Comedian George Carlin has a routine where he points out all of the military terms that populate football-blitz, aerial attack, and field general were just a few of them. To top it off, Carlin added, the games are played in places like Soldier Field.
Knowing all this, it comes as little surprise that the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum is the locale for the Saturday, March 20 contest that pits a football team named the Destroyers against one known as the Dragons.
The Destroyers, by the way, are Columbus, Ohio's entry in the Arena Football League (AFL) and they are playing the New York Dragons, Long Island's AFL squad, in a game that starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are priced as low as $15 per person and can be bought on game day.
Football fans nationwide have known about the AFL since the league's founding in 1987. Yet the indoor, faster-paced version of the game is relatively new to the Island. The Dragons started playing at the Coliseum in 2001 after Computer Associates founder Charles Wang purchased the Iowa Barnstormers and moved them to Nassau.
The Barnstormers' claim to fame is that their former quarterback is a fellow named Kurt Warner, who went on to win a Super Bowl with the National Football League's (NFL) St. Louis Rams. Perhaps the most notable ex-Dragons player is Kevin Swayne, now a wide receiver with the New York Jets.
The Dragons are led these days by quarterback Aaron Garcia and offensive specialist Will Holder. But those who have seen the AFL are immediately struck by the stark differences between this brand of football and those on display during the fall.
Arena football is played on a 50-yard field, for example, rather than the traditional 100-yard one. Moreover, there are only eight players from each squad on the field at a time. In addition, most AFL starters play both offense and defense. Eleven from each team play on either side of the ball during an outdoor professional or college football game, but you'll rarely see an offensive player play defense, and vice versa.
The Dragons are in the midst of a 16-game season that started in early February and ends in late May. Recognizing that football junkies need their fix, the AFL starts on the weekend after the NFL's Super Bowl.
Beyond fielding a competitive team, the Dragons are developing an audience because of their fan-friendly atmosphere. All of the players, for instance, come back onto the field after the game to sign autographs. Many of them will then congregate for a post-home game gathering at Tin Alley Grill, Stewart Avenue, Garden City. Saturday (March 20) is the last time that the Dragons will do so officially this season.
Now, I know I haven't used a military term in awhile, so I'm saving it for the big finale. The restaurant allows fans to debrief the players.
