2008 Woodie Awards
New league for fans
By: Creswell Curtis
Issue date: 2/1/08 Section: Sports
For a true football fan, this Sunday's Super Bowl is the last opportunity to watch any meaningful competition for the next seven months. We get to witness history as the next chapter of Super Bowl lore is chronicled into the annals of our memory. We will receive a climactic finale for the season that was, but not all history is about endings.
During the months of August and September, we fans usually usher in another football season with the departure of summer and the arrival of autumn. A new group is attempting to buck that trend with the help of football fanatics.
The new and upstart All American Football League is attempting to capitalize on the passion of Southern football fans to provide professional football from spring to early summer. That's right. Spring football will now include more than just inter-team scrimmages and arena football.
With the dissolution of NFL Europe, the NFL had no viable option for developing players in a "farm league." Yet the AAFL is more than just a filler league. There is a distinct difference here that has not been seen in previous attempts to foster professional football outside of the NFL. The AAFL is catering its very existence to fans.
The initial teams are meant to draw from the support of football crazed fans in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Michigan, Tennessee and Texas. The funny thing that I've noticed is the reciprocal nature with which the AAFL is supporting their soon-to-be fans.
The AAFL's selection of players, coaches and stadiums are all stemming from fan interest and appeal. For instance, the Florida team has recently drafted and signed Chris Leak, the 2006 national champion QB of the Florida Gators. Teams are actually encouraged to draft with their fans in mind. As a Clemson fan, I now have the opportunity to see Woody Dantzler play QB for more than just a Circuit City commercial for TV sets. In fact, Dantzler will start for the Tennessee team whose coach, Andy Kelly, played QB for the Vol's from 1988-91.
During the months of August and September, we fans usually usher in another football season with the departure of summer and the arrival of autumn. A new group is attempting to buck that trend with the help of football fanatics.
The new and upstart All American Football League is attempting to capitalize on the passion of Southern football fans to provide professional football from spring to early summer. That's right. Spring football will now include more than just inter-team scrimmages and arena football.
With the dissolution of NFL Europe, the NFL had no viable option for developing players in a "farm league." Yet the AAFL is more than just a filler league. There is a distinct difference here that has not been seen in previous attempts to foster professional football outside of the NFL. The AAFL is catering its very existence to fans.
The initial teams are meant to draw from the support of football crazed fans in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Michigan, Tennessee and Texas. The funny thing that I've noticed is the reciprocal nature with which the AAFL is supporting their soon-to-be fans.
The AAFL's selection of players, coaches and stadiums are all stemming from fan interest and appeal. For instance, the Florida team has recently drafted and signed Chris Leak, the 2006 national champion QB of the Florida Gators. Teams are actually encouraged to draft with their fans in mind. As a Clemson fan, I now have the opportunity to see Woody Dantzler play QB for more than just a Circuit City commercial for TV sets. In fact, Dantzler will start for the Tennessee team whose coach, Andy Kelly, played QB for the Vol's from 1988-91.
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