Will the Power Outage Continue?

I'm not going to say a whole lot about the upcoming game, because frankly, there's not a lot to say. There's a few things that I'll touch on, but then I want to address some musings I had while traveling this past weekend. (Yes, I plan my vacations around Power bye weeks. Wanna make something of it?)

The Power returns to action this weekend to start a brutal, road-heavy second half of the season. It's all but set in stone that we aren't winning this one. In his first press conference as interim head coach, Derek Stingley did a fantastic impression of a kid whose father just ran off with the cashier and left him in charge of the county store. When asked how we would prepare for (Arizona QB) Nick Davila, you could see him resist the urge to laugh before just saying, "Bring pressure."

But, as they say, if you eat a frog first thing in the morning, nothing worse can happen to you all day (to you or the frog.) In that sense, starting out his tenure in charge against our toughest opponent of the remaining season on the road might be a good thing. No one expects him to win, so he can get his sea legs, stress free. He fully admits that he's a defense guy, from player through coaching. Also, he ended his season in NOLA last year with the same number of wins the Power has put up this year.

Stingley will be a good benchmark of what the future holds for the Power. He was asked if he plans to be the permanent head coach next season, and his response was that it doesn't matter if don't get some wins. This is true. The way I look at it, things can play out a few ways:

1. If they replace him with a new head coach this late in the year, it means that the Power owners have confidence that we'll be back next year.
2. If he rides it out as interim HC, it means that it will be a game-time decision next year.
3. If they make him officially head coach, it probably means the team is done.

So, this weekend will simply be a wait-and-see situation. We're not going to win unless the team has a rabbit foot tattooed with a four-leaf clover stapled to their body - so it will be a shake-down cruise for the new regime.

Now, for my musing. Feel free to skip down to the ever-popular Elsewhere in the League section.
I visited our nation's Capital over Memorial Day, and to do so, I drove through Philadelphia. As I did, I was surprised to see multiple Soul billboards - some paid for by the team, some by sponsors. Now, the only place I've been that's more into billboards than Philly is the chunk of the Onondaga Nations that the NY Thruway cuts through, so that might be part of it...but I don't think it's all of it. There is an actual sense of support for the team, and this got me wondering why there and not in Pittsburgh.

It's not because either town is more of a sports town than the others. Here, we bleed black and gold. We worship our Steelers, love our Pens, and we...have our Buccos. Philly enjoys a love/hate relationship with their Eagles, militantly supports their Flyers and - at least according to my in-laws - have their sun rise and set on their Phils this time of year.

I started thinking about the cities that the AFL survives in, the cities where it thrives and the cities where it struggles. Places like San Jose and Iowa, it makes sense - they don't have an NFL team, so they cling to their AFL team. But what about some of the rabid fanbases, like the Tampa Bay Storm, Orlando Predators and New Orleans Voodoo - they all have NFL teams. So, it must be something else.

It slowly dawned on me that, by and large, there's a very fine line for a successful team and a city that embraces Arena Football. I thought about areas where teams struggle or fail - Milwaukee and Pittsburgh struggle. Dallas and New York lost their teams. Then I thought about where they thrive - All of Florida, Philly, Arizona, etc.

What is the common denominator? In the places where there is a religion-level devotion to football and an expectation of greatness, the AFL struggles like a red-headed step-sibling. Places that like football a lot, but don't have a history of their NFL team regularly going all the way embrace the indoor game. Compare Green Bay to Tampa, Pittsburgh to Philly, Dallas to Chicago.

Now for the chicken/egg part. Orlando, Tampa, Chicago, San Jose, etc all have fiercely loyal fan bases. They also have a record of championships and/or deep playoff runs. Except for the Rush, all of the above have multiple championships (and even then, the Rush have one, as well as five division titles.) So, are the fans there because of their winning ways, or are they winning because of the fans? When you're going to get paid the exact same wherever you go (though this wasn't always the case), which are you going to chose? A team in a city that doesn't care, or a city with great fans and a winning track record? Whichever started it, this structure favors teams that already have a following.

Where does this leave our Power? In a sticky situation, that's where. History doesn't favor us holding onto a team, and I think that's because we love football here too much. However, if we can hang in there, recruit (and keep) some good players and start having winning seasons, we might be able to grow some roots. I hope we can.

Elsewhere in the League

• The Game of the Week is the Cleveland Gladiators at the Iowa Barnstormers. Iowa has fought hard and pulled off some impressive wins, but I think the Gladiators will take this one.
• Next is the Voodoo at the Force. That division is still mediocre, so the top rank against the 4th rank doesn't mean much. I'm actually feeling the Voodoo in this matchup.
• Tampa Bay at Jacksonville. TB is the better team, but they still haven't won on the road. They can beat the Sharks, but the odds aren't in their favor.
• Philly hosts Orlando Saturday night. Rumor has it that Philly has now added our LaRico Stevenson to their lineup, Donovan Morgan is back and Philly still rocks. On the other side, Orlando has thrown in the towel this year. They've traded Nate Forse to the Mustangs, and Bobby Sippio did his best Ray Lewis impression. They've got nothing left, and Philly will extend their lead in the division.
• Utah at KC - the Power might very well be KC's one win this year. They certainly won't have one against the Blaze.
• Sabercats at Mustangs. Under normal circumstances, I'd call the Cats in this one because they have to win to keep up with the Rattlers in the toughest division in the league. This week, it's even more so. After the game of his life last week against the Rush, Johnie Kirton was found dead in his hotel Monday at 26. No foul play, but no cause given. That really narrows down the options. This week, the rest of his team will wear his number on their helmets in his honor. Never, ever bet against a team playing for a fallen brother.
• Finally, Spokane at Chicago. Chicago can win this one, so long as they don't beat themselves. The Shock needs the win, but especially after losing 83-77 in OT to the Cats last week, I think the Rush has it.