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2002 Arena Football League Season
The 2002 Arena Football League season was the 16th season of the Arena Football League. It was succeeded by 2003. The league champions were the San Jose SaberCats, who defeated the Arizona Rattlers in ArenaBowl XVI. In the process the SaberCats came closer to a perfect season than any other team in the history of the league, winning sixteen of seventeen games. Offseason The Dallas Desperados joined the league as an expansion team based in Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most .... The Florida Bobcats, the Houston Thunderbears, the Milwaukee Mustangs, and the Oklahoma Wranglers folded, the Bobcats and Thunderbears both folded due to poor attendance, the Mustangs folded because the teams lease at Bradley Center expired and the Wranglers were dissolved by th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arena Football League
The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in North America after the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the National Football League (NFL) until the AFL closed in 2019. The AFL played a formerly proprietary code known as arena football, a form of American football played indoors on a 66-by-28 yard field (about a quarter of the surface area of an NFL field), with rules encouraging offensive performance, resulting in a typically faster-paced and higher-scoring game compared to NFL games. The sport was invented in the early 1980s and patented by Jim_Foster_(American_football), Jim Foster, a former executive of the United States Football League (USFL) and the NFL. Each of the league's 32 seasons culminated in the ArenaBowl, with the winner being crowned ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orlando Predators
The Orlando Predators were a professional arena football team based in Orlando, Florida and member of the Arena Football League (AFL). The team was most recently owned by Orlando Predators LLC, a company owned by David A. Siegel, and played its home games at Amway Center. The team was founded in as an expansion team of the AFL. The team advanced to the playoffs 19 consecutive seasons between and , becoming the ArenaBowl champions in 1998 and 2000 during that span. The team suspended operations after the 2016 season. History Early years (1991–1997) There was interest in arena football in Orlando as early as 1987, with a group looking to place an AFL team in central Florida in time for the 1988 season. But more than three years would go by until the Orlando Predators franchise was finally secured by Davey Johnson, Tracy Allen and Mike McBath on February 14, 1991. The Preds began play that same year but missed the playoffs, the only time the club would do so until 2012. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fullback (American Football)
A fullback (FB) is a position in the offense (sports), offensive backfield in gridiron football and is one of the two running back positions along with the halfback (American football), halfback. Fullbacks are typically larger than halfbacks, and, in most offensive schemes, the fullback's duties are split among power running, reception (gridiron football), pass catching, and blocking (American football), blocking for both the quarterback and the other running back. Many great rush (gridiron football), runners in the history of American football have been fullbacks, including Jim Brown, Marion Motley, Bronko Nagurski, Jim Taylor (fullback), Jim Taylor, Franco Harris, Larry Csonka, Tom Rathman, John Riggins, Christian Okoye, and Levi Jackson. However, many of these runners would retroactively be labeled as halfbacks, due to their position as the primary carry (gridiron football), ball carrier; they were primarily listed as fullbacks due to their size and did not often perform the ru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sherdrick Bonner
Sherdrick Deon "Sed" Bonner (born October 19, 1968) is an American former professional football quarterback who played fifteen seasons in the Arena Football League (AFL). Early life Bonner attended Azusa High School in Azusa, California and was a student and a letterman in football, basketball, baseball and track & field. College career Bonner graduated from Cal State Northridge in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science degree in kinesiology and was a member of Sigma Pi fraternity. While there, he started at quarterback and led the Matadors to the 1990 Western Football Conference co-championship and the program's only playoff appearance. He completed 319 of 637 passes for 3,533 yards and 18 touchdowns in 37 career games. He earned honorable mention All- Western Football Conference honors his senior year in 1991. Bonner also lettered in basketball, volleyball, and track and field. He played 23 games for the basketball team in the 1987–88 season, outside hitter for the men's volley ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mark Grieb
Mark Richard Grieb (born May 23, 1974) is a former Arena football quarterback who spent the majority of his career with the San Jose SaberCats of the Arena Football League (AFL). Grieb currently serves as the head coach of the Sacred Heart Prep Gators football team in Atherton, California. He was a 13-year veteran of the AFL, having played quarterback for the Anaheim Piranhas (1997) and San Jose SaberCats (1999–2008, 2011–2012). Grieb also played in NFL Europe for the Scottish Claymores (1998) and in the XFL with the Las Vegas Outlaws (2001). Grieb is the second quarterback in AFL history to throw for over 47,000 yards, over 900 touchdowns, over 3,800 completions, and over 10,000 pass attempts. He officially retired on November 8, 2012. He played college football at University of California, Davis. Grieb passed for 48,080 yards between the Arena League, XFL and NFL Europe. Grieb appeared in three ArenaBowls, winning titles in 2002, 2004 and 2007. Early life Grieb attende ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quarterback
The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually considered the leader of the offense, and is often responsible for calling the play in the huddle. The quarterback also touches the ball on almost every offensive play, and is almost always the offensive player that throws forward passes. When the QB is tackled behind the line of scrimmage, it is called a Quarterback sack, sack. The position is also colloquially known as the "signal caller" and "field general". The quarterback is widely considered the most important position in American football, and one of the most important positions in team sports. Overview In modern American football, the starting quarterback is usually the leader of the offense, and their successes and failures can have a significant impact on the fortunes of their team. Ac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dallas Desperados
The Dallas Desperados were a professional arena football team based in Dallas, Texas. They played in the Eastern Division of the Arena Football League from to . The franchise began as an expansion team and posted a winning record in all but one season. It was owned by Jerry Jones, who also owns the Dallas Cowboys. His son-in-law Shy Anderson was the chief operating officer and oversaw the day-to-day operations. The team folded effective August 4, 2009, upon the dissolution of the original AFL. Unlike former owners of most defunct AFL teams, Jones maintains the intellectual property rights to the Desperados. History During a halftime interview at a Cowboys preseason game on August 12, 2000, Jerry Jones revealed to Babe Laufenberg that the AFL had granted him an expansion franchise to begin play in 2001. On November 14, 2001, Dallas officially joined the AFL. The team was originally going to be named the "Dallas Texans", following in the footsteps of Dallas' former AFL franc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Los Angeles Avengers
The Los Angeles Avengers were an Arena Football League team based in Los Angeles, California, from 2000 through 2008. They folded on April 19, 2009. History The Los Angeles Avengers played their home games at the Staples Center, which is also the current home to the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League, the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association, the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association. The team began play in the 2000 season. The Avengers competed in the Western Division of the American Conference. Since its inception in 2000, the Avengers had competed in postseason play five times. The Avengers earned American Conference wildcard playoff berths in 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2007, and won the American Conference Western Division Championship in 2005. The Avengers franchise was owned by Casey Wasserman, grandson of the MCA head Lew Wasserman. As part of the Avengers's marketing plan as they got off ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Detroit Fury
The Detroit Fury were an arena football team based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. They were a member of the original Arena Football League from 2001 to 2004 and played at The Palace of Auburn Hills, also the home of the NBA's Detroit Pistons. They were the first team to play in Detroit since the Detroit Drive, four-time ArenaBowl champions, before that franchise relocated to Worcester, Massachusetts, and were rebranded the Massachusetts Marauders. The team was co-owned by William Davidson, who owned the Pistons, along with William Clay Ford, Jr., son of the owner of the National Football League Detroit Lions. History Eight years after the departure of the Detroit Drive to Massachusetts, Detroit Pistons owner Bill Davidson and William Clay Ford, Jr., son of Detroit Lions owner William Clay Ford, Sr., came together to purchase an expansion franchise in the original Arena Football League. A name the team contest was held in 2000 to generate public interest with over 3000 sub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indiana Firebirds
The Indiana Firebirds were a team in the Arena Football League. The team was based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Home games were played at the Conseco Fieldhouse, also the home of the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association and Indiana Fever of the Women's National Basketball Association. History Albany Firebirds (1990–2000) The team was founded in Albany, New York as the Albany Firebirds, and played in Albany from 1990 to 2000. At that time, home games were played at the Knickerbocker Arena (now known as the MVP Arena). The team's original ownership group was headed by Joe O'Hara, owner of the Continental Basketball Association's Albany Patroons, who would later become the AFL's second commissioner. In 2020, he revealed that he originally wanted to call the team the Nighthawks, but league founder Jim Foster wanted that nickname for a future team he planned to own after his tenure as commissioner. After getting off the phone with Foster while in Boston, he happened ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grand Rapids Rampage
The Grand Rapids Rampage was an arena football team based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The team began play in 1998 in the Arena Football League as an expansion team. They were last coached by Steve Thonn. Their home arena was the Van Andel Arena. History In 1997, Dan DeVos was granted an expansion AFL franchise for the 1998 season, and was awarded the remains of the dormant Massachusetts Marauders franchise out of bankruptcy court. That team's first incarnation, the Detroit Drive, had been the league's first dynasty; the Drive had advanced to the ArenaBowl in all six years they played in Detroit, winning four times. They moved to Worcester, Massachusetts for the 1994 season before folding. Due to the four-year period of dormancy, the Rampage did not claim the Drive/Marauders' history as their own. Grand Rapids was the smallest market in which the AFL had a franchise at the times of its first/2009 disbanding. The Rampage played in the Van Andel Arena, which is also the home of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chicago Rush
The Chicago Rush were a professional arena football team based in Rosemont, Illinois. The team was founded in 2001 and played in the Arena Football League's Central Division. The Rush qualified for the playoffs in 11 of 12 AFL seasons, during which they won ArenaBowl XX in 2006 and captured five division titles. The Rush played home games at Allstate Arena from 2001 to 2012. The team struggled to find a permanent owner and later relocated to Rockford, Illinois in 2013 to play their final season. The AFL itself ceased operations in 2019.AFL Issues Statement on Rush, Blaze Chicago Rush Media Relations, ArenaRush.com, September 9, 2013 In 2023, Chicago-based music producer Ernest Clark acquired the Rush and announc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
