Preview for Monday Night (Arena) Football

Yes, that’s right: ESPN is calling their coverage of AFL games that happen after the standard work day on Mondays ‘Monday Night Football’, the biggest issue being that with the hoopla of Stupid Ben Franklin’s Daylight Savings Time Pain in the Ass, this game is, in reality, taking place Monday morning.

TC has been more or less incommunicado today, making it difficult for us to arrange what will hopefully become a regular standing appointment of drinking beer, playing TC’s copy of AF:RTG, and perhaps actually watching and live-blogging (for later-week posting) the game. I’m not sure exactly where he is, but I suspect since he isn’t answering his email he is out in the field scouting fresh puppies for the afternoon feeding of his Investment Banking Overlords, which may or may not roll over into the Evening Investment Banker Hooker Patrol, so for tonight’s match-up I may be sadly on my own.

Since I am up to my ass in filing duties, I’ll do the per-usual lazy-ass link to a page on ESPN where someone that actually knows about Arena Football was paid to write something about it. In summary:

1. The Los Angeles Avengers and Orlando Predators are both good at scoring.
2. Orlando has the edge on defense.
3. Point #1 does not necessarily refer to sex.
4. The team logos match their names acceptably well, but not that well.
5. In Arena Football, giving up “only 289 yards” passing is good (Orlando last week), which means a game is a success if the other team scores five touchdowns and a field goal.
6. Maybe Art Shell would make a great AFL coach (see #5).

So, it looks as though Orlando has the edge tonight, but Los Angeles’ uniforms actually look kinda cool. It’s a toss up. Check back for the live-blog sometime after it would be appropriate to call it as such. TC may or may not weigh in on this game, depending on the ready availability of adorable, delicious puppies.

The AFL has a display in Canton! And it’s as awesome as you’d expect

Great news from Steve Perry, the President of the Pro Football Hall of Fame: the AFL is going to have an exhibit in Canton, and it’s going to be the most comprehensive Arena Football display ever to grace the world of sports. According to ESPN (whose coverage of the AFL thus far has been surprisingly in-depth; I don’t think I’ve seen such a commitment to great analysis since the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation dedicated a page to competitive curling), the display will include interactive elements in the form of two computers with information; also, not only can you see an actual AFL jersey and helmet in the exhibit, you can see… an actual AFL football. Rounding out the exhibit is a looped two-minute highlight reel. That’s about it.

Oh, and also, the exhibit is built on real AFL turf, in case you’ve never been to a driving range and felt AstroTurf before.

I, for one (and I speak for TC even though I haven’t run it by him)(and in all seriousness think it’s actually a nice thing to have, given the league has existed for over twenty years), am excited that Canton will from here on out be “dedicated to chronicling the past, present and future of the Arena Football League”. In terms of the AFL, that means, “Kurt Warner“, “Reminding everyone that Kurt Warner used to play in the AFL”, and maybe “Ricky Santos“.

I take that back. Ricky’s actually really good. And a previous Walter Payton award winner was Tony Romo. And he’s banging Carrie Underwood.