Grand Rapids Rampage 71 Los Angeles Avengers 75
Arizona Rattlers 45 New York Dragons 67
Nashville Kats 62 Dallas Desperados 69
Georgia Force 72 New Orleans VooDoo 57
Colorado Crush 45 Kansas City Brigade 42

W00t! a 7-2 week. That is the kind of week I needed. This takes my year to 47 and 32 not spectacular but at 59% I am getting back into the realm of actually picking the winners and getting out of pure guessing range. The experts at arena football all have me beat by percentage but I am creeping up there.

From ArenaFootball.com
Michael Murillo 69.84%
Gary Reasons 68.25%
Jenn Boehm 68.25%
Wayne Morris 68.25%
Peter Schwartz 68.25%
Mike Rose 66.67%
Ryan Altizer 65.08%
Nate Boudreaux 61.90%
Ray Bentley 60.32%
Me 59.49%

This week watch for Dallas and Utah, Predators at Georgia, and Colorado visiting Chicago to be big games. Each one features a team with only one loss against a team with a winning record. Orlando, Utah or Colorado can do a lot damage by getting an upset this week. New York looks like they can make some noise with the return of Andy Garcia - the playoffs might be beyond reach for the dragons but the next few weeks will show the kind of team they will be next year. The bubble teams like Columbus, Utah, Philadelphia, Kansas City, Nashville andLos Angeles look to start making a run to the playoffs. I think the best game this week will be the Monday night game between Colorado and Chicago. Colorado is chasing Chicago in the central division. The Crush can get within a game of the Rush with a win.

Week 10
New York Dragons (2-6) at Columbus Destroyers (4-4)
New York with Garcia back is a different team than we saw in the first half of the season. Columbus is not going to be able to take this Dragons team lightly. The Dragons with Garcia take another game keeping hopes of a 500 season intact.

Orlando Predators (5-3) at Georgia Force (8-1)
Georgia beats the Predators keeping the pressure on Dallas and Chicago.

Dallas Desperados (8-1) at Utah Blaze (5-4)
Dallas dominates the Blaze.

Kansas City Brigade (4-4) at Philadelphia Soul (4-4)
Philly stops the slide and wins at home to keep a winning record.

Nashville Kats (4-5) at Grand Rapids Rampage (2-6)
Nashville gets back to 500, Grand Rapids is already looking at next year.

San Jose SaberCats (5-3) at Arizona Rattlers (2-7)
San Jose pulls further ahead of division rival Blaze with a win over the struggling Rattlers.

Tampa Bay Storm (2-6) at Austin Wranglers (3-5)
Tampa Bay fails in the quest to gets a third win against the Wranglers.

Los Angeles Avengers (4-4) at Las Vegas Gladiators (1-8)
Las Vegas loses to the Avengers becoming the first team to guarantee a losing record this year.

Colorado Crush (6-3) at Chicago Rush (7-1)
This is a tough game to call - both teams are capable of winning. Most of the experts at arenafootball.com are picking Chicago except for Michael Murillo who thinks that the Crush can pull off the upset. I am going to call for the upset and call for Colorado to tighten up the central division race.

New Orleans VooDoo (4-5) has the bye this week

AFL Week 9

Reuslts for Week 8:
Wow... I have managed to sink even further. I went 4 and 5 last week bringing my year to date record for this season to: 40 and 30. Only 2 more weeks until I drop below 500 for the season. The only high point for me last week was that I picked the Dallas loss correctly.

Here are last weeks results with my picks in bold.
Philadelphia Soul 21 Columbus Destroyers 44
Los Angeles Avengers 49 San Jose SaberCats 73
New Orleans VooDoo 38 Austin Wranglers 45
Kansas City Brigade 40 Nashville Kats 49
Chicago Rush 75 Grand Rapids Rampage 54
Dallas Desperados 63 Georgia Force 78
Las Vegas Gladiators 53 Colorado Crush 63
Arizona Rattlers 83 Utah Blaze 69
New York Dragons 47 Orlando Predators 52

Predictions for Week 9

This looks like a week where the power teams push for bigger separation form the pack teams. Georgia and Dallas look to take a stranglehold in their divisional races. While Utah and Chicago try to pull away from the pack.

Colorado Crush (5-3) at Kansas City Brigade (4-3)
The Crush win at Kansas City putting pressure on the Rush in the central division.

Georgia Force (7-1) at New Orleans VooDoo (4-4)
Georgia wins easily putting themselves 4 games ahead of the second place team in the southern division.

Nashville Kats (4-4) at Dallas Desperados (7-1)
Dallas comes of their first loss with a big win at home. Like Georgia they will have a comfortable lead in the eastern division.

Arizona Rattlers (2-6) at New York Dragons (1-6)
New York wins, which should make me feel better about things in general

Grand Rapids Rampage (2-5) at Los Angeles Avengers (3-4)
Los Angeles loses another game to an opponent they should be able to beat.

Utah Blaze (5-3) at San Jose SaberCats (4-3)
San Jose defeats the Blaze to make the western division the closest race in the league.

Columbus Destroyers (4-3) at Tampa Bay Storm (1-6)
Tampa continues to struggle and Columbus tries to keep the playoffs in sight.

Orlando Predators (4-3) at Las Vegas Gladiators (1-7)
Orlando win in Vegas but are still need some help if they plan to catch Georgia.

Philadelphia Soul (4-3) at Chicago Rush (6-1)
The Rush put a big beatdown on Philly at home giving Philly its 4 loss in a row after starting the season 4 and 0.

Austin Wranglers (3-5) get the bye

Week 8 - Arena Football

I don't have a lot to say about last week, a quick review game by game;

Philadelphia Soul 41 Dallas Desperados 51
Me - Desperadoes (1-0) vs. Chris - Desperadoes (1-0)

Las Vegas Gladiators 68 Georgia Force 69
Me - Force (2-0) vs. Chris - Force (2-0)

Colorado Crush 49 New York Dragons 48
Me - Crush (3-0) vs. Chris - Crush (3-0)

Nashville Kats 62 Arizona Rattlers 36
Me - Kats (4-0) vs. Chris - Rattlers (3-1)

Grand Rapids Rampage 41 Kansas City Brigade 52
Me - Brigade (5-0) vs. Chris - Rampage (3-2)

Tampa Bay Storm 37 Orlando Predators 61
Me - Storm (5-1) vs. Chris - Storm (3-3)

Austin Wranglers 49 Columbus Destroyers 72
Me - Wranglers (5-2) vs. Chris - Wranglers (3-4)

Los Angeles Avengers 63 Utah Blaze 76
Me - Avengers (5-3) vs. Chris - Blaze (4-4)

San Jose SaberCats 54 New Orleans VooDoo 67
Me - SabreCats (5-4) vs. Chris - SabreCats (4-5)

So I went 5-4 again and my season record is now 36 and 24 or 60%. Chris went 4-5. This week I am just going to pick the games, I am not going to read the power poll, the expert picks, or the what to expect articles. I need to get myself out of this slump.

New York Dragons (1-5) at Orlando Predators (3-3)
The Predators are happy to see a struggling Dragons team visit Florida as they have stumbled after a string start and need to pick up some wins in the next few weeks to get back into the playoff hunt. The Dragons play well but lose again and the Predators pull themselves back above 500.

Arizona Rattlers (1-6) at Utah Blaze (5-2)
Arizona will continue to struggle and the Blaze will pull farther ahead in the western division standings.

Las Vegas Gladiators (1-6) at Colorado Crush (4-3)
There seems to be quite a few games like this one. A struggling team like the Gladiators take on a Crush team that needs a win to push for the playoffs - and the struggling team here will lose - giving the Crush a much needed win in the tight central division.

Chicago Rush (5-1) at Grand Rapids Rampage (2-4)
Chicago comes off the bye and visits Grand Rapids. Grand Rapids is a team that really needs a win to try to turn the season around but they will fall to the powerful running offense of the Chicago Rush.

Dallas Desperados(7-0) at Georgia Force (6-1)
This is a big game and could decide home field advantage in the playoffs. I am going to pick Dallas to finally lose a game.

Kansas City Brigade (4-2) at Nashville Kats (3-4)
Nashville absolutely needs to win this game if they want to have even a faint hope at the playoffs. Chicago, Kansas City, and Colorado all have better records in the central division. Kansas City has been playing very well this year and Nashville will lose again at home this week.

New Orleans VooDoo (4-3) at Austin Wranglers (2-5)
The VooDoo go to Texas and beat the Wranglers.

Los Angeles Avengers (3-3) at San Jose SaberCats (3-3)
Sombody leaves San Jose with a winning record and will pull into second place in the western division behind Utah. The Avengers look to get revenge on a San Jose team who visited LA in week one and left with a victory. I'll give the Avengers the edge here and pick them to defeat San Jose.

Philadelphia Soul(4-2) at Columbus Destroyers (3-3)
I'll take Philly to get back in the win Column in this important divisional game as both the Soul and Columbus try to keep pace with the powerhouse Dallas Depserados.

Tampa Bay Storm (1-6) have the bye this week

Arena League - Week 7. The week I hide my shame

Last week after going 2 weeks for a combined total of 10 - 8 I decided to have a little fun and make my picks then flip a coin and see who is smarter - me or a coin.

A quick breakdown - head to "heads or tails":
Columbus Destroyers 51 at Dallas Desperados 53
My Pick: Dallas (1-0) vs Coin picks: Dallas (1-0)

Utah Blaze 64 at Austin Wranglers
My Pick: Wranglers (2-0) vs Coin Picks: Wranglers (2-0)

Arizona Rattlers 45 at Los Angeles Avengers 64
My Pick: Rattlers (2-1) vs Coin Picks: Avengers (3-0)
Great the might coin pulls ahead of me...

Colorado Crush 44 at San Jose SaberCats 72
The Crush visit California and get a much needed win in San Jose.
My Pick: Crush(2-2) vs Coin Picks: Crush (3-1)

New York Dragons 53 at Grand Rapids Rampage 66
My Pick: Dragons (2-3) vs Coin Picks: Grand Rapids (4-1)
I would be embarrassed but it is a remarkably bright coin.

New Orleans VooDoo 43 at Tampa Bay Storm 66
The struggling storm find a way to defeat the visiting VooDoo.
My Pick: Storm (3-3) vs Coin Picks: VooDoo (4-2)

Chicago Rush 66 at Nashville Kats 54
My Pick: Rush (4-3) vs Coin Picks: Nashville (4-3)
Peanut Butter Jelly time! I get back even with the coin!

Kansas City Brigade 65 at Las Vegas Gladiators 31
The Gladiators will be able to handle the Brigade at hope to pull back to 500 on the year.
My Pick: Gladiators (4-4) vs Coin Picks: Galdiators (4-4)

Georgia Force 57 at Philadelphia Soul 49
My Pick: Force (5-4) vs Coin Picks: Soul (4-5)
So after a weekend of pretty good football ruined for me because of the fear of being out done by a quarter I end up with the same crap-tacular record of 5 and 4 sinking my season of mediocrity to 31 and 19.

So how bad will it be THIS week? This week a friend of mine who doesn't watch or follow arena league has agreed to make his picks.

My picks for the week
San Jose SaberCats (4-1) at New Orleans VooDoo (2-4)
The VooDoo started string but are struggling now. San Jose visits the big easy and wins the game.
Me: San Jose vs Chris: San Jose

Los Angeles Avengers (2-3) at Utah Blaze (4-2)
The Avengers put up 64 last week against a weak Rattlers team. I will call for the upset and give a third loss to Utah.
Me: Avengers vs Chris: Utah

Austin Wranglers (3-3) at Columbus Destroyers (1-4)
Austin comes to Ohio and beats the Destroyers - after losing last week to Dallas and this week to Austin many Columbus fans start to say bad things about Texas.
Me: Austin vs Chris: Austin

Tampa Bay Storm (1-5) at Orlando Predators (3-2)
In a rematch of a game from week 1. In week on the Predators took it to the Storm and won easily. This week the Predators will win again but the Storm keep it closer.
Me: Storm vs Chris: Tampa

Grand Rapids Rampage (2-3) at Kansas City Brigade (3-2)
Grand Rapids beat New York last week. This week they face a much better team in the Brigade. The Brigade, coming off a big win in Las Vegas will be more than the Rampage can handle. Kansas City come out with another big win.
Me: Kansas City vs Chris: Grand Rapids

Nashville Kats (2-4) at Arizona Rattlers (1-5))
Early in the season I though the Rattlers would be in the pack by mid season but they have struggled to put up wins. Nashville who is also having a poor season gets what it needs a trip to the desert and a win.
Me: Nashville vs Chris: Arizona

Colorado Crush (3-3) at New York Dragons (1-4)
My woeful Dragons serve up another win to a visiting team.
Me: Crush vs Chris: Colorado

Las Vegas Gladiators (2-4) at Georgia Force (5-1)
The Gladiators lost last week to the Brigade and there fortunes will not be any better against the powerful Force. Georgia continues to chase Dallas for the league's best record.
Me: Force vs Chris: Georgia

Philadelphia Soul (4-1) at Dallas Desperados (6-0)
I had circled this game as a potential loss for Dallas but after the play of Philly last week I have to once again play it safe and pick the dominant Desperados. Some one will beat Dallas this year but I don't think it will be the Soul.
Me: Dallas vs Chris: Dallas

Chicago Rush (5-1) have the bye

Arena League Football, Week 6 - Or the week I challenge a coin.

Some quick hits to post before the games starts tonight. I was horrid again last week going only 5-4 for the second straight week. Although I was close on some game that I picked wrong. THis leaves me with a 26 and 15 record for the year. My goal this week is to be better than a coin flip (heads = home team).

Columbus Destroyers(1-3) at Dallas Desperados(5-0)
Dallas continues to roll over the competition and finishes the week at 6-0.
Coin picks: Dallas

Utah Blaze(4-1) at Austin Wranglers(2-3)
The Wranglers gave the Desperados a scare last week. This week they defeat the visiting Blaze.
Coin Picks: Wranglers

Arizona Rattlers(1-4) at Los Angeles Avengers(2-2)
The Avengers give a solid performance but lose a close game to the Rattlers.
Coin Picks: Avengers

Colorado Crush(3-2) at San Jose SaberCats(3-1)
The Crush visit California and get a much needed win in San Jose.
Coin Picks: Crush

New York Dragons(1-3) at Grand Rapids Rampage(1-3)
New York wins a game, New York wins a game... I won't be able to say that very often this year so I just had to say it twice.
EDIT:
Coin Picks: Grand Rapids
Original:
Coin Picks: Heads

New Orleans VooDoo(2-3) at Tampa Bay Storm(0-5)
The struggling storm find a way to defeat the visiting VooDoo.
Coin Picks: VooDoo

Chicago Rush(4-1) at Nashville Kats(2-3)
I have become a believer in the Rush. I thought they were over rated earlier in the season but they will defeat the Kats.
Coin Picks: Nashville

Kansas City Brigade(2-2) at Las Vegas Gladiators(2-3)
The Gladiators will be able to handle the Brigade at hope to pull back to 500 on the year.
Coin Picks: Galdiators

Georgia Force(4-1) at Philadelphia Soul(4-0)
The Soul lose their first game to the Force.
Coin Picks: Soul

Orlando (3-2) has the bye this week.

Week 5 - Arena Football League

Week 5 starts tonight.

As much as I would like to forget week 4 (5-4 for the week and 21 and 11 for the year) lets take a look at what happened. No one should be surprised that Dallas and Philadelphia both won. Georgia won but only by two points against San Jose. The big surprises for me were the Avengers beating the VooDoo. New Orleans is playing very well and I didn't think they would have any problems with the Los Angeles team. Of course nothing could have been as shocking as seeing the New York Dragons win one in Florida. Not only did the Dragons (my favorite team) prove that they can win without Andy Garcia they drop perennial contender Tamp Bay to 0-4.

I only go to see part of the first have of the Dragons game. I was pleasantly surprised by the play of Rohan Davey. He played a pretty solid game and got the Dragons into the win column. I still think that the Dragons will struggle waiting for Garcia to return from injury but they might be able to complete if Davey continues to improve his game.

Week 5 looks to have some really good match ups and the separation between the great teams and the merely good will continue.

Georgia Force(4-0) at Columbus Destroyers(1-2)
The Force come into Columbus with a 4-0 record. As much as I like Columbus this year I don't think they can over come the Force. So the Detroyers drop to 1-3 after this match.

Arizona Rattlers(1-3) at Kansas City Brigade(1-2)
Kansas City is playing really well. Well enough to beat the Rattlers.

Orlando Predators(2-2) at New Orleans VooDoo(2-2)
Orlando gets back above the 500 mark by winning in New Orleans.

Austin Wranglers(2-2) at Dallas Desperados(4-0)
Mike Rose picks Austin to defeat Dallas in a monster upset. This battle of Texas is going to be a battle from start to finish. Dallas is so powerful I am starting to wonder if anyone will be able to beat them this season. I am going to go out on a limb and side with Mike Rose. Austin wins to drop teh Desperadoes to 4 and 1.

Tampa Bay Storm(0-4) at San Jose SaberCats(2-1)
Something is very wrong in Tampa Bay. I can't see them leaving San Jose with a win. San Jose will translate some strong play especially on defense into a win against the struggling Storm.

Philadelphia Soul(3-0) at New York Dragons(1-2)
Does New York have enough to upset the Soul? I don't think so. The Dragons will do better than the 60-7 shelling they took from Dallas but they will not be able to beat the Soul.

Los Angeles Avengers(2-1)) at Chicago Rush(3-1)
Okay I am starting to believe in the Rush. I will take Chicago to beat the Avengers in a close scoring game.

Nashville Kats(2-2) at Colorado Crush(2-2)
Nashville beats the Crush to go from a 0-2 team to a 3-2 team. Expect a big game from Dan Alexander for the Kats.

Utah Blaze(3-1) at Las Vegas Gladiators(2-2)
Utah continues to shine and goes to Vegas and defeats the Gladiators by a big margin.

Grand Rapids Rampage(1-3) has the bye

Arena Football Week 4

Looking Back
Week 3 had some excellent matches. Unfortunately only got to see the second half of one game on AFLNet, the rest of the games I only got to see recaps or read about the results and this weekend looks to be the same as I have several events to attend on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

I wish I would have been able to watch either the Dallas or Nashville game last week. Dan Alexander (Nashville) and Josh White (Dallas) both had 5 rushing touchdowns. I don't think I have ever seen 5 rushing touchdowns in a game never mind by a single player. I think this is a direct result of the new substitution rules.

Looking Forward

Week 3 was a much better week for me. After spending the time to look at the matchups I went 6 and 1. This gives me a record on the year of 16 and 7. Unfortunately as I write this the ArenaFootball.com site is still featuring a lot of Week 3 content so my research for many of these games is limited. I never realized how much I relied on the information I could get from the arena football site until this week.

Colorado Crush(2-1) at Philadelphia Soul(2-0)
The soul have not done well against the Crush in the past but a strong defensive effort will allow the Soul to defeat the crush in this weeks Thursday night game.

New York Dragons(0-2) at Tampa Bay Storm(0-3)
In this someone has to win game it is quite simple - no Garcia means no win for the Dragons.

Grand Rapids Rampage(1-2) at Utah Blaze(2-1)
Michael Bishop makes his Rampage debut. Utah is doing very well. I am going to go out on a limb and go with Grand Rapids for the upset.

Las Vegas Gladiators(1-2) at Arizona Rattlers(0-3)
Both the Gladiators and the Rattlers come into this game after losing in Week 3. This is the week the Rattlers get into the win column.

Chicago Rush(2-1) at Columbus Destroyers(1-1)
The Destroyers come off the bye and host the defending champion Chicago Rush. I keep seeing Chicago high in the power poll, but I don't see why. Sure they won it all last year but they were only 7 and 9 in the regular season. I will take the Destroyers over the Rush this week.

San Jose SaberCats(1-1) at Georgia Force(3-0)
Even this early in the season there is a lot of talk about the Dallas Deperadoes but the Force are also a team to watch. Even though San Jose is 5th in the Week 4 power poll, I think Georgia is too strong for San Jose and wins this one by a large margin.

Los Angeles Avengers(1-1) at New Orleans VooDoo(2-1)
The VooDoo are playing extremely well. I think that while the Avengers are playing well they will not be able to beat the VooDoo this week.

note: Looking at the stats for the Avengers they seem to have had the bye last week, but apparently so did the Columbus Destroyers and the San Jose SabreCats.

Nashville Kats(1-2) at Austin Wranglers(1-2)
I will take the Kats to upset the Wranglers this week, proving that I don't hold a grudge against a team that beat the Utah Blaze and kept me form being 7 and 0 last week. The Kats have a great defense and I think this week they can head to Texas and return home with a 2-2 record.

Dallas Desperados(3-0) at Orlando Predators(2-1)
This will be a real battle. It is also probably the toughest game to pick this week. Orlando is a very good team and I would pick them to win against almost any team this week. However, Dallas is too goods and is going to win a close game against the Predators.

Kansas City(1-2) has the bye this week.

AFL Week 3

Week 3 will have some excellent matchups. The Soul visit Grand Rapids in a game that will feature some fantastic offense. Dallas trvels to Kansas City and this year the Desperadoes are going to bring an exciting game no matter where they go. The VooDoo continue to play well representing New Orleans, and they travel this week to Las Vegas for a game with the Gladiators.

I didn't do as much research for week 2 and it showed. My record last week was 3-6 putting me at 10-8 for the year.

Utah Blaze(2-0) at Nashville Kats(0-2)
I really want to pick tha Kats this week but the experts are giving the edge to Utah. Utah has been a suprise this year jumoing out to a 2-0 start. I have to go with the experts and give Utah a third win this season.

Philadelphia Soul(1-0) at Grand Rapids Rampage(1-1)
The soul should win to start the season 2-0. The Soul started the season with a bye but last week were very strong against the Kats. This week the Soul bring their string defence to Grand Rapids and will leave Michigan with a 2-0 record.

Austin Wranglers(1-1) at Orlando Predators(1-1)
Last week the Predators lost in overtime, this week they won't let the game stay that close. Ryan Altizer at arenafootball.com predicts this to be an exciting southwest division battle.

Dallas Desperados (2-0) at Kansas City Brigade(1-1)
Although Mike Rose at arenafootball.com picked Kansas City to upset the Depesperados. I can't see the Brigade pulling the upset the week so I am going to pick safe and put Dallas at 3-0 on the season.

Arizona Rattlers(0-2) at Coloroado Crush(1-1)
Colorado has been very string this year and will make it look easy against the visiting Rattlers.

Georgia Force(2-0) at Tampa Bay Storm(0-2)
The Force travel south to Tampa Bay and will leave the struggling Stgorm with a 0-3 record.

New York Dragons(0-1) at Chicago Rush(1-1)
The Dragons without Garcia are not going to beat anyone. Chicago is not going to have any trouble winning this one. New York is going to wait a while to get a win this year.

New Orleans VooDoo(1-1) at Las Vegas Gladiators(1-1)
The VooDoo win again. The key to the game is going to be defense. A big play, turnonver, or defensive stop will lift the VooDoo to the victory.

Columbus Destroyers(1-1) have a bye this week.

AFL Week 2

Looking back at Week 1 I noticed a few things.
The new substitutions rules has made the game better. Teams can put in running packages and the ironmen have been made less important to teams. Being able to play both ways will still be an important part of the game but you won't see anymore games with back up quarterbacks playing defensive line.

The Dallas Desperados are THAT good. I thought Dallas would be a good team this year but after destroying the Dragons in week one they showed me and others that they will be the team to beat in 2007. I'll have to see if the Dragons are that bad. in a sport where a couple of defensive stops can win you the game they went most of the game without being able to score. I only saw parts of the game on TV but I don't remember the Dragons getting a first down.

The games I saw (on ABC on Sunday) and online with AFLNet were great. A lot of offense and energy. I am looking forward to seeing more games. Unfortunately I don't think many more games will be on TV locally so AFLNet will be my source for games for the next while.

My picks for this week (My record for the year is 7-2)
Las Vegas Gladiators (0-1) at Grand Rapids Rampage (1-0)
The Gladiators lost by 21 to the Wranglers last week and will lose by at least 15 the Rampage this week.

Columbus Destroyers (1-0) @ New Orleans VooDoo (0-1)
Many of the experts are picking New Orleans. I think that Matt Nagy will lead the Destroyers to a victory over the VooDoo.

Philadelphia Soul (0-0) at Nashville Kats (0-1)
With Philadelphia having a bye last week they have their first game in week two of the season. Just like the Destroyers last week the Soul will leave Nashville with a win - dropping the Kats to 0 and 2.

San Jose SaberCats (0-1) @ Chicago Rush (0-1)
Chicago is the defending champion but they were only 7 and 9 last season. Chicago struggled with Kansas City last week and will be hard pressed to defeat the SaberCats. Unfortunately Chicago will have to wait another week for their first win of the season as San Jose gets its first win of the year.

Kansas City Brigade (1-0) @ Coloroado Crush (0-1)
Kansas City looks to build on a victory over the defending champs while Colorado will try to overcome a 2 point loss to Grand Rapids. The experts at areanfootball.com all pick the Crush but I think Kansas can pull an upset and defeat the Crush.

Utah Blaze (1-0) @ Arizona Rattlers (0-1)
Utah barely defeated the Voo Doo last week and will be hard pressed to beat the Rattlers. Arizona was dominated in a high scoring game against Georgia in week one. Arizona will be able to upset the Blaze and will take the game leaving both teams with a 1-1 record.

Tampa Bay Storm (0-1) @ Dallas Desperados (1-0)
I thought that Dallas would win a close game last week against the Dragons. Dallas showed me how dominant they could be against a undermanned New York team. This week Dallas hosts Tampa and will win again. It looks like Dallas is the team to beat early in the season and the Storm will be looking to crack the Dallas defense that held New York off the scoreboard for more than 40 minutes last week.

Austin Wranglers (1-0) at Georgia Force (1-0)
Georgia managed to score 69 points last week. They will have a harder time scoring this week against the Wranglers but will still score enough to get a second straight win.

Los Angeles Avenges (1-0) at Orlando Predators (1-0)
The Predators had a solid game in Tampa Bay last week and Shane Stafford will give his new team a 2 and 0 start with a win over Los Angeles.

New York gets the bye this week, but judging from their performance last week they might still get a loss this weekend.

Sunday's Games

Another quick one - I'll put up a more in depth post Monday.

5 games Sunday
Dallas Desperadoes at New York Dragons. New York 69 Dallas 72
Chicago Rush at Kansas City Brigade. Chicago 66 Brigade 42

Grand Rapids Rampage at Colorado Crush. Grand Rapids 54 Colorado 49
Las Vegas Gladiators at Austin Wranglers. Gladiators 49 Austin 56

San Jose SaberCats at Los Angeles Avengers. San Jose 45 Los Angeles 59

This season I am 3-1

Georgia at Arizona and New Orleans at Utah

Real short post...

Georgia over Arizona 54 - 49
New Orleans loses to Utah 52 - 42

So far this year I am 2-0

Destroyers at Kats

The opening game of the season was a penalty filled affair. The teams combined for 12 penalties in the first half. Nashville dominated the play in the first half but went into halftime down 31-29. Columbus was able to have the halftime lead in large part due to their special team play. Kick returns by Damien Groce and Josh Bush allowed the the Destroyers to have 3 touchdown drives that covered less than 40 yards combined.

Late in the first half Columbus nearly had a huge defensive stop but Nashville managed to convert on a 4th and short and score a 57 yard field goal.

Columbus came out of the half and dominated the Kats. After the Kats scored before the halftime break, Columbus scored 16 straight points. A big defensive stop 9 minutes into the second half gave Columbus all the momentum. Columbus dominated the third quarter finishing the quarter up 44 to 29.

Nashville opened the forth quarter converting on a 4th and 10 to extend a drive and finishing the drive with Dan Alexanders 3rd rushing touchdown of the game. The Kats got right back into the game by getting a defensive stop when the Kats defense sacked Destroyer QB Matt Nagy on 3rd and 10 to force a field goal try of 62 or 63 yards. With the field goal attempt going into the stands Nashville started on the 20 yard line and score to pull within 2.

Nashville looked to go ahead with a successful onside kick but another penalty nullified the onside kick recovery and game the ball back to Columbus. Maty Nagy quickly found Damien Groce for Groce's third TD of the game.

Nashville scored a late touchdown to make it close but Columbus was able to hold on and start the season with a road victory.

Columbus next at New Orleans March 9, 2007 20:00 EST
Nashville next vs Philadelphia March 9, 2007 20:00 EST

Tonight Orlando and Tampa Bay play in Tampa. Orlando lost 69-54 to Chicago in last years Arena Bowl while the Storm missed the playoffs finishing with 7 wins and 9 loses. This is one of arena footballs most heated rivalries, which makes the move of QB Shane Stafford from the Storm to the Predators even more surprising. He will travel with the Predators and take on his former team.

Wayne Morris from ArenaFootball.com gives the edge to Orlando. I have to agree. Orlando 62 over Tampa 49.

My season record 1-0

AFL Season Opener

Tonight the new AFL Season starts with the Columbus Destroyers visiting the Nashville Kats. You can expect the high scores and exciting play that is the hallmark of the Arena Football League. Both teams finished last year with 8 wins and 8 loses. Columbus missed the playoffs - but set a team record for wins in a season - while the Kats made the playoffs but lost in the wild card round to the Chicago Rush.

According to ArenaFootball.com the Kats have a 2 wins and no loses in match ups against the Destroyers. But the Destroyers enter the game with new QB Matt Nagy (acquired from the Georgia Force in the off season) ready to run the offense. Nagy will be facing a Nashville defence that has lead the league in sacks the past 2 seasons. For Nashville, QB Clint Stoerner will have to be sharp to keep his offense on the field against a talented Destroyer defensive unit lead by standout DB Jerald Brown.

Although the experts seem to be giving the edge to Nashville I think that the Destroyers with new QB Matt Nagy will pull off the upset - my prediction Columbus 42 over Nashville 35.