Not Soul Good

Sports stats



AFL I Arena Football League (1987-2008)

Not Soul Good

by Derrick Sloboda
September 22, 2003 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)


Forgive me if I am letting the cat out of the bag, though I hardly think I am, but Philadelphia is going to have an Arena Football team in 2004. The Philadelphia Inquirer has reported what most Arena Football fans already knew: Jon Bon Jovi is bringing the Arena game to the City of Brotherly Love.

I think I speak for every AFL fan when I say that a team in Philadelphia is overdue, and a well known owner in Jon Bon Jovi is also good. Reports from Grand Rapids indicate former Rampage head coach Michael Trigg will head up the Philadelphia team, a wise hire in my opinion. We all saw, and many predicted, the struggles of the expansion Crush under Bob Beers, so at least we know Trigg is going to put a team together that plays quality Arena Football. Former Firebirds general manager Joe Hennessey has been hired as GM, giving the team even more crucial Arena Football experience in the front office.

But I need to comment on another hardly insignificant piece of information most AFL fans know already. Don't shoot the messenger if you don't know this yet, but the name of the team is going to be the Philadelphia Soul. A quick search for trademarks on uspto.gov will find one John Bongiovi (and you thought Jon Bon Jovi was his real name) has registered the name Philadelphia Soul. Bonjovi.com hints at the name Soul also.

I can't believe I had to visit bonjovi.com. It is amazing where being an AFL fan will take you. What is next, Jewel Online for an af2 team in Anchorage? My Intuition doesn't tell me so.

Seriously, can you think of a worse city for the name of Soul? The columnists are going to tear up the name selection, and prepare for better Bon Jovi jokes than I could ever make.

Despite Trigg as head coach, the team could be dead on arrival just because of the team name. There are those in Portland who believe the Forest Dragons never got a fair shot in the city due to the selection of their moniker. This team needs to attract the die-hard 700 level Eagles fan and going with such a WUSA (whoops! can't use that reference anymore) name is putting itself in the hole.

A part of me really wants to hold out hope that the name can be saved with a good logo. I really hope that on September 23, the date for an announcement according to bonjovi.com, a fantastic logo will be released which will make up for the name. But I mean come on, what can be salvaged here? The only way I see something being saved is a logo with some sort of ghost/ghoul image. At least that is something sort of tangible, and not ambiguous as the name Soul sure seems. But even then that would be very similar to the AHL team in Philly, the Phantoms, and thus not a very unique image.

There are so many positives here. A good football city, Arena Football guys in Michael Trigg and Joe Hennessey, a solid ownership group with Bon Jovi and former Eagle's quarterback Ron Jaworski. By no means am I saying this organization is destined to fail, but I, and I am sure most Arena Football fans, keep coming back to the name same question. Why Soul?

The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central.

• Discuss this story on the Arena Football League (1987-2008) message board...

Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from September 22, 2003


The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central