A fledgling cable sports network that claimed it was "Everything Sports" televised the games of the new Spring football league, during which time a handful of football enthusiasts saddened that the NFL season had come to an end enjoyed the hard hitting antics of Arena Football. Teams like the Iowa Barnstormers thrilled the growing fan base, and players like Kurt Warner brought more notoriety to the league after claiming his beginnings in the small football league of quick play. ESPN may have been a large part of the growing popularity of Arena Football, indoor football with an attitude, but it was the hard hitting, small market appeal that truly made the Arena Football League fun.
My first live game was in Anaheim, for the short-lived Anaheim Piranhas. It only took one live game to hook me. This was a sport best served cold, live, and in your face. Later, I became a fan of the Los Angeles Avengers. With the loss of the NFL in Los Angeles, the AFL Avengers became LA's team. I loved going to the Avenger games, wearing red, and cheering on the brave gladiators on the arena floor. My wife got to the point that we were catching at least few games every season, sometimes taking guests and converting them into Arena Football fans in the process simply because of the awesome experience of AFL live.
This year my contact with the team's operations department was not so enthusiastic. The staff explained to me that the season had been suspended, and the future of Arena Football was possibly at risk.
This morning the doubts became official. ESPN, the network that was such a large part of launching the exciting spring football league, reported that the league is suspending operations, without any plans to bring back the old friend that accompanied me through the months between the Super Bowl, and Major League Baseball's mid-season.
Deep inside I hope that Arena Football returns to its prior glory, entertaining the fans of minor league football, and hard hitting indoor pigskin. But, like the USFL, and World League of American Football, even though the Arena Football League enjoyed a longer life than those others, and never tried to take on the NFL head-to-head, with the crumbling economy the death of the Arena Football League was imminent.
Fair thee well, AFL, fair thee well.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
By Douglas V. Gibbs
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