Columbus Destroyers

Michael Vick is a name that has not been mentioned much about a comeback, unlike another quarterback we heard a lot about recently. The question and name of this game is called "Do we give him another shot and if so which team will he go to?"

Answer: None in the NFL.

My personal opinion of the Vick situation is very touchy because I am an animal lover. However, he was a great athlete and probably on his way to a Hall of Fame career. Maybe not for his passing but with his feet. Obviously, his accuracy and interceptions made his numbers a little bit staggering but there was no denying the fact that, if healthy, he could run for over 1000 yards a season over and over again.

This NFL season is starting without him and nobody in the NFL is missing him, expect for maybe the Falcons because lets face it without him there is no QB on that roster proven yet. Matt Ryan, Chris Redman and D.J. Shockley on their depth chart after cutting the not-so-good Joey Harrington. If Vick were to try and make a comeback in the NFL he would have to prove himself on either special teams or be a team's third QB to get back in the swing of things and I do not see a man with his pride after being a starter and star for so long fighting for the third spot on the team.

My opinion to Vick would be to take what you can get. If you get out of your current situation and have people approach you about playing again, then take it. CFL, AFL, whatever. I feel that Michael Vick should follow what Ocho Cinco said he would do and would fit great with any Arena Football team in the country because of the type of plays they run. It is a lot of passing and scrambling. For the man who essentially rewrote the book on the mobile quarterback position that could fit nicely. Columbus Destroyers and Kansas City Brigade could use some help since they both finished 3-13 last year. It may come with a great deal of criticism, but there is no denying that the man puts fans in the stands and for a least those few first weeks there will be so much press hype around your club that people who had never even heard of the Arena Football league will know your name. I am not making a push for any team to sign the man that did what he did to those dogs, but I am saying that if a team did sign him the business end of it would be all to sweet.

As if watching football in April wasn’t fun enough…

My first Arena Football League experience came Saturday night as the Columbus Destroyers took on the Tampa Bay Storm. Thanks to my friend Taylor, who works for the Destroyers, my other buddy Dan and I had free tickets behind one of the endzones.

I didn’t really know what to expect. I mean, I’d watched some Arena games on TV every now and again, but never for more than a few minutes. I could name probably about eight or 10 games who had played in the league, and I could maybe name half the teams.

Here’s some random observations from the game…
1. The first thing I noticed at the game was the “chain gang”. At the start of each possession, they sprinted from the endzone to set the chains up against one of the side walls before sprinting back off before the start of the play. One of the guys then had to run out after every down to move the and change the down marker. I definitely was not ready to see that.

2. I also loved the excessive sponsorship. Every penalty was an “1800 Tequila Yellow Flag” – imagine parents trying to explain thatto their kids. The PA announcer, who was ridiculously over the top to begin with, was going nuts with all these sponsorships. I never want to hear the words Germain or GetGo again.

(Kids at Saturday’s game might have been traumatized when, during a mascot relay race, one of the mascots head’s fell off, exposing the guy underneath. The best part was that about three of the other mascots ran over to cover him up while he scrambled to pull his furry cover back over his head. Priceless.)

3.  In the Destroyers’ own game notes, they praised running back Harold Wells for his “torrid” rushing pace. He was second in the league, entering last night’s game, with 39 carries for 114 yards. 

(For you non-math majors, that works out to less than three yards per carry. Apparently, by AFL standards, that qualifies as “torrid”. For the record, he had five carries for one yard last night. Torrid, indeed.)

4.  Being a running back or defensive back in the AFL might be the most worthless and thankless positions in all of sports. But linemen have to love playing in the league because teams – well, at least Tampa and Columbus – run so many throwback passes to tackle-eligible receivers. It reminded me of a flag football game.

5. Could you imagine a quarterback like Peyton Manning playing in the AFL? Good grief, he would massacre league records. After all, this is a league that has Justin Zwick on a roster, for God’s sake. Last fall, I was covering a high school football playoff game in Ashland and Zwick was there announcing it. Now, he’s a backup QB and placeholder on a professional roster – though to his credit, he did a great job snagging an errant snap on the final kick and got the hold down.

6. Rasheed Marshall, a receiver who has been on an NFL roster before, never had a pass thrown his way by the Destroyers. Quarterback Matt Nagy didn’t even look at him. Marshall also got lit up on a kick return that knocked him into next week.

7. I’d never seen a false start penalty called on the defense before, until last night.

All in all, it was a fairly enjoyable experience for us. I would love to go back to another game sometime, especially if it means watching Harold Wells break off a run of longer than two yards.

Some other reflections on the weekend in sports…

1. Nothing makes me happier than Carolina going down. I don’t know if it’s better that they were getting waxed and almost came back before Kansas blew it open again – making it more heartwrenching for the Tar Heel fans – or if Kansas had simply crushed them by like 50. Either way, I’m pretty happy right now. It’s just too bad Tyler Hansbrough didn’t sob at the press conference again.

2. I had picked UCLA to win the title in all my brackets. Clearly, that was a poor decision as Memphis ran them out of the gym. I didn’t think Memphis had it in them to win the big game, but then again, it’s not like UCLA has won the “big game” either in the past two years. I think the title game will be pretty good, and it has to be in order to get something positive out of a rather pedestrian March Madness.

3. It’s nice to see the Cavs are limping their way to the finish line. With LeBron at less than 100 percent, the Cavs are a very mediocre team. Actually, they’re a pretty pitiful team. Anytime people cite his supporting cast (read: Skip Bayless) as the reason for the team’s success are out of their bleeping minds.

Sure, every once in a while someone has a big game in addition to LeBron, but let’s be honest – without LeBron, this is a 13-win Cavs team. Substitute LeBron for a solid, not-quite-a-star player – say an Andre Igoudala – the Cavs are a 20-win team. Substitute LeBron for a star – Caron Butler, perhaps – and the Cavs win 25-30 games. And substitute LeBron for the superstars – Kobe, Chris Paul – the Cavs are in the same position as they are now, the fourth-best team (by a thread) in the Eastern Conference. 

At this point I’d be shocked if the Cavs make it out of the second round. Heck, with the way they’re playing right now, even a first round win is no guarantee.  

Here is my Week 5 Power Poll and Preview of games

This week there are some key games to watch out for in Week 5.

You have the final two undefeated teams playing this weekend and looking to stay perfect on the year.

The Philadelphia Soul (4-0), #1 in the Power Poll, hosts #5 Tampa Bay Storm (2-1), on Saturday, March 29 at 2p.m. ET (ESPN2 HD, ESPN360.com).

The Soul's offense did not look like it missed injured QB Tony Graziani at all last week against Los Angeles. Backup QB Matt D'Orazio stepped in and was 28 of 42 for 338 yards and eight touchdowns. 

The Dallas Desperados (4-0), #2, travels to the Nassau Coliseum to take on #15 New York Dragons (1-3) on Sunday, March 30 at 3 p.m. ET in a Eastern Division matchup.

Desperdos QB Chris Sanders was 20-of-28 for 276 yards and six touchdowns last week as the Desperados ended the SaberCats 15-game home winning streak 

The Desperados are looking to go 5-0 for the second consecutive season with a win. Dallas is 32-4 in their last 36 regular-season contests, including 12 in a row and six straight on the road. 

The Chicago Rush (3-1), #3, welcomes the Arizona Rattlers (2-2), #9, to the Allstate Arena on Friday, March 28 at 8:30 p.m. ET (AFL NET, FSN Arizona - Delay, at 9:30 p.m. PT, CSN Chicago - Delay, 3/29 at 4 p.m. CT, SIRIUS Radio - Channel 130).

This game marks the first time Rush QB Sherdrick Bonner will face his former team of the past 14 seasons.

Bonner, left Arizona as the team's all-time leader in passing yards (40,979), attempts (5,268), completions (3,261) and touchdown passes (829).

Bonner also led the Rattlers to five ArenaBowl appearances and two championships in ArenaBowls VIII and XI.

This weeks other games include:

Saturday

#8 San Jose (2-2) at #16 Kansas City (0-3), 6:00 P.M. ET, (FSN Bay Area/NBC Local - Live, KSMO Local - Live)

#7 Orlando (2-2) at #13 Columbus (1-3), 7:00 P.M. ET, (AFL NET, WRDQ TV - Live, Columbus Sports Net - Live, CSS - Delay, 3/30 at 5:30 p.m. ET, SIRIUS Radio - Channel 130).

#14 Georgia (1-3) at #17 Utah (0-4), 9:00 P.M. ET, (CSS - Live, KJZZ - Live)

Sunday

#10 Los Angeles (2-2) at #12 Grand Rapids (1-2), 2:00 P.M. ET

#4 New Orleans VooDoo (3-1) at #11 Colorado (1-2), 4:00 P.M. ET (FSN Rocky Mountain Local - Live).

Bye Week: #6 Cleveland (3-1)

Power Poll Rankings:

 1) Philadelphia Soul (4-0, LW: 1) Beat Los Angeles 71-34 on 3/20

 2) Dallas Desperados (4-0, LW: 2) Beat San Jose 59-56 on 3/22

 3) Chicago Rush (3-1, LW: 4) Beat Colorado 70-35 on 3/22

 4) New Orleans VooDoo (3-1, LW: 6) Beat Cleveland 63-24 on 3/21

 5) Tampa Bay Storm (2-1, LW: 8) BYE WEEK

 6) Cleveland Gladiators (3-1, LW: 3) Lost to New Orleans 24-63 on 3/21

 7) Orlando Predators (2-2. LW: 11) Beat Georgia 50-45 on 3/22

 8) San Jose SaberCats (2-2, LW: 5) Lost to Dallas 59-56 on 3/22

 9) Arizona Rattlers (2-2, LW: 13) Beat New York 62-33 on 3/21

10) Los Angeles Avengers (2-2, LW: 7) Lost to Philadelphia 71-34 on 3/20

11) Colorado Crush (1-2, LW: 9) Lost to Chicago 35-70 on 3/22

12) Grand Rapids Rampage (1-2, LW: 15) Beat Kansas City 92-52 on 3/24

13) Columbus Destroyers (1-3, LW: 17) Beat Utah 52-49 on 3/21

14) Georgia Force (1-3, LW: 10) Lost to Orlando 50-45 on 3/22

15) New York Dragons (1-3, LW: 12) Lost to Arizona 33-62 on 3/21

16) Kansas City Brigade (0-3, LW: 14) Lost to Grand Rapids 52-92 on 3/24

17) Utah Blaze (0-4, LW: 16) Lost to Columbus 49-52 on 3/21

WEEK 4 HONORS

CO-OFFENSIVE PLAYERS: Grand Rapids Rampage QB James MacPherson and Philadelphia Soul WR Chris Jackson

ADT DEFENSIVE PLAYER: New Orleans VooDoo DB Calvin Spears

IRONMAN PLAYER: Chicago Rush WR/LB DeJuan Alfonzo