Live ball (or "Why I'm returning to cover the Soul")
- Matthew Kass
- Mar 12, 2019
- 3 min read
Football, at its essence, is a simple game. Four downs (or three north of the border) to advance a ball 10 yards. Rinse and repeat until you run out of yards and hit the end zone, or watch as your drive stalls. Either way, give the ball back to the opposing team and try to stop them from scoring.
Again, simple in theory. But what happens when the field distance is cleaved in half, and sandwiched in between the boards of a hockey rink? You get Arena Football.
I was first introduced to the wonders of the game in the late 90s, when several sports-crazy members on my dad's side of the family trekked out to East Rutherford to watch the New Jersey Red Dogs slog through what at that point was likely a ho-hum season. More curiosity than career, I would drift away for a long time.
And I mean a REALLY long time. About 16 years long.
The next game I distinctly remember watching on TV was ArenaBowl XXVII in 2015, a game where the San Jose SaberCats and Wide Receiver Darius Reynolds defeated the Jacksonville Sharks to claim the league title. in a sign of things to come for the league, they would cease operations before the start of the next season.
After that, I began to grow more curious about the league, and in the 2016 season I dragged my friend out to a contest against the Cleveland Gladiators, which the Soul won. After that I was hooked. The following year in 2017, he and I attended ArenaBowl XXX, watching the Soul beat the Tampa Bay Storm for their second consecutive championship.
So when the opportunity arose to cover the team, who was I to say no? Last season with the Soul was never boring, and despite the league only consisting of four teams, the action was just as intense as it had always been. I even got to cover both halves of a home-and-home aggregate playoff series against the Baltimore Brigade.
(For those curious few at home, the road game in Baltimore and all its various misadventures is absolutely making it into my autobiography if I become famous. Ask me more about it the next time you see me.)
Which brings me back to this season. The league is trending in the right direction, having added two new franchises in Atlantic City and Columbus. I'm excited to see both of those teams play for the first time.
Plus, there's nothing like the rush of walking into the media entrance and making your way up to the press box, credential around your neck. It's a feeling I've had a hard time replicating, so it's easier to keep going back to the source.
And on top of all that, the athletes I've met during my time working the beat have been humble class-act individuals. They're regular joes, just like you and me, who are so dedicated to football that they're willing to play it in any capacity made available to them.
I've seen them at their joys, and spoken to them at the end of their weariest moments.
But they're not done with their careers in this league, and I'm certainly not done with mine. I'm coming back to cover the Soul for the 2019 season, and when that season kicks off next month, I hope you'll all follow me along on this journey.
See you on the field.
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