Arena Football Rankings Week 10

The Rattlers are a Jeckyl and Hyde team this year. Luckily this week, the good team showed up and put a whoopin' on Georgia. An excellent game all around. The big game, though, was the Monday Night Football game (on ESPN2) between undefeated Dallas and undefeated Philadelphia. In the 21 year history of the league this is the first time two undefeated teams have met this late in the season. But the game itself was a letdown as the Phily Soul crushed Dallas and its gimpy QB, Clint Dolezel. As usual the rankings reflect that all the teams below #5 or #6 are pretty much interchangible.

RANK Last Week Team W/L Comments
1. (1) Philadelphia Soul 9-0 Thumped Dallas
2. (2) Dallas Desperados 7-1 Dolezel is not 100%
3. (3) New Orleans Voodoo 7-2 Playoff dark horse
4. (4) Chicago Rush 7-2 QB Michna is playing better
5. (5) Orlando Predators 6-3 Lost to Tampa
6. (7) San Jose Sabercats 5-4 SJ is not going to repeat as champ.
7. (11) New York Dragons 5-3 Garcia is back, so NY is back!
8. (9) Arizona Rattlers 4-4 Campbell was better this week
9. (6) Cleveland Gladiators 4-4 Can’t beat the good teams
10. (8) Georgia Force 3-5 Lost to AZ
11. (10) Colorado Crush 3-5 Sinking Fast
12. (12) Tampa Bay Storm 3-5 Big win against top rival
13. (13) Grand Rapids Rampage 3-5 Blew out KC
14. (14) Columbus Destroyers 2-6 Must start winning
15. (16) Los Angeles Avengers 3-6 Very disappointing Season
16. (15) Kansas City Brigade 1-7 Gave up 83pts to GR
17. (17) Utah Blaze 0-9 Plays KC this week -could win.

The Best Nascar race isn't...

...even in NASCAR's Top Series (The Sprint Cup). The best race is in the Nationwide Series (sort of a "Triple A" league to the Sprint Cup's "Major League" status). The race has been held for the last four years in Mexico City at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez -- a 2.5 mile road course.

This weekend's race had everything that is missing from too many nascar races: Great driving, a very tough track, competion so fierce that drivers were knocking each other off the track left and right, and exciting passing. The road course races are superior to the oval track races (due to a number of factors including road course specialist drivers going all out because they don't have a "second chance"), and add to it the festive atmosphere of Mexico City (with six Mexican drivers in the race) and you have a very fun time. This is the only race this year I've managed to watch start to finish without getting bored. The Nascar Sprint cup road races are great (Watkins Glen and Sonoma) but they are just 2 of several dozen races. Too bad. Looks like I'll be switching to indycar as my racing fandom time slot filler -now that the series is finally unified.

When I'm looking at Presidential candidates...

The endorsement of my favorite Newspaper, News Station, Political Leaders, uh… Family Member, Religious Advisor, ... no... wait... SPORTS TEAM is where I go.

Well, I'm a Cardinals fan but I grew up a Steelers fan. Seems that the Steelers support Obama. Team Owner Dan Rooney and former RBs Jerome Bettis and Franco Harris have endorsed Obama. Read the story here.

Arena Football Rankings Week 8

All it takes is LANG --Lang Campbell that is. The Rattlers got back in the win column with a nice 69-68 win over the Tampa Bay Storm behind returning QB Lang Campbell. The rankings (below) show a real divide between the haves and have-nots, as the teams below #5 are pretty interchangable. Well, except for Utah. Utah is awful. Just awful.
RANK Last Week Team W/L Comment
1. (1) Philadelphia Soul 6-0 Seven weeks at #1
2. (2) Dallas Desperados 7-0 Dolezel is back
3. (3) New Orleans Voodoo 5-2 N.O. not yet elite
4. (4) Chicago Rush 5-2 Backup QB did okay
5. (5) Orlando Predators 5-2 Predators are for real
6. (6) Cleveland Gladiators 3-3 Three losses in a row
7. (10) Georgia Force 3-3 Bye Week
8. (8) San Jose Sabercats 3-4 Blew big lead over Philly
9. (12) Arizona Rattlers 3-3 QB Campbell leads to nice win
10. (11) Colorado Crush 3-3 Scratching back into contention
11. (14) New York Dragons 3-3 Garcia is back, so NY is back!
12. (7) Tampa Bay Storm 2-4 Three Losses in a row
13. (9) Grand Rapids Rampage 2-4 What team will show up?
14. (13) Columbus Destroyers 2-5 Not their year
15. (15) Los Angeles Avengers 3-4 QB Cumbie overrated –on bench
16. (17) Kansas City Brigade 0-6 Need a better QB
17. (16) Utah Blaze 0-7 Blaze need to find some Defense.

Rattlers Refund Standings!

During the Bye week, the Arizona Rattlers fell further behind in the race for last! Because 6 out of the 8 Western Conference Teams make the playoffs, Utah and KC have a solid lock on the two non-playoff spots and it will take a total freefall by the Rattlers --combined with some semblance of football by skill by either Utah or KC for the Rattlers to move into a non-playoff spot in the standings.

Arena Football Rankings Week 7

The AZ Rattlers didn't lose this week --they had a bye week. But QB Lang Campbell is finally back from injury and so optimism runs high in Rattler land. I hope he does something because right now it looks like the Rattlers could lose all of their remaining games and STILL make the playoffs. How? The top 6 (of 8) teams in the West make the playoffs. The bottom two spots are occupied by two teams (Utah and KC) that are a combined 0-11 and show no signs of life at all. Here's hoping AZ finishes with a winning record or finishes 7th or 8th so that we can get our sweet refunds!


RANK Last Wk Team W/L Comment
1. (1) Philadelphia Soul 6-0 Six weeks at #1
2. (2) Dallas Desperados 6-0 Dolezel is back
3. (4) New Orleans Voodoo 5-1 New QB Wimprine is crazy good.
4. (3) Chicago Rush 4-2 Too many INTs by Bonner
5. (9) Orlando Predators 4-2 Huge OT win over Chicago.
6. (6) Cleveland Gladiators 3-2 Loss to Dallas
7. (5) Tampa Bay Storm 2-3 Two Losses in a row
8. (7) San Jose Sabercats 3-3 SJ is not going to repeat as champ.
9. (8) Grand Rapids Rampage 2-3 Shut out in 1st half after scoring binge.
10. (10) Georgia Force 3-3 Wins over lowly Utah and KC
11. (9) Colorado Crush 2-3 Nice win over LA
12. (8) Arizona Rattlers 2-3 QB Campbell is (finally) back
13. (13) Columbus Destroyers 2-4 Still in the running
14. (15) New York Dragons 2-3 Garcia is back, so NY is back.
15. (14) Los Angeles Avengers 2-4 Dreadful.
16. (16) Utah Blaze 0-6 Blaze need to find some Defense.
17. (17) Kansas City Brigade 0-5 Changes must be made.

Arena Football Rankings Week 6

Wow, Sed Bonner certainly had his revenge this week as he led his new team, the Chicago Rush, to a dominating victory over his old team, the Arizona Rattlers. Sadly the Rattlers are not good. Yet they are not bad enough to miss the playoffs and earn a refund for season ticketholders.


RANK Last Week Team W/L Comment
1. (1) Philadelphia Soul 5-0 -Five weeks at #1
2. (2) Dallas Desperados 5-0 -Beat a bad NY team by 2
3. (3) Chicago Rush 4-1 -Bonner’s Revenge against AZ
4. (5) New Orleans Voodoo 4-1 -Beat Crush on road
5. (4) Tampa Bay Storm 2-2 -Narrow loss to Philly
6. (6) Cleveland Gladiators 3-1 -How Good is Cleveland???
7. (7) San Jose Sabercats 3-2 -So-so vs. winless KC
8. (14) Grand Rapids Rampage 2-2 -176 pts scored in 2 weeks!
9. (11) Orlando Predators 3-2 -Three narrow wins in a row.
10. (10) Georgia Force 2-3 -Disappointing Season
11. (9) Colorado Crush 1-3 -No longer an elite team.
12. (8) Arizona Rattlers 2-3 -Smoker is not the answer
13. (13) Columbus Destroyers 1-4 -A lost season?
14. (12) Los Angeles Avengers 2-3 -Gave up 84 to Grand Rapids
15. (15) New York Dragons 1-3 -Decent effort this week.
16. (16) Utah Blaze 0-5 -Blaze need to find some Defense.
17. (17) Kansas City Brigade 0-4 -Changes must be made.