Friday, June 27, 2008

The Forgotten Teams



There are two local sports teams here in Dallas that gets no publiciity and selling out their stadiums takes nothing short of a miracle. One begins their quest for a first championship, as they begin the road to the Arena Bowl tonight at home. I am talking about the Arena Football team, the Dallas Desperados. Just like the other two teams that play host at American Airlines Center, the Desperados have had their share of disappointments in the postseason.

Unlike the past two seasons, the Desperados do not have home field throughout the postseason and do not get a first round bye. This is actually a postive thing though, as the past two playoff trips ended just as soon as they began. Both seasons they went in as the favorite, with the best record, only to fall flat on their facemasks (get it?) with nothing to show for it.

Dallas heads into this postseason as the #3 seed, facing the New York Dragons, who have lost to Dallas six straight times. Dallas refuses to be overconfident though. "I think it was a good season because of all the things we had to overcome," head coach Will McClay said. "It will determine how good the regular season was by how we do in the postseason."



Both Dallas and New York lost important players to injury in the final week of regular season play. Dallas lost return specialist and back up receiver Josh Bush who broke his fibula against Chicago. New York lost their top receiver, Jason Willis to a dislocated ankle. These are big losses for both of these teams and whoever is better able to fill the void has the better chance of advancing. However, Dallas does get back arguably their best player, Will Pettis, who had been out the last 2 games due to a concussion.

It's win-or-go-home time for both teams, and all the action begins on ESPN at 6:30 pm. ESPN's preview of all the action is right here.

Part 2 of The Forgotten Teams comes out later tonight by my co-blogger, the man I call the soccer expert, Patrick Dunne. He will give you everything FC Dallas.
--ND


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