wordplay: JJ

After four years in their posh home in downtown Denver’s Pepsi Center, it seems that the Colorado Crush, and the Arena Football League in general, have well established themselves as the new boys of summer, the indoor gurus of the gridiron.

In light of the demise of the John Elway automobile dealerships, it’s nice to see the big guy is still popular in Denver and doing okay financially.
 
And with the Crush firmly in the playoff race, lingering just behind Chicago in the American Conference Central Division and third in the American Conference out of six playoff spots, the young Colorado arena team seems poised to continue making dividends for Elway and the city of Denver.

The Crush and Arena Football have steadily grown in popularity over the past few years. With expansion, exposure and celebrity, the AFL also serves the purpose of quenching the thirst of football fans during the National Football League off-season.

With a smaller playing area, rule variations and indoor wall-boundaries, Arena football is like regular football on crack (and I don’t mean Lawrence Taylor). The action is fast-paced and the games are high-scoring. While this aspect of the game might not score many points with staunch, conservative, defense-wins-games original football fans, the Crush girls might, at the very least, placate them into giving the game a chance. And at any rate, arena football’s fast action is a real touchdown for younger observers of the game, and so it serves as a nice day out on the town with the family.

If that’s not enough for most family fans, ticket prices start as low as $8. Try getting into Invesco Field for that price.

The AFL also has a handful of celebrity owners that include Elway, former Chicago Bears’ coach and NFL tight end Mike Ditka and the king of hair rock Jon Bon Jovi. One promo this season, dubbed John vs. Jon, featured a pseudo-cocky Elway showing up at Bon Jovi’s mansion for a little pre-game showdown that results in every Denverite’s wet dream: an Elway comeback.

Alas, that John has never made a comeback. But the Crush have been doing just fine behind 8-year veteran John Dutton and AFL Offensive Player of the Year Damian Harrell. The two combined for 61 touchdowns in the 2006 season and Harrell is fourth in the league this season in touchdowns so far.

In 2005, the Crush became the fastest expansion team in the AFL’s 19-year history to win a championship, defeating the Georgia Force 51-48 in Arena Bowl XIX in Las Vegas. With a solid 11-5 record going into the 2006 postseason, the Crush looked to be the first back-to-back Arena Football Bowl winners since the Tampa Bay Storm in 1995-96. Instead, Colorado experienced an upset loss to division rival Rush in what was the first home playoff loss in Crush history. A la the NFL Pittsburgh Steelers of 2005-06, the Rush limped into the playoffs with a rather dismal 7-9 record before sweeping throughout the playoffs on the road en route to an Arena Bowl XX victory.

If there’s any inspiration to be had from last season’s upset, it’s the fact that the Crush find themselves in the same boat as the Rush of a year ago: underdogs hanging onto the playoffs, where every qualifying team’s season starts again. Like last season’s Crush team, the Rush are riding high atop the American Conference.

In order to make the playoffs, the Crush might be giving Denver fans a preview of what’s to come in arena football in June.  It seems that Denver has been the recipient of the AFL’s “Monday Night Football is back” campaign, as the Crush host the final two Monday Night games of the season, starting with the nemesis Rush on June 18 and finishing the season against the AFL-best and National Conference-leading Dallas Desperados on June 25. With any luck, the latter game may serve as a preview of Arena Bowl XXI.

Here’s to hoping that Denver’s new boys of summer win another and put the “C” in Colorado when they face the Rush again.

June 25th @ Pepsi Center

ColoradoCrush.com