Headlines - April 8, 2011

No game this week, but we still have Headlines!

From the Top 10 Observations from Week 4: "The Central Division got a lot more competitive. Entering Week 4, it looked like either Dallas or Chicago would turn it into a two-team race. But both lost. The Barnstormers won to move over .500 and the Tulsa Talons surprised most fans with a 45-22 win over the Power. Look for some good divisional games between the Barnstormers, Rush, Talons and Vigilantes to duke it out."

Jamar Ransom and Matt Bassuener were Week 4 POW Candidates

From the Central Week 4 Recap: "Tulsa quarterback Matt Bassuener, starting in place of Bobby Reid, threw for just 199 yards and three touchdowns, but the key stat: zero interceptions. Turnovers plagued Tulsa last week against the Arizona Rattlers. The Talons fell behind 42-0 at halftime and gave the ball away six times."

Mass Bassuener the TV star: "The new Tulsa Talons passer said he couldn't imagine anything worse than getting cut by the Louisville Fire in the old af2 league in 2008. But that led to a three-year gig as a stunt quarterback for the television series Friday Night Lights. The show, which ended in 2010, was filmed in Austin, Texas. Bassuener was there to try out for the Arena Football League's Austin Wranglers."

A Pittsburg Fan's recap of the game: "A lot of the credit goes to jittery mindset by the home team, but the lion's share goes straight to Tulsa for being wherever the ball was. If they didn't pick it out of the air, they were right there to force a fumble and recover it."

Talons at Power: Pregame Primer

vs.

Tulsa Talons (0-3, 0-2 road) vs. Pittsburgh Power (2-1, 1-1 home)

TV: N/A
Stream: Click here
Radio: KRMG 740 (740 AM)
Time: 6:30 CT

Passing Yards: Talons – 564 (16th), Power – 644 (14th)
Rushing Yards: Talons – 226 (1st), Power – 57 (10th)
Passing Yards Allowed: Talons – 849 (12th), Power – 774 (9th)

View from the enemy: Boltsburgh Blog

Tulsa is 0-3 on the season, coming off the worst loss in franchise history. So the Talons will be ready and hungry. They’ve been learning together and on the verge of turning the corner. But beating the Power will definitely be a challenge.

Pittsburgh coming in: The Power played Monday, barely escaping Milwaukee.

THE MATCHUPS

The teams are much closer than their records reflect. However, where things went wrong for the Talons, they went right for the Power.

On Offense, Bobby Reid will be pressured constantly by former Talons Terrance Carter. The offensive line will need to be on its game tonight to give Reid the time he needs to get the ball to the Talons receivers. A bright spot for the Talons is that for Pittsburgh, the defensive backfield has been the weak point on their defense.

On Defense, Jamar Ranson and Fred Shaw will need help from the defensive line that has been struggling all season. The power have had some injuries on the offensive side of the ball, especially at quarterback. So, some pressure could possibly force some mistakes that will help the Talons pull this one out.

Kickoff at 6:30 CT.

Terrance Carter to the Power

Talon DE Terrance Carter announced today via Facebook that he will be leaving the Tulsa Talons to join the Pittsburg Power. Carter has been a star with the Talons for years, but felt disrespected by the team in the offseason. Carter will be a tough hole to fill on defense and will be sorely missed next year.

YouTube Tuesday - September 7th, 2010

I know this was released a few weeks ago, it is still nice for a promo video:

What will the AFL look like next year?

Well the ArenaBowl is over, and congratulations to the Spokane Shock; even if I did pick against you. Now comes the offseason, a horrible 7-8 month wait till the next kickoff. At least in the mean time I have NFL, NCAA, and NBA to keep my busy. But also, we have AFL speculation to keep us busy as well. As of this morning there are a lot of rumors for shakeups for AFL franchises.

First off, we know the announced expansion teams will be around:

Philadelphia Soul
San Jose Sabercats
Kansas City Brigade
and as of last night, the Pittsburgh Power

But where does that leave the other 15 franchises? For some it may mean relocation.

The Alabama Vipers:
Late last night it was announced that the Georgia Force may be returning. But they may not be an expansion team. Instead it has been rumored that the Alabama Vipers will be relocating and rebranding as the Force. This season Alabama played in the smallest arena in the AFL. They could only max out at around 7,000 fans. That heavily limited the amount of income the team could bring in, both is tickets and in sponsorship. That combined with higher costs could be too much for the owners to handle.

The Bossier-Shreveport BattleWings:
It has been rumored for weeks, since their owner registered aflvoodoo.com, that the BattleWings could be relocating to New Orleans and rebranding as the VooDoo. The BattleWings never pulled a large crowd, even in their time in the af2. The difference was that in the af2 the loss on the owners was acceptable, in the AFL its much larger. This could spell doom for the BattleWings.

The Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz:
The Yard Dawgz were a decent team this year. They pulled decent crowds as well. However, they still were loosing money, and have been since at least the time the Thunder came to town. That combined with the new AHL Hockey Team (Barons), could mean the owners aren't willing to try to compete with other sports in town. Instead they could take their team elsewhere and try to turn a profit. The rumored location? Seattle. Yeah, another Seattle/OKC team swap. Very Ironic, but could happen.

As for the rest of the league nothing seems likely to change. The only team with light rumors is the Milwaukee Iron. The Iron have had issues with an ownership group and attendance. However, for the foreseeable future they will probably remain in the league.