Friday, August 10, 2012

Arenaball alltime athletic great should be an ironman

On the eve of the Arena Bowl XXV at New Orleans Arena, in a twenthfifth anniversary year that saw the Philadelphia Soul comeback in the least to take the East from the beast Jacksonville Sharks 89-34 and the Arizona Rattlers to become the best in the West by squeeking by the hot Utah Blaze 75-69 to meet in the Big Easy where I think a Jon Bon Jovi less yet Jaws full Soul will outplay the Rattlers 79-73 tonight, a decision made by the leagues historical committee is what has left us a little hard to it. Downtown Eddie Brown was selected by the Arena Football League as its greatest player of all time by 136 and 0 1st place votes to the 135 and 3 1st place votes of Barry Wagner, the reason this seems not so right and somewhat wrong is that Arenaball has always been the underdog football game for the underdog football player, owner and fan, Brown being an Offensive Specialist only makes him a one dimensional player whereas with Wagner being a Wide Receiver and Linebacker keeps with the Ironman both sides of the ball play you remember Arenaball was all to be.

Not only this, Wagner was a 7 time AFL Ironman of the Year award winner and voted onto the All Arena team 7 years in a row from 1992 to 1997 with Orlando and San Jose. was a key component in the famous "Miracle Minute", in which he scored two touchdowns, two two-point conversions, recovered an onside kick and made a key defensive stop for the Predators, all in the final minute of a 1992 game against the Detroit Drive only to lose to the Drive in Arena Bowl VI 56-38 at the O Arena for the last year of Arenaball in Motown, though would win with Orlando in Arena Bowl XII at the Ice against the Tampa Bay Storm 62-31.

Then over with the Sabercats, Wagner went on to help the Sabrecats win both ArenaBowl XVI 52-14 at Hewlett Packard Pavilion and XVIII 69-62 at America West Arena each against the Arizona Rattlers. This is not the second time Arenaball has dishonoured the star grad from Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University Bulldogs, when the twenthieth season also placed Brown ahead of Wagner as the Arenaball greatest player of all time, the same year he was cut by the practice squad of the Tampa Bay Storm thus joining the Daytona Beach Thunder of the World Indoor Football League and one whom Arenaball Hall of Fame head coach to be Iowa Barnstormers, Chicago Rush and Albany Firebirds Mike Hohensee has called "the prototypical Arena Football player" and "best two way player that played the game." One almost feels as though the leagues historical committee may as well have selected Kurt Warner as their greatest player of all time, at least Arenaball could at least get a financial bounce from such a decision.