The original AFL brought you 22 seasons of glory before flaming out in bankruptcy earlier this year. Thankfully, people who are so determined to play football that they will do so indoors on a 50-yard field are not easily discouraged. They're launching a new 16-team arena league that will start play next year.

In addition to several new franchises, the league will poach teams from both AFL and Arena Football 2 and play under the same rules of their predecessors. (Although it is not affiliated with either one.) The name of the new league is ... ready? ... Arena Football 1. How do they do it?!

The commissioner of the new league says the AFL's business model was broken, but that this time around they think they've found the key to running a viable sports league. "You can't spend more than you generate in revenue." Holy crap! It's like I'm talking to Warren Freakin' Buffett over here. It's time to raise the nets!

New arena football league launching [AP]
Arena league will return, but Albany Firebirds may not [Albany Times Union]

The financially troubled 50-yard indoor war had hoped to return for 2010, which let's face it, was a pipe dream from the very beginning. It's extremely hard for tickets sales to recover when you aren't holding games. Bad sign No. 2: Your franchise presidents not named Jon Bon Jovi now hold press conferences over Facebook. I've seen bake sales with better PR organizations.

It's a shame, really, because catching a Detroit Drive game back in high school was the most fun I ever had watching professional football in Detroit. Thankfully, AFL2 is still alive and kicking—does this qualify as irony?—so you can continue to get your fix of clumsy miniaturized football.

Sorry, Predators fans, it looks like Arena League is gone for good by [Orlando Sentinel]
Arena Football League on brink of folding [Newsday]
Arena Football League reportedly ready to fold, will declare bankruptcy [Cleveland Plain Dealer]

Iowa Barnstormers (that's AF2, by the way) coach John Gregory suffered a broken leg and a torn knee ligament when four players pasted him into the sideline boards in a game on April 18. So I guess there was one person who didn't see it coming after all.

"The quarterback got chased my way, and I was looking downfield," Gregory said. "I didn't see it until late. By the time I looked up, they were right on top of me. And it was the short side of the field, as well."

Gregory faces probable knee surgery once the broken leg heals. For now, he cannot put any weight on his left leg and he is confined to a wheelchair. He had to watch Saturday's 33-29 loss against Quad City from a chair behind the sideline boards.

"I think it went all right," he said. "I think I might have been more effective on the field, but we didn't lose because of that."

Actually, I wouldn't mind seeing this implemented in an NFL game sometime. How long do you think Bill Belichick would last lined up next to Randy Moss? Two ... three downs?

Barnstormers coach joins ranks of injured reserve [The Des Moines Register]

They found a guy who had actually tried out for the Bears against Edinger.

Joe O'Donnell, a friend and former teammate of Rush lineman John Moyer with the Florida Bobcats in 2000, had driven from Birmingham, Ala., with his wife to watch the game. Moyer called him and said the Rush needed a kicker.

O'Donnell was hurried into the locker room, given shoes, shorts, T-shirt and an emergency tryout, which was sufficient for coaches to put him on the roster in time for lineup submissions.

He made five-of-seven extra points, which isn't too bad, all told. There has to be an enterprising AFL owner out there somewhere who will make this a regular thing, right?

Somebody Get Me A Helmet. Quickly. [It's Still Football]

The organization which owns the new hockey and arena league teams has already applied for rights to use "Walleye" and "Woodpecker," both of which are indigenous to Ohio, but only one of which could really injure someone if they peck their little beak in your eye. (Hint: it's not the walleye. Good guess, though.)

But county commissioner Ben Konop, despite his boyish good looks, is not at all amused at the thought of the Toledo Woodpeckers. Why? I don't understand the objection.

These are the people's teams and the people's arena, and the public has spoken—woodpeckers not welcome in Lucas County!

I for one welcome the woodpecker to Northwest Ohio to be the mascot for our hockey and/or arena league team, and hope that... wait a minute... OH! I get it now. It's a penis joke.

Konop Files Objections To Suggested Team Names [Toledo Blade]
No Woodpecker In Lucas County [Ben Konop's Blog]

Yep, the Arena League boosters are already sensing opportunity.

If Michael Vick wants to revive his career and establish any kind of credibility to his image, he will need to find a home on a football field, and be a model citizen. If I'm Michael Vick, I give Commissioner Baker a call and beg him for a chance to restore himself by playing in the AFL. Vick is a number one overall pick for a reason. He holds several NFL records, led his team to several deep playoff runs, and can be a game changer when things look bleak. If Vick were given a chance to play in the Arena Football League, he would most certainly succeed. It would be a great draw for the AFL fans across the country, and as long as Vick is sincere in his efforts to redeem himself, could be a great figurehead for the AFL.

To AFL owners, go on and take a chance. Everyone deserves a second opportunity to redeem themselves. Who knows, the gamble might end up in a giant payday: an Arena Bowl Championship.

Of course, by "giant payday," we mean, "500 bucks, plus expenses and a decoder ring."

Why Not Vick? [Arena Fan]

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After a total 24+ hours on the road to and from ArenaBowl XXI in New Orleans, we can say without hesitation that 1) Future 1850+ mile trips will be made via airplane, and 2) while we can't resolve the whole "bloggers in press boxes" debate, being granted full media access (a first for us) was good times. Although we choked on a few of our interviews, and blew a chance to ask Chicago Rush coach Mike Hohensee in which supermarket parking lot he was struck by a vehicle this past April, we were continually impressed by how incredibly nice the players, coaches and AFL staff were.

Aside from being treated like legitimate journalists, even though we neglected to bring voice recorders, conducted interviews with a video camera the size of a 3 Musketeers bar, and frequently stared blankly into space as we tried to form coherent sentences, it was clear that everyone involved was there for the love of the game of football, as played on an itty-bitty field with freaky nets in the end zones. Though I'm sure real journalists are rarely heard to mutter, "Shit! What are the questions that we always wanted to ask athletes? Now they have to answer us! Do we look and/or sound like maniacs? I've gone brain dead! Coach Arbet, do you think... guhhhhh..." Of course, the best part was that we didn't have to pay for tickets to events nor, often, food. This is, presumably, stuff that real journalists take for granted. Case in point: the reporter from San Jose sitting next to me in the press box was cranky about the execution of the halftime hot dogs as well as the pre-game luncheon options, and my opinion was primarily: "Hey! Free food! At a sporting event! Can I get a beer? No? Okay." (Ed. Note: There's nothing better than a reporter from the San Jose paper bitching about free hot dogs during the Arena Bowl. There just isn't.)

Our schedule went thusly: Media Day, AFL Combine, Fan Festival Thinghy and Concert, The Big-ish Game. Radio Row was made available to us, but if the one at the Super Bowl were as boring as reported, the version at the Merely Above-Average Bowl would've been life-threateningly dull. So we skipped that shit.

Does the Arena League have famous fans? If it does, we didn't see 'em. So far as we could tell, John Elway, Jon Bon Jovi and Jaws were all no-shows for the weekend. The Arena Bowl seemed to bring the D-Team, so we didn't recognize too many people. The WWL sent Mary What's-Her-Face, and we rode the elevator with her right after we got our credentials, and were very proud of ourselves. I told her that we were very important and had many leather-bound books. She ... humored us. The Combudsman should get together with her, and they can hate on Anchorman references together. She is, for the record, kind of cute, and A. J. Haglund, kicker for the San Jose SaberCats, apparently agreed. He did his best to chat her up in the hotel lobby, but she didn't seem to bite.

"So. Where're you from?"
"Connecticut."
"Really?"
"Well not originally, but I work for ESPN, now. Perhaps you've heard of it?"

I may have made that last part up. If you've ever wondered where players go that aren't tall enough to play standard football, the answer is the AFL. Haglund is 5'6", tops.

We also hit the AFL Combine with the hopes that we'd see more things like this:

(Ed. Note: This video has made us laugh for about 15 straight minutes now.)

Unfortunately, it was a bunch of guys mostly from tiny colleges struggling to consistently run buttonhooks and corner routes over and over again. So that was a bust.

What was not a bust, however, was the Fan Fest. Our press access got us into the VIP area on the riverboat whose main attraction was: open bar! You can imagine our delight. I started putting together interviews, fortified by Rum and Cokes. We met Commissioner David Baker at this thing, and he is eight feet tall and hewn from solid granite. I can't imagine Roger Goodell or Bud Selig hanging around shaking hands and knocking back beers with the fans, but Baker was more than happy to do just that. I suspect if we had the drunken nerve to ask him to palm my head or bench press Joe, he would have happily obliged.

We also had a "conversation" with Jay Gruden, Jon Gruden's brother and head coach of the Orlando Predators: it went thusly:

TC: "Hey, Coach!"
Lesser Gruden: "Hey!"

Tony Graziani, Philadelphia's QB, had that attitude of "I'm kind of famous, so what am I going to do when people notice me?" It also was attended by a metric fuckton of mascots. So, for all you nightmare fuel fans, I give you the New Orleans mascot. I saw this, and said to myself, "I can label this 'Yes. AAAAAH! Maybe.'" I know my Deadspin memes.

(Ed. Note: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!)

Other highlights included seeing the Aaron's Dream Team (an all-star team of cheerleaders? Not a bad idea.). I lost $10 when I wagered that Joe wouldn't find and talk to Brooke, of the Dallas Desperados. I'd love to, at some point, be able to say something other than "This person was very nice," but everybody was nice - she happily took a few photos with us, despite the fact our drinks had been mixed quite strong. Oh, and the band at this event was Styx. Yes, that Styx. They rocked rather hard. In other news, the opening act was a cover band that apparently just looked at Guitar Heroes 1 and 2, and used that as their track list.

We also met these guys:

They support the Orlando Predators, as you might well guess, and made those head things themselves.

But these are all things we could've done if we were simply well-heeled individuals, looking to throw some money around. The things we couldn't do as ordinary, non-credentialed individuals can best be summed up in video form:

The Columbus Destroyers seemed to be having more fun at media day than San Jose, as evidenced by B.J. Barre and "Chappelle's Show" enthusiast Josh Bush:

Our personal highlight, however, was getting Brett Dietz, co-rookie of the year, to give a dramatic reading of the post we wrote when we decided that his turning around a truly awful Tampa team was nothing short of epic. We turned the computer towards him, and he actually recognized our site. Apparently, his mom found our post, and asked him who wrote it. He said he hoped it was a lady. Despite his disappointment, he performed with great aplomb, much to the amusement of co-rookie of the year Charles Frederick, wide receiver for the Kansas City Brigade.

To sum up, good news/bad news style:

Good News: Talking to players, and getting them to do goofy things.
Bad News: Being, basically, untrained monkeys, we immediately lost the ability to ask any good questions. Since everybody was really nice, it became really difficult to make fun of people. Except for the guy who got hit in the face. That guy's just a doofus.

Myself, I'm a little surprised that af2 teams even have team meetings. Are they like support group meetings? Is everyone sitting around discussing how they couldn't cut it in NFL Europa, the Canadian league, and the big leagues of Arena Football? I'm just curious.

Quincy Carter, if you don't recall his brief but glorious tenure as a Dallas Cowboy, threw 32 career TDs against 32 career INTs before running into all sorts of drug problems. He had ranked an impressive 4th in af2 in passing efficiency, with a 117.9 rating, trailing J.J. Raterink, Ryan Vena, and former Rutgers superstar Ryan Hart. The Battle Wings, much to their credit, won without Carter last night, beating the Manchester Wolves 62-52.

Wings suspend Carter for two games [Shreveport Times]
Wolves fall to Battle Wings [Union Leader]

According to a post at Jim Romenesko's Media News, tomorrow is Arena Football T-shirt Day in Bristol! From a memo sent by our pal John Skipper last week:

ARENA FOOTBALL DAY
Wednesday, May 16
11:30am - 1:30p.m.

Connecticut based employees will be receiving Arena Football team t-shirts compliments of Russell Athletic. If you are comfortable, please wear it to work on Wednesday, May 16th, as a symbol of welcome to our Arena Football guests.

* Tailgate party at the Bristol cafeteria compliments of the Arena Football League.
* Commissioner David Baker, AFL Staff, & Ownership, as well as "Special Guests" will be in attendance.
* Hamburgers and Hotdogs will be served.

The person who sent Romenesko the memo — hey, those are supposed to go to us! — writes "as a member of the newsroom, I find it increasingly difficult to square such promotional stunts with my journalistic ethics and principles. We're supposed to objectively cover the AFL, and yet we're being asked to wear an AFL t-shirt to show our support when the league's bosses walk through the newsroom?" Which is hilarious, considering this person must have just discovered he/she works for ESPN.

Seriously, though, there will be hamburgers and hotdogs.

Arena Football Day [Poynter]

Anyway, Jon Bon got a little testy at a game the other day and starting flipping off the referees. And it turns out, he was wrong and didn't understand a call correctly.

"I didn't understand the rule," Bon Jovi said. He was told later by ESPN2 announcer Mike Greenberg that all a receiver has to do is take two steps with the ball in his hands for it to be a catch - and replays showed that's about what Bergeron took before dropping the ball then recovering it at the back of the end zone. Oops.

"I apologize for the middle finger thing," Bon Jovi sang. "I didn't know the rule. Simple as that."

We're a little bewildered by the notion of Mike Greenberg explaining a football rule to Jon Bon Jovi, but, hey, we can't figure out why there's a team called "Soul" either.

Force Isn't With Soul, Bon Jovi In First Loss [DelcoTimes]

Yes, this weekend marked the return of short attention span football, and kicked off ESPN's partnership with the Arena League. I spent some time checking in with the Rush vs. Brigade game during timeouts in Creighton/Southern Illinois, and I'm happy to say that Ron Jaworski is wholeheartedly embracing his role as Arena analyst.

He was in the booth with Merril Hoge, breaking down plays and babbling like he just pounded two cases of Red Bull. He's either wholly captivated by the 50-yard indoor war, or he's just thrilled to be able to talk about football while he's not sitting next to Mike Ditka, or on that one show that usually airs at around 4:00 a.m.

Anyway, the Brigade did pull the huuuuuge upset over the defending champion Chicago Rush in one of ABC's games today. There's so much parity in the Arena League. That's what makes it great.

In the other ABC game, the Dallas Desperados embarrassed the New York Dragons, 60-7. Seven points is a little embarrassing, sure, but at least the Dragons got young third-stringer Rohan Davey some time under center. I knew that guy had a bright future.

Brigade defeat defending Champion Rush, 54-41 [AFL]
Desperados crush Dragons, 60-7 [AFL]

A front office member of an Arena League team forwarded us the following fax, from Edwin Pierre-Pata, brother of slain Miami football player Bryan Pata. (Spelling errors are as they appeared on the fax.)

"BRIAN PATA'S BROTHER (EX U.M PLAYER) EDWIN PIERRE-PATA IS DRAFT-ELLIGIBLE FOR THE 2007 DRAFT"

Edwin Pata has indicated to me that he is interested in playing for an Arena ONE team and is willing to listen to offers. 6/11/1982, Tight End/Defensive End FIU 2 years: 2002-2003 Florida State University: 2005-2006 6.41/2 tall (?) 260 lbs 40 speed 4.56

Athlete is in great condition."

Again, we don't want to overstep our bounds here, but we'd think that if you're trading off your late brother's name to earn a spot on an Arena League team ... you'd at least have the good sense to make sure that name was spelled correctly.

I don't know where they'll go from here. ABC is mentioned, but there's also the little detail about Arena Football games drawing a less than 1.0 rating in the regular season, and a meager little 0.7 rating for the Arena Bowl. I'm not sure how they managed to get a lower rating for the Arena Bowl than for regular season games, but I never liked how NBC handled Arena Football to begin with. When they were looking for a show to fill the timeslot left open by the end of Friends, the one and only choice should have been Arena Football. Hey, it couldn't have done worse than "Joey."

I'm a little concerned that if they don't find a network home for next season, that you'll all stop caring about Arena Football. I might have to turn to the WNBA to fill my need for sports leagues that are inexplicably on network television.

NBC, Arena Football League End Pact [MediaWeek]

A certain part of this makes sense: If we lived in Scranton — a perfectly fine city, by the way — we probably wouldn't mind having an Arena League team around either. But here's something we really didn't know anything about it: Apparently, the Arena League is hosting its first Draft Combine in Las Vegas on June 10. This means that somewhere, somehow, there is a miniature Mel Kiper Jr., putting together endless Excel spreadsheets on all the hot prospects with upside coming into the Arena League. Honestly, the thirst for sport in this country is unquenchable. If there isn't a national Sorry! league out there somewhere, we're going to be disappointed.

Arena League Combine [AFL]
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers [Official Site]

That also means, of course, that fans can get knocked on the field, and that's exactly what happened during a fight at an Orlando Predators game over the weekend. A few fans started pushing one another, and it escalated until a woman was plowed into and deposited onto the field.

We highly suggest you watch the video on the Local 6 site, mainly because of the man who appears to be with the woman. At first she's trying to settle him down, then she's just standing out of the way while he scuffles and then, after she's pushed over the railing, he looks down in concern for a second ... and then resumes his argument, as if to say, "Look what you made me do, asshole! Let's throw!"

Charges Possible In Fight That Knocked Woman Onto Field [Local 6]

Specific Bible chapter and verse references will be created by combining the names and numerals on the backs of each player. Instead of having the player's last name, it will be replaced by a book of the Bible. The number on the jersey will correspond to a chapter and verse of that particular book.

For example, Steeldogs quarterback Ryan Hawk wears jersey number 12. On May 5, he'll still wear number 12, but the name on his back will change from "HAWK" to "JAMES", referencing the book of James, Chapter 1 Verse 2.

Players with the numbers 4 and 6 are discouraged to line up next to each other behind Hawk, particularly if they happen to score a touchdown. While they take turns pretending to give birth to the ball and call their agents on cellphones hidden in their helmets, the Birmingham scoreboard points out that James 4:6 reads, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

Hey, we got all Biblical on you there for a second. That was fun.

Football Faith Night [Tulsa Today]