Saturday, June 26, 2010

Live Coverage - Cleveland Gladiators at Tulsa Talons

Headlines - June 26th 2010

An Article on Tulsa's Adjustment to the AFL: "The easy and obvious answer is that there is a lot more parity in this league," said Talons coach Mitch Allner. "Every game we play is like the toughest game we played in af2."

A look at Talons Troubles: "We come out flat every game," fullback Odie Armstrong said. "We always try to pick it up in the second half, but good teams don't make mistakes and give you a chance to come back."

Tulsa Today's Recap of Friday's Game: "The main problem for the Talons on the night was simply control of the ball. Tulsa QB Justin Allgood threw 2 interceptions in the game and lost two fumbles in the 4th quarter."

ArenaFan's Adam Lopusnak Declares the SW Division Weakest in the AFL: "If the playoffs started today, the Talons would host a playoff game despite being tied for the fourth-best record in the American Conference because they have the best record in the Southwest Division."

The Tulsa World Previews Tonights Game: "The Tulsa Talons went to play the Cleveland Gladiators last month without defensive end Terrance Carter, who was injured at the time. That's like traveling without your tooth brush."

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Week 13 Picks

Last Week: 4-3
Overall: 48-30 (.615)

Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings at Tampa Bay Storm: TAMPA BAY. This should be a somewhat easy win for Tampa, however I don't see it being a blowout. Most likely by about 10 points.

Arizona Rattlers at Jacksonville Sharks: JACKSONVILLE. Jacksonville is coming off a bad loss. The big thing is that a lot of the loss is due to the whole they started in after some unfortunate circumstances. They should be back to form this week.

Cleveland Gladiators at Tulsa Talons: TULSA. Tulsa has been hot and cold as of late. But the team knows they need to get better and more consistent for the playoffs. I expect to see a new level of determination on Saturday.

Spokane Shock at Milwaukee Iron: SPOKANE. Rematch from the first week of the season which lead to one of Spokane's two loses. Expect them to come out for a little revenge. Add that to their near flawless play as of late and they will be hard to stop.

Orlando Predators at Chicago Rush: CHICAGO. Orlando has been hot as of late, but Chicago just looked impressive, even without Michna, last week.

Dallas Vigilantes at Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz: DALLAS. Dallas has been consistently just behind the competition, but this is the one team they have beat before. I could see this being a team where Dallas finally starts to click and get some wins.

Utah Blaze at Iowa Barnstormers: IOWA. Really? You know this response. UTAH IS TURRRRIBLE.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

YouTube Tuesday - June 23, 2010

In honor of the new 2011 teams we got this set of highlights from Friday that include the team announcements at halftime of the NFLNetwork game:

Friday, June 18, 2010

Headlines

Recap from last week's win: "Rallying to beat the Dallas Vigilantes is getting to be a pleasant habit for the Tulsa Talons."

This week the AFL named Justin Allgood the Offensive Player of the Week: "Allgood completed 25-of-37 passes for a season-high 384 passing yards and eight touchdowns. Allgood leads the AFL with 70 touchdown passes."

A look at tonight's game from Spokane's viewpoint: "Second-ranked Spokane (7-2) leads the league in total defense (264.9 yards) while the offense is second in scoring (67.1 points). No. 7 Tulsa (6-4) has an AFL-leading 17 sacks and an offense averaging 62.7 points. Quarterback Justin Allgood has an AFL-best 70 touchdown passes."

I know its a shock video but it got me excited for tonight (may need facebook to play)

ArenaFan.com's Andy Lopusnak gives Allgood some respect: "Tulsa QB Justin Allgood celebrated his 27th birthday on Friday night by leading his Talons to a come-from-behind victory against Dallas 69-51. The Dallas-area native completed 25-of-37 for a season-high 384 yards with eight touchdowns and an interception. Allgood’s final two passes were both seven-yard touchdowns to Donovan Morgan. Five of Allgood’s eight TD passes came in the second half after his team trailed 44-28. Allgood leads the AFL in passing touchdowns (70) and is on pace for 112, which would be the second most in AFL history. Last year in the af2, Allgood led the league with 108 touchdowns."

For 2011 we have at least 3 more teams: Philadelphia Soul, San Jose Sabercats, and Kansas City Brigade

Week 12 Picks

Last Week: 4-3
Overall: 44-27 (.620)

Jacksonville at Orlando: JACKSONVILLE. The Sharks are too complete a team for an Orlando team that is pretty shakey.

Tulsa at Spokane: SPOKANE. I know I am going to catch flack for this but the game really is a toss-up. My general rule in a toss up match is to take the home team. I love the Talons but Spokane in Spokane is going to be tough to beat. But make my pick wrong boys!

Milwaukee at Chicago: MILWAUKEE. I will be honest, at the beginning of the week I had Chicago picked in this one. That all changed when it was announces Rush Michna and Sammie Parker would be gone this week on UFL related business. Backups won't cut it against a great Milwaukee team.

Dallas at Alabama: DALLAS. Well V's you need to win one. I think you got a chance here. Alabama has been hurt and their defense isn't too strong. Get our division another road win please.

Iowa at Cleveland: CLEVELAND. Iowa is just too uncertain to take in this matchup.

Tampa Bay at Utah: TAMPA BAY. Nuff Said.

Bossier-Shreveport at Arizona: ARIZONA. Bossier has shown some life as of late but it will be tough to beat an Arizona team that is really starting to click right now.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

YouTube Tuesday - June 15, 2010 - Return of the Soul

In honor of the announcement in Philadelphia tomorrow about the return of the Philadelphia Soul we have a video from their training camp in 2008:

Friday, June 11, 2010

Week 11 Headlines

Recap of the Talons First Loss at the BOK: "Breakdowns on offense and in the kicking game were the culprits Saturday as the Talons fell to the Orlando Predators 57-54 before a home crowd estimated at 6,500."

Tulsa World's preview of tonight's game: "The Talons (5-4) are in a tough spot with last week's lackluster loss to Orlando. If they don't win at Dallas, they will go to powerful Spokane next week with the threat of falling under the .500 mark."

The Talons are on pace to set franchise record in attendance: "The Talons are averaging 6,616 through five home games — only about 13 fewer per game than the record 2000 season when the new sport of indoor football drew three sellout crowds of 7,096 to the Convention Center Arena."

Arenafan's Adam Markowitz give Justin Allgood a bad award: "In Week 10, Tulsa's signal caller made the blunder of all blunders by tossing a pick right near the Orlando end zone that really crushed any chances that the Talons had of coming back and keeping their undefeated season at home alive."

A Website this week was launched for the Kansas City Brigade

Similarly, the San Jose Sabercats have had a teaser site up for awhile

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Week 11 Picks

Ok Preparation for the Bar Exam at the end of the summer is keeping me from doing a full post. I apologize.

Last Week: 3-4
Overall: 40-24

Tulsa Talons at Dallas Vigilantes: TULSA

Tampa Bay Storm at Alabama Vipers: TAMPA BAY

Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz at Arizona Rattlers: ARIZONA

Spokane Shock at Orlando Predators: ORLANDO

Cleveland Gladiators at Milwaukee Iron: CLEVELAND

Iowa Barnstormers at Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings: IOWA

Chicago Rush at Utah Blaze: CHICAGO

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

YouTube Tuesday - June 8th, 2010

This week a video from myself. This play was amazing at the game on Saturday even if we did lose.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Looks like Tulsa is boycotting the AFL's stats system

Most hardcore fans of the AFL will tell you that the new program that the AFL went with this year is crap. Well to be honest, it's kind of the truth. For weeks we have all known the fans were displeased with it. Then recently there were rumblings that the teams' staffs were unhappy with it as well.

About two weeks ago a rumor came out that caught my attention. That rumor was that Tulsa's crew were going to boycott the AFL's stat system. Oh course I blew it off as normal rumor rumblings. However, today I saw the following tweet from Jason Dixon of the Tampa Bay Storm Radio:

@Arenafan Did the stats crew in Tulsa not show up, or did the do the stats on the old program?


This caused me to take a look at the arenafootball.com stats page.

There was no game report. There was no drive summary. There was a link to the box score however. So I clicked the link. The box scores page was empty of stats. It looks like there is a good possibility that the Talons did decide to boycott the system. However, that doesn't mean they didn't keep stats. The Tulsa World had some stats this morning, including the touchdown summaries. What is looks like is the Talons are using another system to keep track of stats.

What does this mean for the average Tulsa fan. Probably not since you will be at the game or get the stats from the Tulsa World. Since every other team (at the moment) is still using the system, you will still be able to get live stats from arenafootball.com for away games. What could be scary is the precedent that this sets. With one team boycotting, it won't be long till another team jumps on board. And then another team. The AFL will need to remedy this quick, and that remedy seems to have to be getting a new system as soon as possible.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Live Coverage: Orlando Predators at Tulsa Talons

Headlines

A really slow week in news about the Talons this week... However, there is two good articles over Talons players from the Tulsa World:

One over Gabe Nyenhuis: "Gabe Nyenhuis knows what it's like to win an Arena Football League championship. The Talons defensive end has the ring to prove it."

The other about new DB Chris Royal: "As Tulsa's middle defensive back, he's most often matched against the high-motion receiver running at top speed when the ball is snapped. It's a tough job, but Royal says he's good at it because he's a fanatic on technique."

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Week 10 Picks

Last Week: 6-1
Overall: 37-20

Utah Blaze at Cleveland Gladiators: CLEVELAND. Um do I need to say it again this week? The Blaze suck. It will take more than a QB signing and coaching change to change that.

Jacksonville Sharks at Chicago Rush: JACKSONVILLE. Ouch, the Sharks are coming off a bad visit to Spokane and have to follow it up in Chicago. The good news is that the Rush have been pulling smaller crowds than the Shock. This, combined with being a better team, should lead to a Sharks win.

Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz at Tampa Bay Storm: TAMPA BAY. Ok so OKC has gotten better this week and coming off a good win. However, Tampa is a complete team that will be a playoff team. The Storm should win this one.

Orlando Predators at Tulsa Talons: TULSA. The Talons are still undefeated in the BOK, and don't expect that to change. While Orlando has been hot lately, the Talons have one of the top offenses in the league and will be hard to stop.

Alabama Vipers at Iowa Barnstormers: IOWA. This is all based on which QB plays for Alabama really. However, expect Vena to play strong for the stormers and lead his team to a win.

Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings at Dallas Vigilantes: DALLAS. While Cooper looked good in his earlier than expected debut this past weekend, the wings have little to no defense. This combined with a strong Dallas defense should lead to a Vigilantes win.

Milwaukee Iron at Arizona Rattlers: MILWAUKEE. The Rattlers have been inconsistent all season and the Iron are coming off a bad slide of games, expect them to return to form in this one.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Talons Central Power Rankings

The AFL Writers Association has released their Top 8 Poll for the week:

1. Spokane Shock
2. Milwaukee Iron
3. Chicago Rush
4. Jacksonville Sharks
5. Tulsa Talons
6. Tampa Bay Storm
7. Arizona Rattlers
8. Alabama Vipers

In addition, the AFLFanzone Fan Poll for the week has been released. The Fan Poll is made up by a group of fans, one from each AFL team. Check out their rankings:

1. Spokane Shock
2. Milwaukee Iron
3. Jacksonville Sharks
4. Chicago Rush
5. Tulsa Talons
6. Arizona Rattlers
7. Tampa Bay Storm
8. Alabama Vipers
9. Iowa Barnstormers
10. Cleveland Gladiators

In my ranking the Shock hold the top spot, though the top 3 are all kind of a toss up:

1. Spokane Shock
2. Jacksonville Sharks
3. Milwaukee Iron
4. Tampa Bay Storm
5. Chicago Rush
6. Tulsa Talons
7. Arizona Rattlers
8. Cleveland Gladiators
9. OKC Yard Dawgz
10. Iowa Barnstormers
11. Alabama Vipers
12. Orlando Predators
13. Dallas Vigilantes
14. Bossier-Shreveport Battlewings
15. Utah Blaze

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

YouTube Tuesday - June 1, 2010

This week we have highlights from the Jacksonville Sharks at Spokane Shock game from this last weekend. There are some really great highlights from a great game here.