All’s possible at a Cleveland Gladiators game
Is your football jones barking at you, in need of a fix? Here’s a handy tip — just in time for the next home game against — guess who? PITTSBURGH, that’s who! Granted it isn’t the Browns-Steelers rivalry, but give it a few more years. Nothing against the Browns, to be sure. After all, the first Cleveland-Pittsburgh football game happened years ago — October 7, 1950, to be exact. Since then there have been 117 repeats, and this is the oldest rivalry in the AFC. I won’t bore you with the team numbers… you can look it up. This rivalry will grow, too. Wait and see! In the meantime, the Browns are locked out.
So, get yourself to the Q next weekend (Fri 7/15 at 8PM, to be exact) and prepare to be entertained when the Cleveland Gladiators host the Pittsburgh Power. It isn’t NFL football, of course (mainly because it’s indoors), but also because there are only seven players to a side, not eleven. They aren’t quite the behemoths you’re more accustomed to seeing on the gridiron, but they aren’t tiny, either. They’re definitely real, and if you snag the right seats, you can practically reach out and touch one of them. This is made easier to accomplish by the playing field being half the size of an outdoor gridiron. In fact, at the game I attended (June 25 – more on that in a minute) several players were high-fiving fans behind the goalposts during a break in the action.
They do play “head’s-up” football. The game moves excitingly fast – the clock seldom stops, so everyone has to really pay attention. Naturally, it stops for time-outs, injury, and after a score. There’s a one-minute warning, not two. But, if you so much as blink, you’ll have missed a touchdown. Or two. Possibly even three! That’s exactly what happened at the above game, played against the San Jose Saber Cats. Three touchdowns in 20 seconds. Yes, you read that right. It was mind-boggling, to say the least. Even the poor scoreboard had a hard time keeping up!
This new Cleveland-Pittsburgh rivalry began only this season in the AFL, when the Pittsburgh Power joined the league. 2011 is the second time around for Arena football: they played from 1987 to 2008. After a self-imposed one-year hiatus, it’s back with some new teams along with some of the older ones. Now that all the teams are up and playing, however, it’s an exciting alternative to the outdoor variety. (Interesting note: In that original game, played on June 19th, 1987, it was the Washington Commandos versus the Pittsburgh Gladiators! Imagine that! There were eight players to a side for that game of “collision” contact.)
Arena football is a passing league. Remember Kurt Warner? Average teams score in the 50s, and show little mercy on defenders. Yet, the Gladiators DB Levy Brown was the (League) Riddell Defensive Player of the Week for the San Jose game. He achieved 15.5 tackles, (a franchise record) and two pass breakups against San Jose. He triggered the 20-second outburst at the end of the second quarter when he returned a 51-yard interception for a touchdown, taking the score to 28-7. Troy Bergeron then caught a 13-yard pass from QB Kurt Rocco, making the score 35-7. When the Gladiators kicked off with two seconds left on the clock, the San Jose receiver fumbled and Cleveland’s Connor Reilly scooped up the ball to run it in. Whammo! 41-7 at the half.
On offense, Cleveland’s Troy Bergeron, with five touchdowns, was nominated for Offensive Player of the week, while Walsh University graduate (and Warren native) Joe Phinisee returned a pick for a TD.
Cleveland followed up with three more TDs each in the third and fourth quarters for an 82-21 victory. It was an awesome accomplishment. The 61 point differential is the second largest margin of victory in League history, just one point away from tying the highest-score record. The final box score comes nowhere near explaining this. But in the end, it’s only the final score that matters. This one was big-time. Cleveland 82, San Jose 21.
Cleveland is currently leading the Eastern Division with a 9-6 record: Pittsburgh is next at 8-7, Philadelphia follows at 5-11, with Milwaukee currently trailing at 4-11. Overall, the Gladiators are seeded second in the American Conference, after Jacksonville (National Conf.). The first playoff game will be either Fri 7/29 or Sat 7/30, with the ArenaBowl Championship Game two weeks later on Fri 8/12.
This weekend, Fri 7/8, the team travels to Philadelphia, where they played the Soul (and lost) in the 2008 Conference Championship game, and on Fri 7/22 they’ll host the Utah Blaze. But in between is that all-important game against our favorite rivals from just a piece down the highway. You wouldn’t want to miss that, wouldja?
Home games are played at the Q – Quicken Loans Arena, downtown Cleveland. To order tickets, visit their website: http://ClevelandGladiators.com or call 216-685-9000.
[Pictured: Cleveland Gladiators FB Russell Monk (#10) bulls his way past the line of scrimmage after a handoff from QB Kurt Rocco, left. Photo by Kelly Ferjutz.]
From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz, who writes: My most recently published book is Ardenwycke Unveiled (e-book and trade paper). Cerridwen has another contemporary romance from me, But Not For Love, currently available only as an e-book, but perhaps will be in print later this year. I hope to soon get around to completing some of the 30+ incomplete books in my computer!
Actually, I’ve just re-issued my very first published book (from Berkley in NY 1993) Secret Shores which is available now in regular print, plus large print and as a Kindle.
By the way, Cerridwen has also accepted two of my short stories in their Scintillating Samples (complimentary reads) area: Song of the Swan and Unexpected Comfort. I love photography as well, as you can see here. Occasionally I teach writing workshops and sometimes do editing or ghostwriting on a freelance basis. But over and above everything else, there’s always been the writing. I can’t imagine my life without it.
And now, after more than a few requests, I’ve started a blog about writing. You can find it here.
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