Command Drop Another One ... This Time to the 1-6 VooDoo

Photo by Scott Soares

Okay, I finally made it to a Command home game.  I dawned by old Brigade jersey, put on my white Brigade ball cap, and with my wife, trekked down to Sprint Center and caught my first home game of the season.  My overall impression?  Well, let's say that you can tell that support of the team is WAY down.  But this is good news in some areas.  How?

Parking:  I parked across the street from Sprint Center's Oak Street entrance for $10.00.  This is normally a $20.00 parking lot for other events, but other events bring in more people.  There is actually a parking lot for tailgating now, and we stopped in and talked with Big Dog, BC Slasher and Sharon Soares (Arenafan Online) for several minutes before heading into the arena.

Wow, talk about no one coming out.  The Marines were there.  Gladstone Community Center was there.  Ah ... the Marines were there.  What used to be a circus of people promoting something to the fans coming into the arena at Kemper is even less than those who were in the entrance during the Brigade's only season at Sprint.  You can tell that the "Command" isn't drawing the crowds that the Brigade did, and its the same team under a different name.  BC Slasher (Scott) stated that Sprint Center is expecting the team to be packing the house in two to three years.  We will see.  Right now, attendance is hovering around a 4,000 per game average, with last night's game recording 4,422.  And how many of those were "give aways?"  I know that my entire row, all eight of us were give aways from Sport Talk 610.  Yeah, my first trip to a Command game were on tickets that I got for free from Sports Talk 610.

So, let's talk about the game.

Penalties.  I could not believe the number of penalties that were in last night's game.  Penalties that worked for and against us.  Off-sides, illegal motion, people seemed to have a problem timing the snap.  Roughing the passer, running into the kicker, little mistakes that could have been a young team or frustration.  Yes, I can see some promise in the young players, but when the 1-6 VooDoo come into Kansas City and pull off a sideline touchdown pass TWICE, we need to talk about issues on defense.  One of the two, the safety didn't even look up for the ball coming in, it went over his shoulder into the hands of the receiver for a touchdown.  Wake up.

I found the game felt slow, despite the 52-59 score.  But let's look at who was on the field.  The 2-5 Command versus the 1-6 VooDoo.  I would really like to make another trip to a home game and see what happens when the Division Leaders ... Chicago Rush come to Kansas City on June 4th.

ADVERTISING --- OMG! --- This game is getting TOO commerical.  I sat down in my seat an hour before the game, and while I was watching the two teams warm up, I was flooded with advertisements from the over head score board and spread out around the area.  Then the game started and the Yard Markers were dressed up to look like Pepsi bottles.  The team mascot has been renamed from "Max Runway" to "Pepsi Max" Runway.  Then we found out that the Red Cap that stops the games for Commercials is apparently not a bad side-effect from ESPN's involvement in the old AFL.  He was on the field again last night, and at a high point, at a fourth down stand, we are stopped and waiting while some network does a commercial break, waiting for the Red Cap to say it was okay to play ball.

To be honest, I've had more fun at an Arena Football in the past.  Yes, it might have been more fun if there had been another five thousand people in the seats, but I can't see how they're going to get another five thousand people in the seats when I surely can't be the only one talking about ... well ... it was football indoors.