I am IRON MAN!

[jwalters]

I know we have all heard the news. To reiterate it would be pointless. I do believe that something needs to be stated clearly and calmly. The values of this league have been compromised. The Arena League has lost it's connection to the past and a little bit more of it's soul. I played Iron Man football from little league all the way through high school. Even when I played semi-pro some of those guys played on both sides. A few of our linemen weighed in at close to 400 lbs. and played the whole game. This was the thing that made Arena ball unique. Yeah, there are the boards and the nets, but those are, I'm sorry to say, mainly gimmicks. Iron Man football was something real. It helped connect the league to footballs past.
I was to support a league that stuck to that sort of tradition. You could see a parallel or direct timeline from Bob Mcmillan or Rupert Grant to Bronko Nagurski. Even when players began making more money, and the Arena Bowl was corporatized, and they sold out to NBC you could still look back and say well at least one things the same. You could look back all the way past '87 and say that, even as a fan, you helped return football to another time. Not anymore.
Think about it. Let it sink in. There are no more offensive and defensive specialists. There are no more average everyday ironmen. They are gone. Now the league will be filled with a host of NFL rejects good at only one position instead of hundreds of unique and interesting athletes that are just plain good at football. Not great but good. Think about how much this has changed the game. The running game was bad before but now it is gone. No way any fullback in this league will out run pure db's and linebackers. It won't happen. Oh and the days of 100 points total in a game are probably gone also. So, what are we left with? 35 to 28 scores regularly on a 50 yard field? Db's will eat up quarterbacks on the narrow field. We have gone from a scoring fest to boring throw 3 times and attempt a fieldgoal.
I am numb. I don't know what else to say except I hope the league goes ahead and dies quickly because these guys running the league now are killing it slowly. Welcome to XFL-Indoors. Don't Blink or you'll miss the final breath. I'm done. R.I.P. Arena Football League 1986-2006. And remember a half hearted memorial service will be played through out the 2007 AFL season.

[AllTheRage]

Just the opposite will be true. Now the AFL becomes real football. If one platoon football was the answer, why don't college football or the NFL play it.

Contrary to your whining, the game will be better. Now, real receivers will catch the ball instead of DBs trying to become recievers. Real offensive linemen will pass block instead of making defensive linemen learn the techniues and be poor at it.

This will do nothing but improve the game and now will draw the interest of real football fans.

You can still be a fan of semi-pro football with all the wanna-bes and never-was-es.

[tony-o]

I just read the AFL rule changes and I didn't see anything about losing ironman football, unless you are talking about the addition of free substitution.

[jwalters]

Okay rage insults are not necessary. Look at the scoring difference in the indoor leagues and arena ball. Tell me I am wrong. You don't see very high scoring games in the indoor leagues unless one team is completely over matched. Free substitution will take away the real uniqueness of the league. That is what set the players apart. Now all you have is the XFL indoors. There will be a drop off in attendance and a major drop off in scoring. But hell what do I know I'm one of the people that still holds to the belief that the neutral site championship games are bad ideas but after having seen 2 arena bowls and 2 arena cups at neutral sites I discovered that there is a true gothic beauty when it comes to empty seats. As for your derogatory comments about semi-pro football. During my one season I played against 2 former Indianapolis Colts, three Evansville Bluecats, one Louisville Fire player, and more European professionals than I can count. Remember I didn't say anything about all the others that played college football. Go out and play semi-pro football and then make derogatory comments. If you survive.

[AllTheRage]

Apparently you are on the outside looking in and don't have a clue what you are talking about. The highest scoring game in the history of indoor/arena football was between the Evansville Bluecats and the Show Me Believers and the final score was 88-84.

The Rage last year scored more than 70 points on two playoff team, good teams; Katy and Fayetteville. The final score of the semi-final game was 72-70. So, again, playing 2 platoon football worked just fine and scored as many points as any team in the ironman arena format.

Semi pro football used to be great football. The problem is that after the indoor leagues started up and were paying players, all it left was guys who had no ability or experience beyond high school football for semi-pro teams.

It isn't an insult, it is a fact.

This will open up arena football to being legitimate football. The iron man crap was just that crap. Now, it will start looking like real football and more real football fans will be drawn to it.

[jwalters]

You really don't know much about semi-pro football, rage. Most of the players I competed against played at least college football. Those that did not could have easily played at the division 2 level maybe higher.

Think of it this way. You are a pure defensive back that has just been cut by an NFL team this past season. I don't mean cut and offered a spot on the practice squad or a chance to go to NFL europe. You can go to Canada and get destroyed, as basically all db's do in Canada, on that 65 yd. wide field. Or you can go play in the new Arena League. In man to man and cover 3 zone coverage you will only have to cover 1/3 of 85 feet along with 58 total yards of territory. So with 1641.4 yds. square to cover you will usually be responsible for 1/3. That means you will have on average about 547.13 yards square to defense. In canada, if you do not include the endzones, you have 7150 yards square. Divide that by 5 db's and potentially 3 linebackers, remember no box rule, and that averages out to 893.75 yards square that each player would have to individually be accountable for.

So the point is the pay is going to be almost equal for db's, slightly more in canada, but this makes Arena Football more attractive for pure db's. They can now play on only one side of the ball on that small field in a league where the quarterbacks have a tendency to hang the ball up in the air. This league is going to see passing numbers that look very similar to the xfl. The more skilled and well rested db's will destroy the qb's. But hey maybe you like low scoring games indoors. As for me, if I am going to watch something that is of lower quality than the NFL or CFL I would like a little bit more excitement.

[skipster]

Granted that on it's face the free substitution rule would appear to be a major change, but upon reflection I would have to disagree. Just doing some simple math:

20 active players on a gameday roster (this has not changed)

-1 kicker (not likely to play 2 ways)

-1 backup QB (not likely to play 2 ways)

Leaving 18 players to fill 16 positions. Is a team likely to roll with a 2 man bench? No, that would be stupid. Thinking it out, I would suspect that most linemen would continue to go both ways, as would one or two WR/DB's, leaving a six or seven man bench.

My conclusion is that the net affect of this rule change is the equivalent of adding one more OS/DS. You will likely see some guys taking a play or two off during a drive if they are winded or for strategical purposes, but all in all Ironman football will remain essentially the same as we know it.

Of course if gameday rosters are expanded to say 24, then yes, the Ironman would be dead. But that hasn't happened. Yet.