Gettin' Your Soul On

Tomorrow, Sunday July 27, 2008, ArenaBowl XXII will be played in New Orleans between the Philadelphia Soul and the current reigning champs San Jose Sabercats.

I lived in Philly for 12 years, and it was 5 years ago that Jon Bon Jovi, Ron 'Jaws' Jaworski and others brought an arena football team to Philadelphia, a team they named the Soul after the musical history rooted in Philadelphia, The Sound of Philadelphia (TSOP).

Their first season was a .500 season if I remember correctly, with the subsequent seasons being at that level or worse. I didn't care what their record was because attending the games is a lot of fun...much more fun than watching on TV because during the way-too-many-ads, at the game there is stuff being given away by way of games played on the field (races, football throwing events) and in the stands (name that song, trivia, etc). But this year, after an amazing 12-3 record, and one year after I left Philly, they have their best season so far, and make it to the big game, ArenaBowl XXII. Awesome!

Living back here in Maine has prevented me from seeing any of their games this year live at the Wachovia Spectrum in Philly (which was only 10 minutes from where I lived)...the first time for me since the Soul came into the league...but I was able to catch them occassionally on ESPN, and I will be watching tomorrow at 3pm when the final game of the season begins. I'll be wearing my scruffy, 5 year old Soul hat, drinking some beers, and wishing that, like will be happening at the game, someone would come out and shoot a t-shirt at me with their t-shirt shooting gun.

So just for fun, you should tune in to ArenaBowl XXII on Sunday, July 27, 2008 at 3pm (EST). And you should cheer for the Soul. After all, if they win, it'll be the first team in Philly to win a major championship in forever. And the city would love to have a victory parade.

GO SOUL!!

PS Yes, I acknowledge that the Flyers minor farm team, the Philadelphia Phantoms, have won the Calder Cup twice in their history...1998 and 2005, but the city really did nothing for that team. And actually, now that the city has decided to tear down the original Spectrum, the Phantoms are without a home and there is talk of moving the team one hour North to Allentown. How's that for a city supporting it's only championship team in over 30 years??